Anecdotally, carrier pigeons hit the mark most of the time, but anecdotal accountability won’t land them a national retail account. Especially when flyer distributors unveil new accountability standards later this year.

Three years into the process and one break-up later, the Toronto-based Flyer Distribution Standards Association is back in the boardroom and advertisers and distributors seem finally to be getting along.

Earlier this year advertisers agreed to work with a scaled-down version of the independent measurement system they were seeking when they convened the group in 2000. After a diary measurement model tested in the spring of 2002 proved too costly, distributors proposed appointing an independent auditor to verify the measurement processes distributors currently have in place. Their official proposal, unveiled at a June 18 meeting, met with reasonable success.

‘We’re looking for third-party quality assurance,’ said Peter Yung, Toronto-based Canadian Tire’s manager of dealer advertising, flyer distribution and budgets and chair of the FDSA’s measurement committee. ‘Advertisers agreed we should work with them for a process that should produce similar results.’

A formal announcement of the new verification process is expected later this month.