MUMBAI: Against the backdrop of a fast-changing global media landscape for marketers and advertisers, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which represents business from all industries worldwide, held a series of meetings in New York recently to address challenges to self-regulation.

Industry representatives made progress toward a consolidated worldwide code of practice for advertisers, slated for formal adoption in
June. ICC is the world business organization, with more than 8,000 member companies in over 140 countries. The meetings, led by Procter & Gamble senior VP John Manfredi included a roundtable examining new challenges in self-regulation, including product placement, interactive marketing and marketing to children.

The meetings noted that increasingly, products, services and commercial communications are linked into integrated marketing campaigns cutting across new and old media. Business experts at the ICC meetings predicted this trend would grow even more prevalent.

McCann Erickson senior VP Mike Longhurst says, "Paid product placement has existed for over 50 years, but has recently become more important as a potential medium in light of the fragmentation of media audiences".

The findings of the roundtable fed into an ICC working group charged with streamlining the global self-regulatory framework for advertising and marketing communication practices. The working group completed revisions to a consolidated ICC code for use by industry worldwide.

ICC says that it has been a major rule-setter for international advertising since the 1930s. Over the years, however, the proliferation of ICC codes on various facets of marketing and advertising has resulted in a patchwork of rules, leading to appeals for consolidation.

European Advertising Standards Alliance DG Oliver gray says, "The new consolidated code will follow the well-established ICC tradition of promoting high ethical standards in advertising by means of relevant and well-implemented self-regulatory codes".