P&G Looks Outside For Media Auditing

Step could be tremendous for discipline gaining momentum in U.S.

Procter & Gamble has hired an outside media-auditing firm in what a representative called a “collaborative test” of the process with its broadcast-buying shop, Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest in New York.

The $2 billion-plus advertiser tapped Hawk Media, San Francisco, following a review last month of four undisclosed audit firms, sources said. Hawk will meet with MediaVest in early June to begin analyzing whether P&G’s media buys deliver the audience called for in its plan.

The assignment is said to be limited so far; one source described it as “a test” to determine if P&G will expand the scope.

P&G rep Gretchen Muchnick confirmed the decision to experiment with independent auditing.