Mondanite's BPA decision shows importance of auditing in economic downturn

The audit will cover the UAE edition of Mondanité, which was published for the first time in 2003. Although the titles have always been successful in attracting advertising revenue from high end luxury brands, the publisher stated, he believes that the layer of support that transparent, independent auditing provides will be very important to them in the current, very tough sales environment.

"Over the last six years, Mondanité UAE has secured a strong relationship with the biggest advertisers and media agencies, believing that open relationships are very much the way forward,"

explains Rani Ohanessian, Managing Director of Dubai-based Circle Advertising and Publishing.

"However, with the economic recession in full swing many advertisers are now seeking independent audit results to back up their spending budgets and hence with Mondanité UAE now opting for an independent audit, we intend to verify our circulation figures and provide added assurance to our clients, both old and new."

Ohanessian believes that the BPA audit will give agencies, advertisers and potential clients more faith in their ad spend investment with Mondanité UAE, compared with other unaudited titles. He confirms that Circle will complete the audit process on Mondanité and will then consider how to extend it to other titles in its portfolio.

"Given the present market situation, we believe that BPA auditing carries more importance than before, as it gives clients and advertisers a chance to believe in the value they gain, for every dollar spent. This not only gives them more mileage on money, but also raises the transparency level between the client, the reader and the magazine, resulting in better brand equity for the title, " he adds.

"The message, in essence, is hard data for hard times," explains Stuart Wilkinson, BPA's Managing Director for EMEA. "At a time when advertisers need to be certain that they are getting what they pay for, only independently verified circulation data can provide that assurance and build confidence levels between advertisers, agencies and media owners."