Media Claims Examples

An unusual claim situation occurred involving two large ad agencies over their failure to properly perform their ad placement services. Miller Brewing filed suit against Bates Advertising USA and Zenith Media Services. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee, and accused the agencies of failing to obtain all of the exposure they purchased on Miller Brewing’s behalf.

According to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the suit “was a ‘last resort’ in Miller’s attempts to persuade them to fulfill their obligations.” The agencies “failed to obtain $6.9 million worth of makeup credits for Miller after the broadcast ads failed to garner the demographics Miller was seeking.”

The Wall Street Journal explained the situation in an article on the litigation:

Ad agencies and media-buying agencies sometimes obtain guarantees of particular ratings for a schedule of TV spots. If the ads fail to reach a large enough audience of viewers, the ad agency or media buyer often gets a network or station to provide its client with credits, known as bonus spots or “audience deficiency units.”

In the lawsuit, Miller, a unit of Philip Morris Cos., New York, complains that Bates and Zenith Media took “inadequate steps” to obtain such credits for Miller, starting in early 1995.

The litigation between Miller Brewing and its agencies is an example of the unusual types of exposures which can result from significantly differing expectations between service provider and clients, particularly in the media industry.