Samsung Lays Off Employees after an Internal Audit
In Spring 2019, Samsung Electronics Co., a South Korean tech giant, audited its American marketing department for any violation of internal policies concerning dealings with business partners. Following this audit, the company laid off a number of employees. While routine audits is a common practice, they have been on the rise recently due to extremely topical transparency issues. As you might remember, in 2016 the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) revealed a study by K2 Intelligence on behind-the-scene rebates and media buying processes in the US, that dropped like a bomb in the marketing industry community setting in motion the FBI investigation and dramatic changes. According to ANA’s “Trust Report” the trust between clients and agencies has declined by 28% over the last three years. To address this problem, some major advertisers established in-house marketing teams that would act in the best of their interests. This is exactly what Procter & Gamble did, managing to save $750 mln on advertising in 2018. ANA also founded a Trust Consortium aimed at setting new standards for the industry and helping achieve the necessary level of transparency in the digital media supply chain. Among spheres that were audited as a part of this… Read more »
