DAA Blog

The following contributed op-ed authored by DAA Executive Director Lou Mastria appeared on MediaPost on May 11, 2018, in response to a Media Daily News story earlier this month:  "Study Finds Few Americans Choose Ad Choices, Know It Exists" 

With apologies to many of my former colleagues in journalism, a headline in last week’s Media Daily News brought to mind Adlai Stevenson's definition of an editor as "one who separates the wheat from the chaff, then prints the chaff."

The survey featured in the article showed strong public awareness and adoption of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) AdChoices program, a proverbial bumper crop of positive data, yet the headline — "Study Finds Few Americans Choose Ad Choices, Know It Exists"  — was mostly chaff.

(AdChoices gives consumers information about and control over interest-based advertising.)

So why do I think the story missed the mark? Let's dive into the details:

• The survey, conducted by Research Intelligencer, asked 400 consumers about their awareness of six tools to control their digital ad experience, including offerings from...

Our April 5 Webinar is for brands and publishers – both business-to-business and consumer – as well as agencies and ad tech companies with their own apps and sites, or which design and support the sites and apps of others.

With the success of “digitally native vertical brands,” and the updating of sites and apps to improve user experiences, website and app owners are increasingly incorporating data gathering into their web and mobile strategies. Technologies such as software development kits (SDKs), cookies and other similar tools continue to be used to better engage consumers. But even as the nimble world of digital marketing embraces new trends, brands need to make sure that their advertising practices are in step with their privacy responsibilities. Innovative techniques should be coupled with adherence to the industry-standard Digital Advertising Alliance Principles, which establish enhanced transparency (outside of the privacy policy) and consumer control for IBA. Under these standards, site and app publishers must be certain that any integration...

While we may be a startup in spirit, we’ve achieved mature reach as our program has helped advertising organizations adapt to new technologies, evolving policy concerns, and ever-higher expectations of consumers.

We’re proud of those accomplishments, which were made possible by the support of our founding associations and the participation of so many hundreds of companies and thousands of brands.

In no particular order, here are at least nine ways our program made a positive difference in 2017 and continues to enable innovative and responsible digital advertising practices as we enter 2018.

1. Continued Recognition by Policymakers and Regulators

We seek to educate both policymakers and regulators on the flexibility and effectiveness that self-regulation can bring to responsible data collection for interest-based advertising purposes. In 2017, for the first time ever, we had a sitting U.S. Senator – Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) – speak to our annual DAA Summit, providing words of encouragement and support for our program and its dual goals of extending privacy protections to consumers, while enabling advertising to finance digital and mobile content and services.

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In almost every measure, brand safety is enhanced where and when transparency is extended.  Cheers to the foresight of our trade association founders: In the Digital Advertising Alliance YourAdChoices program, we’ve known this to be the case for the six-plus years our Principles – and their independent enforcement – have been in-market.

Each DAA participant explains to the consumer in real time how they and their ad partners responsibly collect and use data for interest-based advertising purposes by adhering to DAA Principles.  Our ubiquitous icon – served globally more than a trillion times each month – is recognized by more and more consumers as an interest-based ad marker.  Furthermore, a large majority liken it to a seal of trust:  75 percent place a greater level of trust in desktop and mobile interest-based ads that carry the YourAdChoices icon, and 79 percent cite similarly where Web sites display the icon (such as in footer notices).  The presence of our icon even can serve as a predictor of trust for the innovations that may come in such advertising in the future.

By participating directly with DAA, each company has the opportunity to leverage effectively the icon’s halo effect.

Innovation at DAA Summit 2017….

As marketers continue to coalesce the customer experience through the myriad devices we interact with on a daily basis -- which comScore now estimates to be between 10 and 12 devices per household -- they are also diligently heeding ethical standards and best practices in an increasingly dynamic ecosystem.

Representatives from companies that are enhancing this customer journey across devices spoke at DAA Summit 2017, offering insights into how they take a responsible, consumer friendly approach to cross-device data and marketing. Emmett O’Keefe, senior vice president of advocacy at the Data and Marketing Association, introduced and moderated the panel, which was titled “X-Factor: Responsible Data Collection for Interest-Based Advertising Across Devices.”

“There’s a lot going on with the question of how to make this cross-device marketing seamless for consumers, but still do it in a responsible manner,” O’Keefe said, opening the discussion. “That's where organizations like DAA [Digital Advertising Alliance] come in in a very significant way. DAA was ahead of the curve and has long been a leader on these issues.”

Guidance to DAA’s Principles for using cross-device data for interest-based advertising came into enforcement effect this February. Even the...