Facebook removes 4 agencies from Marketing Partners program with media-buying badge elimination

Facebook is returning its Marketing Partners (née Preferred Marketing Developers) program to its roots as a roster of advertising and marketing technology providers and putting some agencies that had been part of the program at a farther remove. Facebook plans to eliminate the “media buying” specialty from its Marketing Partners program that grants a Good Housekeeping-style seal of approval to various companies that help brands buy ads and manage their accounts on Facebook and Instagram, the company announced on Monday. The elimination of the media buying badge, which was introduced in an October 2014 revamp of the program and only available to U.S.-based companies, will take effect on December 31.The decision to terminate the media buying badge results in the removal of several agencies from Facebook’s Marketing Partners program. Of the 12 companies that had been awarded the media buying badge, four were agencies: Dents Aegis Network’s 360i and iProspect, Publicist Groupe’s Media Vest and Omnicom Media Group’s Resolution Media. And those four agencies were the only companies that had not been granted badges in other specialties, which would keep them in the Marketing Partners program and in closer contact with Facebook.