The Self-Declaration Certificate (SDC) initiative, mandated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), aims to promote transparency and protect consumers by ensuring that advertisers declare compliance with advertising regulations. Despite its well-intentioned goals, the industry has encountered several persistent challenges that impede the widespread adoption of SDCs. We asked the experts: What are the constraint factors preventing the industry from adopting SDC?
According to Ambika Sharma, Founder and MD of Pulp Strategy, “The process of obtaining an SDC involves extensive pre-vetting of advertisements, requiring significant time and resources. Advertisers must substantiate every claim with detailed documentation, such as product certifications or research data. This complexity increases the workload and demands meticulous attention to detail, making the compliance process cumbersome.”
Sharma further elaborates, “The detailed nature of compliance processes demands a high level of documentation and verification. Advertisers are required to keep extensive records of product certifications, research data, and any other supporting documents. This requirement adds significant complexity to the advertising process, making it challenging for advertisers to manage their campaigns efficiently.“
Implementing the SDC process necessitates adjustments in pre-campaign planning, legal reviews, and the creation of compliance checklists. Many agencies and brands must reconfigure their internal processes to accommodate these new requirements, leading to potential delays and operational inefficiencies. According to Sharma, “This introduces new steps into the advertising workflow, complicating the process.”
She adds, “The additional steps introduced by the SDC process can disrupt existing workflows and necessitate significant changes in how campaigns are planned and executed. For instance, agencies may need to introduce new compliance checklists, additional legal reviews, and other measures to ensure that all advertisements meet the required standards. These changes can result in delays and increased operational complexity.”
The submission portals for SDCs, such as the Broadcast Seva Portal for TV and radio ads and the Press Council of India portal for print and digital media, have faced initial technical glitches. These issues can cause delays in obtaining certifications and disrupt campaign timelines, further discouraging advertisers from adopting the process promptly. Sharma highlights these technical problems as significant barriers.
“The technical glitches associated with the submission portals can create significant challenges for advertisers,” says Sharma. “Issues such as slow processing times, system errors, and difficulties in navigating the portals can delay the submission of SDCs and disrupt campaign timelines. These technical issues can be particularly problematic for advertisers working on tight schedules, as any delay in obtaining certifications can impact the launch of their campaigns.“
As Parthiv Majmudar, Senior Vice President at Puretech Digital, points out, “The advertisers must now implement a content approval process that tracks every advertisement from creation to release, ensuring a record of the approving authorities. While this process is familiar in the insurance industry, it is relatively new to other sectors, leaving many advertisers facing unanswered operational challenges.”
“There are still many areas where the government needs to provide clarity, including the scope and ownership of the SDC, whether website content, organic search marketing content and social media posts are included, its application to e-commerce portals and influencer endorsements, the handling of dynamic ad formats, and whether all adaptations of master creatives must be filed,” Majumdar underlined.
According to him, Clearer guidelines from the ministry are necessary to address these concerns. “Agencies, as the final checkpoint before publication, must now integrate the SDC into their workflows. This means both advertisers and agencies will need to establish new processes to meet the government’s mandate.”
“With effective planning, there should be no reason for the go-to-market pace to slow down. However, this mandate requires both advertisers and agencies to invest in people and technology to manage the process efficiently and ensure adherence to compliance. A staggered approach to campaign rollouts may be required to mitigate these challenges,” he added.
The need for detailed documentation and legal reviews means that advertisers must allocate more resources towards compliance. This can be particularly challenging for smaller agencies or brands with limited budgets, making the adoption of SDCs more burdensome. Yasin Hamidani, Director of Media Care Brand Solutions, emphasizes the increased administrative burdens and potential liability issues that contribute to industry resistance.
“The resource intensity of the SDC process can be a significant burden for smaller agencies and brands,” says Hamidani. “The need to allocate additional resources for documentation, legal reviews, and other compliance measures can strain limited budgets and resources. This can make it challenging for smaller players to adopt SDCs and comply with the new regulations,” Hamidani added.
Hamidani also notes, “There is inadequate awareness and training within the industry about the benefits and requirements of self-declaration. This lack of understanding further hinders adoption, as many agencies and advertisers are not fully equipped to navigate the complexities of the SDC process.“
While agencies like Pulp Strategy are incorporating robust compliance frameworks and training their teams, the industry as a whole is still in the adaptation phase. The varying pace at which different segments of the industry embrace these changes contributes to inconsistent adoption. Additionally, there is inadequate awareness and training within the industry about the benefits and requirements of self-declaration, as highlighted by Hamidani.
“The adaptation of the industry to the new SDC requirements is still ongoing,” Hamidani explains. “While leading agencies are making efforts to incorporate robust compliance frameworks and train their teams, many segments of the industry are still struggling to adapt. This inconsistent adoption can create challenges and confusion, as different players may be at different stages of compliance.”
Based on the above observation it is understandable that obtaining a Self-Declaration of Compliance (SDC) for advertising involves rigorous documentation and verification, increasing workload and complexity. Implementation requires extensive adjustments in planning and legal processes, introducing operational inefficiencies. Technical issues with submission portals further complicate compliance, impacting campaign timelines and flexibility, particularly challenging for smaller agencies and brands. A major challenge that advertisers and agencies face is ensuring the right certificate accompanies the correct creative to its intended destination. To tackle this issue, Aidem Ventures have introduced innovative solutions like Peach have emerged.
Karan Gupta, MD of Aidem, explains that Peach is a global company equipped to handle compliance workflow issues. “Peach simplifies the process by allowing agencies to attach the correct certificate to the creative on the platform, which is then sent to broadcasters. This ensures that broadcasters receive the correct certificates for the right creative, streamlining the compliance process and archiving the SDCs for future reference.”
Gupta further elaborates, “Peach comes into play once the agency or broadcaster has received the SDC from the MIB portal. Agencies simply have to add the correct certificate to the creative on the platform (a simple drag and drop option) and the creative will be sent to the broadcaster along with the SDC. Since all broadcasters in the country already use Peach, they will be able to view and download the certificate on the Peach interface which they all currently access. Apart from all this, these SDCs are archived with their corresponding creative for free, to be accessed at any time by the agency, advertiser, or broadcaster for compliance purposes.“
Gupta emphasizes the readiness of Peach to support the industry, “All of this is ready to use now. Peach solves the problem of sending the right certificate to hundreds of broadcasters along with the right creative. This becomes a daunting issue when multiplied by the number of creatives for various brands. Broadcasters are also going to have a tough time ensuring that agencies have emailed the right certificates for the right creative before airing them. Archiving of the creatives along with the certificates for any audit will be a massive issue, which Peach effectively addresses.“
