Marla Skiko, US & Global Head of Media, Ford Motor Company: ANA Media Transparency Report 5 years on

ID Comms talks to Marla Skiko, Global Head of Media at Ford Motor Company, about the ANA’s Media Transparency report and its lasting impact.The report helped underpin a process that the company had already begun, reviewing its relationships with agency partners and the level of transparency it wanted, says Marla.“The transparency report really just gave us some more things to think about. There were some more talking points. It was just more information and background that helped inform conversations that were already right underway,” she says.Marla, who was working at Publicis Media when the report was originally published and joined Ford in January 2020, says there were issues for Ford around standards, brand safety and metrics that all needed roadmaps for internal and partner use to ensure nothing was left to chance.“We also changed the makeup of some of we, we thought about, you know, who do we need to have internally so that we have accountability on ourselves. Do we have the right people in the right roles who have the right understanding of how data and technology work and how that's associated with our media spending so that we can then partner with our agencies. It should be, you know, equal on both sides,” she says.And, she adds, it’s a collaborative process. “The ANA has been really helpful in that and bringing marketers together so that we can benchmark off each other. We can compare notes and as we define what this should be, we then have more of a holistic nature of looking at this. You don't just see it from your angle, but you hear what other people are talking about,” she says.