Editorial Articles

Delivering effective targeting is important in helping publishers maximise the value of their inventory while allowing advertisers to deliver more relevant campaigns. But, says Jonathon Shaevitz, CEO at Maxifier, companies must be open in their dealings with consumers so as not to compromise the privacy of users

Despite past predictions that online display advertising was in decline, 2011 saw it becoming the fastest growing form of online advertising in Europe, helped by the explosion in social media advertising and the growth of video. Another factor was the growing importance of audience-based targeting, helping advertisers to define and deliver to their core audience online by using data and insight much more effectively.

Delivering precise and effective targeting is important to help publishers maximise the value of their inventory while allowing advertisers to deliver more relevant and, ultimately, successful campaigns. Companies should and can do this, but must be more open in their dealing with consumers so as not to compromise the privacy of users.

Data privacy is a major concern for consumers and legislators, and advertisers and publishers need to make sure that they successfully strike a balance between effective targeting and maintaining consumer privacy. 2011 was an important year for this issue with the amendment to the ePrivacy Directive coming into force last May (although some countries still have not implemented it). 2012 will probably be even more important as the 12 month window for the industry to put in place the mechanisms to prepare for its enforcement closes and businesses will need to be fully compliant by May 2012.

We’ve seen a host of examples of where companies are deemed to have overstepped the mark when it comes to data privacy. Facebook tripped over this blurry line when it implemented Beacon to allow it to deliver more precise targeting based on user buying-habits on other external sites. The backlash forced it to eventually close down the system. Phorm had to cease its UK/European trading after an outcry into a lack of transparency when trials of its technology were carried out without the knowledge or consent of tens of thousands of consumers. This backlash in the UK then spread across the pond and saw NebuAd in the US - a similar business model to Phorm - closing down its operation.

But what should marketers do in order to strike this balance? Well, the key issue here is around openness: consumers are very uneasy about targeting technologies because, at the end of the day, they do not know what is happening. There is no evidence, for example, that targeting is being used to discriminate one group versus another or that it causes any measurable harm. However, consumers' understanding of these technologies often comes from the scare stories in the newspapers, where words such as ‘tracking’, ‘targeting’ and ‘monitoring’ paint a clandestine world of an industry which is looking at their every move and every page view.

Advertisers and publishers need to be more transparent in the way they operate. The self-regulation framework introduced by the industry in 2011 is all about providing easy to understand, clear information to consumers as to what is happening with the data, why it is happening and how they can take action to delete, control or limit cookies and opt out of audience targeting if they so wish.

The final element of this is to ensure that this information is easy to find and not hidden away. I would argue that it should not be accessible simply via the page footer but be somewhere much more obvious, so the consumer has every chance of seeing it and then making an informed decision about what they want to do.

Past research carried out by leading business law firm Olswang proves the point that when consumers know what is happening they become much more comfortable with the idea of targeting. Their findings highlighted that informing people that personal data is not collected or stored, data is anonymised and that there is the option to opt out, has a very positive impact on overall appeal and the level of comfort respondents have with the idea.

We’re already seeing some interesting examples of this happening. For example, Google recently launched a consumer campaign with the Citizens Advice Bureau promoting online safety using adverts in newspapers, on public transport and online and guiding them to a website providing information on what action they can take to be safe online. The aim of this is to give consumers the knowledge to tackle their online security concerns and make more informed decisions about their online use.

Effective targeting brings real benefits to business and consumers alike. Through offering audience targeting publishers can increase the value of their inventory, advertisers can run more successful campaigns and consumers can be exposed to relevant and timely offers. Often it is the bland untargeted advertising for things like teeth whitening or cosmetic surgery that most anger people, while properly targeted advertising actually becomes part of the website content.

The industry should not be afraid of allowing people to opt out of being targeted – it’s their right and actually delivers better targeting as there’s no point in trying to market to someone who does not want to be marketed to. So let’s ensure our industry is consumer friendly, more transparent and open and embraces what the European online industry is doing via self regulation. After all, the consequence of not complying and doing nothing is that European legislators will then do something!