Facebook puts ad agencies under the microscope

Hi and welcome to Insider Advertising for May 3. I'm senior advertising reporter Lauren Johnson, and here's what's going on:

• Facebook's agency audit.
• The power players of IPG.
• The ad execs helping with the cookie crash.

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Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at LJohnson@insider.com or on Twitter at @LaurenJohnson.

Facebook is subjecting agencies pitching for its $1 billion ad budget to unusual scrutiny by auditing their digital advertising practices

• Facebook plans to audit advertising companies as it seeks an agency to handle its $1 billion ad business, Patrick Coffee and Lindsay Rittenhouse reported.
• Marketers have increased scrutiny of their advertising since a 2016 report revealed shady agency practices.
• WPP, Publicis, Dentsu, and Havas are vying for the business.

Read the story.

Meet the 16 top execs leading advertising giant IPG

• IPG is one of the largest advertising companies, with top agencies like McCann, FCB, and UM, Lindsay Rittenhouse reported.
• The company outperformed its rivals in 2020 on growth in data, tech, healthcare, and ad buying.
• Lindsay identified the 16 most important execs helping CEO Philippe Krakowsky keep the momentum going.

Read the story.

21 advertising execs who are finding new ways to target people in a privacy-centric world

• The ad industry is grappling with the phase-out of longstanding ad targeting practices.
• Tanya Dua identified 21 people at brands and agencies trying to find alternatives.
• Advertisers are trying to use more first-party data and new targeting options.

Read the story.

More stories we're reading:

• Daimler is looking to consolidate most of its $790 million advertising business with one agency, and it could be a huge loss for Omnicom or Publicis (Insider)
• Twitter will reportedly launch an ad campaign to help local journalists and news outlets gain more followers on the platform (Insider)
• The EU accused Apple of breaking antitrust laws with its App Store rules (Insider)
• If you have updated to the latest version of Apple's iOS 14.5 and still haven't seen any privacy pop-ups yet, it could be due to this setting on your iPhone (Insider)
• Amazon just confirmed Prime Day will happen earlier in the summer this year (Insider)
• Verizon nears deal to sell media arm to Apollo (Bloomberg)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at LJohnson@insider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.