DAA Blog

This blog post is another in our continuing series of coverage from #DAASummit2014, held June 26 in San Francisco.

One of the remarks made by the Federal Trade Commission’s Jessica Rich, as she spoke during a keynote address at the Digital Advertising Alliance Summit,  was her ticking off a list of hallmarks for successful self-regulation. Independent enforcement, backed by the power to refer to a government agency when necessary, is one such hallmark.

It is gratifying to have not only the Council of Better Business Bureau as one of our two enforcement partners, along with the Direct Marketing Association’s Committee on Ethical Business Practice, but also to know that CBBB, and DMA as well, are held in esteem by government officials whose purpose is above all enforcement and the protection of consumers.

During the Summit, we were able to hear firsthand from both our enforcement partners. Peggy Hudson, senior vice president, government affairs, spoke first from DMA. “DMA’s Accountability Program is consumer complaint driven. DMA receives more than 16,000 communications from consumers each year about a whole host of marketing practices. Those communications and complaints are what drive our process – a consumer complaint is the starting point for every compliance or enforcement action that DMA takes.”

“The good news is digital advertisers are a pretty good group of folks,” Hudson said...

This week the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) had the opportunity to attend and speak at the 2014 Association of National Advertisers Digital and Social Media Conference in Dana Point, CA. A founding member of the DAA, the ANA hosted an excellent event attended by some of the brightest minds in marketing and the most recognizable brands in the world. These are the brands with which consumers engage everyday. DAA is proud to help foster the transparency and control consumers demand when engaging with these brands be it on desktop or increasingly mobile and in-app environments.

With presentations dedicated to navigating brands, content, and advertising of all types through an ever-changing media landscape, it was a perfect audience for sharing DAA’s message about collaboration with businesses, public policy groups, and public officials to ensure that a high standard for consumer privacy, transparency and control are addressed and independently enforced across the industry.

I was able to highlight the ubiquity of the DAA Icon on the web -- whether on desktop, mobile, social, or multi-screen environments, the DAA Icon is served globally 1 trillion times per month -- while underlining the DAA’s work with hundreds of companies and thousands of brands, many of whom attended the conference as well. I was also able to showcase the forthcoming AppChoices and mobile-optimized Web Consumer Choice Page as tools...

The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) has launched our newest web property, digitaladvertisingalliance.org. The new site builds on our commitment to educate the advertising industry about DAA’s established and enforceable principles for responsible privacy practices across the online advertising industry, and to provide consumers with enhanced transparency and control regarding relevant advertising on their digital devices.

The site is part of a larger effort to help key audiences better understand the role we play as the industry’s self-regulatory body for stewarding responsible privacy practices for interest-based advertising in desktop, mobile and multi-screen environments. The blue DAA Icon, which provides enhanced transparency into interest-based advertising practices, is served globally 1 trillion times each month.

As we grows and evolve, so too does awareness of our unique self-regulatory model among advertisers, and policymakers. As we continue to expand into the mobile and multi-platform environments where brands and consumers engage, this site will be the anchor for these key audiences to stay apprised about the DAA program and the core principles that define our mission to be the digital advertising industry’s standard-bearer for consumer privacy by providing effective and enforceable transparency and control at an increasingly global scale.

The site will help DAA tell the story of the tremendous value of...

This blog post is another in our continuing series of coverage from #DAASummit2014, held June 26 in San Francisco.

The "Global View" panel of the recent Digital Advertising Alliance Summit 2014 was an opportunity to showcase not only how the DAA has set the standard for self-regulation here in the United States, but how the DAA Principles are rapidly becoming a global standard, now reaching 32 countries and 24 languages across the European Union, European Economic Area and Canada, and likely expanding to other markets soon. Moderated by the Peter Kosmala, former managing director of the DAA and currently vice president, government affairs, with 4A's, the panel featured representatives from the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) and Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC).

Dave Barron and Mathilde Fiquet of the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance both recognized the differences between the online advertising environment in Europe and the United States, and how the debate over online privacy is not exactly congruent on either side of the Atlantic. However, adapting a self-regulatory body that collaborates with business, public policy groups, and public officials to maintain a high standard of consumer privacy, transparency, and...

The following post is another part of our DAA Summit 2014 coverage series.

While much of the Digital Advertising Alliance Summit 2014 focused on the big ideas, trends and data associated with the macro world of interest based advertising, this particular panel moderated by Interactive Advertising Bureau Senior Director of Public Policy Alison Pepper, pivoted the conversation a bit toward the day-to-day benefits that relevant advertising means to small businesses operating in the online space.

Panelists Paul Banas, CEO and founder of GreatDad.com and Nick Jabbour, founder of MedChats.com, both members of the IAB's Long Tail Alliance, spoke about their business models' reliance on relevant advertising in order to keep customers and patrons returning to their sites and engaged online. The IAB Long Tail Alliance represents small digital publishers that rely on digital advertising sales and have revenues of under $1 million per year.

Both publishers spoke about how relevant advertising allows them to concentrate on the service they provide and the content they produce without having to worry about pay walls or other barriers which for small businesses would mean that consumers would turn away. The audience was treated to a walk-through of both sites that relayed the consumer...