The advertising and film industry is in the grips a global struggle against bid rigging. In December 2016, the global advertising and film production community watched with keen interest as the US department of justice stepped into the midst of a long-brewing conflict between advertising agencies and independent production houses. This came after the department’s antitrust division was tasked with investigating whether ad agencies were intentionally rigging pitches for production work to favour their in-house divisions. The US scenario is reflective of the state of affairs in other major advertising markets, most notably those of the UK, Europe and SA. To date, only the US has made the foray into legal waters, but the situation around the world is rapidly becoming more contentious as ad agencies appear to be scooping up production work and taking it in-house to bolster diminishing profit margins. In the UK and France, independent production companie...
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