The Kite Factory is extremely proud to be IAB Gold 2.0 accredited having been thoroughly audited by both TAG and the IAB on our processes for anti-fraud, brand safety and user experience. The accreditation, which represents a kitemark of quality in digital operations, has grown rapidly since its launch in 2017. We worked hard to be the first independent agency in the UK to become accredited, as the goals of the IAB within this initiative perfectly align with our values as an agency.
So, as an advertiser why should you care if your agency is IAB accredited?
- Fraud costs the UK ad industry £5bn per annum. Instead of your impressions being served to real humans, without the right countermeasures such as ads.txt and sellers.json, you could be wasting your media budget serving ads to bots.
- Brand safety is paramount to preventing a potential PR disaster. To obtain TAG brand safety certification we had to submit 50 different documents evidencing our processes, including DSP agreements, exclusion lists and MRC accredited brand safety software.
- A bad user experience will reflect badly on your brand. At The Kite Factory, we only use IAB approved formats and follow guidance from the Coalition for Better Ads to ensure the best user experience.
With programmatic supply chains gaining momentum for DOOH and the Connected TV market, regulation will be crucial to prevent ad fraud the new technology will be vulnerable to. Future IAB Gold iterations will tackle these emerging sectors and trends to ensure the digital ecosystem remains sustainable.
As part of our mandatory T&Cs, all partners must adhere to strict criteria and processes on every IO, to reassure our clients that best practices are being followed at all times. With heavy spenders such as Unilever and Coca Cola now demanding that their agencies only use Gold Standard ad suppliers, we can fully expect to see it within the pitch criteria for digital new business in 2022. Now is the time to ask your agency and media partners whether they are IAB Gold certified – and if not start asking some probing questions!
For any questions or to find out more, please get in touch with Head of Digital Operations Gabby Krite.