GroupM Joins Global Alliance for Responsible Media

June 18, 2019, Cannes, France – Today, 17 of the world’s leading advertisers announced the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, an unprecedented, global collaboration with agencies, media companies and platforms, and industry associations to rapidly improve digital safety.

With nearly 3.8 billion people online, the world is increasingly connected, and yet the increase in dangerous, hateful, disruptive and fake content online risks threatening our global community. Members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media recognize the role that advertisers can play in collectively pushing to improve the safety of online environments. Together, they are collaborating with publishers and platforms to do more to address harmful and misleading media environments; and to develop and deliver against a concrete set of actions, processes and protocols for protecting brands.

The Alliance was founded by World Federation of Advertisers members and will be also championed by the ANA CMO Growth Council, a member organization of the WFA. This effort enlists:

Advertisers including Adidas, Bayer, BP, Danone, Diageo, General Mills, GSK Consumer Healthcare, LVMH, Mars, Incorporated, Mastercard, Mondelēz International, NBCUniversal, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Shell, Unilever, and Vodafone;
Experts at Dentsu, GroupM, IPG, Publicis Media, and Omnicom Media Group, representing media agencies;
Media companies and platforms at launch include Facebook, Google/YouTube, Teads, TRUSTX, Twitter, Unruly, and Verizon Media; and
Supporting industry associations ANA, 4A’s, Interactive Advertising Bureau, ISBA, Mobile Marketing Association, Coalition for Better Ads, Effie Worldwide and WFA alongside their local advertising association members.

An immediate focus will be to form and empower an inclusive working group charged with developing a set of initial ideas and prioritizing next steps. This is the first time an alliance that represents all sides of the media industry is forming, underpinned by a working group committed to meeting regularly and reporting back on its progress to members and the industry.

The first formal meeting of the Alliance takes place Wednesday, June 19 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and is hosted by the WFA Media Board. Prior, on Tuesday, June 18, at 9:00 am CEST, a panel with the Alliance, among them, representatives from founding members Unilever, Mars and Diageo, discuss their vision, goals and priorities, takes place at WPP Beach. Alliance members are asking for the industry to open all meetings in Cannes with a call to action for more collective responsibility in media practices.

About the Global Alliance for Responsible Media

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media was formed to identify specific collaborative actions, processes and protocols for protecting consumers and brands from safety issues. Alliance members will work collaboratively to identify actions that will better protect consumers online, working towards a media environment where hate speech, bullying and disinformation is challenged, where personal data is protected, and used responsibly when given, and where everyone is, especially children, better protected online. Alliance members acknowledge their collective power to significantly improve the health of the media ecosystem.

Luis Di Como, EVP Global Media, Unilever: “When industry challenges spill into society, creating division and putting our children at risk, it’s on all of us to act. We’ve achieved a lot through Unilever’s Responsibility Framework but to do more, we must do it together. Founding this Alliance is a great step towards rebuilding trust in our industry and society.”

“Media and advertising are fundamental forces that shape how we connect, make key decisions, and shape our world view. The status quo is untenable, and our work through the Alliance will allow us to shift from driving reach at all costs to building reach with responsibility. The uncommon collaboration and shared accountability we are starting here is essential,”said Robert Rakowitz, Global Head of Media, Mars, Incorporated

“We take our role as a responsible marketer very seriously, as do many others, which means there’s no better time to move the industry forward collectively. You’ll hear me start every meeting in Cannes with one simple question: ’What more could we do together?’ I ask others to do the same,”said Isabel Massey, Global Media Director, Diageo

Stephan Loerke, CEO of WFA:“We see this new alliance as an essential next step following the Media Charter we published in Cannes last year, and WFA is committed to supporting this expanded effort. Our shared ambition it to create a sustainable advertising environment that positively impacts people, communities and society at large.”

Gerry D’Angelo, Global Media Director, Procter & Gamble:“For far too long, issues with trust in our industry have been managed one conversation at a time. Now for the first time, the formation of this Alliance is an opportunity to harness our collective efforts for the greater good.”

For more information, please contact:

Unilever: [email protected]
Mars, Incorporated: [email protected]
Diageo: [email protected] WFA: [email protected]
GroupM: [email protected]