4As MSA Guidance

The 4As guidance regarding the ANA Master Media Buying Services Agreement Template V 3.0 is based on the significant experience and learnings 4As members have acquired when negotiating all the versions of the ANA Master Media Buying Services Agreement. This document outlines the priority challenges that agencies may raise during contract discussions, and provides suggestions as to address these concerns. It also attempts to help:

• ease the negotiation process
• shorten the timeframe in which an agreement is finalized
• lower the cost of getting to an agreement that is more balanced and has a fairer allocation of risk between agencies and advertisers

While the 4As and our member agencies appreciate the efforts of the Association of National Advertisers (“ANA”) and its members in providing the “ANA Version 3.0 template of the Master Media Buying Services Agreement”, we believe that V3.0 is a complex and one-sided document that can be difficult and costly to administer and often may require extensive and costly negotiations each time it is used.

None of the ANA Master Media Buying Services Agreement templates are recognized by 4As members as industry standard documents.

Many 4As members have developed their own template contracts which address the same concepts as those covered by V3.0 while also reflecting the agency’s own internal processes and ways of working. The 4As recommends that agencies and advertisers discuss the types of engagements where it may be appropriate to leverage the agency’s template for a more streamlined contracting process.