Tag Archives: Online

the7stars Digital View : EU Privacy Laws

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April 5, 2012

A recap…

Since we last discussed the EU Cookie Law (its adopted headline title… this is about user privacy remember!), and we creep ever closer to compliance judgement day, 26th May, what’s the latest on how the EU might enforce this law and how has the UK online business community been reacting recently?

Doom merchants are still prophesising the end of the ecommerce world as we know it, but others are perhaps more level-headed and pragmatic in their views on whether this law can actually be fully enforced in the way the Directive set out its suggested compliance almost a year ago.

To recap, the fundamental change is the ‘opt-in’ requirement around cookies versus the existing ‘opt-out’ option that websites currently include in the small print of their Privacy Policies tucked away at the bottom of their web pages.    Making this clearer is the EU’s intention, but as our recent What’s Hot piece reflected, there isn’t anything currently in the Directive distinguishing between different cookies… remember, not all cookies are bad for you.

Cookies Explained

There are essentially 3 types of cookies that are under scrutiny here;

  1. Those that help user experience, remembering your font sizes, pre-populating forms, where you are in an order/your basket contents, and allowing users to comment and share content on social networks.  Typically 1st party.
  2. Those used to retarget you with ads based on your behaviour.  Often 3rd party (e.g. ad networks) and at the heart of the privacy issue.
  3. Those that website owners will use for analytical purposes, which for many online ecommerce businesses, is absolutely critical for their existence.

Recently even the Government Digital Services has stepped up to question the validity of making analytical cookies opt-in, and Mr Ed Vaizey himself has been liaising recently with browser providers to see what can be done at this level to apply the rules (this has some way to go as browsers need to become more intelligent to handle opt-in/opt-out tracking).   The Directive’s wording around this might offer some narrow allowance around point 3 and maybe even point 1… “if what you are doing is ‘strictly necessary’ for a service requested by the user”… but the area is grey, at least for the next 7 weeks!

Current, Suggested Fixes For Sites To Achieve Compliance

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which is overseeing the application of the Directive in the UK, has offered some initial suggestions for compliance;

  • JavaScript pop-up box on every site – this would explain cookie usage and provide ‘yes’ and ‘no’ options for consent. Horrible solution for most… as we all know how much everybody hates pop-ups and most browsers block them anyway.
  • Splash page – a big user experience (and SEO) faux-pas.
  • Header and/or footer bars– shown along the top and/or bottom of the home page to first time visitors with a tick box to allow users to consent, with cookies disabled until the visitor ticks to indicate consent.
  • Remember preferences – enhanced wording of ‘remember preferences’ such as language or font size to ensure that it’s clear that a cookie will be required to do so.
  • Flagging at Terms & Conditions level – an option where users have to log into their account. They would need to give ‘specific and informed’ consent to these pages, so consent cannot be assumed just by changing the terms and conditions
  • In addition to this, the law also requires that Privacy Policies, typically hidden for obvious reasons perhaps, are more prominent, sited more visibly on the page.

What Should You The Advertiser Take From This?

Recently posting impressive growth figures – online display has increased 27% year-on-year across 2011 according to a recent IAB study – it is clear that the online display channel has been driven by the increasing number of behavioural targeting opportunities that now exist.  The UK has spawned many innovations and indeed innovators… a whole industry around user data interpretation and usage… so naturally the industry is concerned.

the7stars believes that privacy is an important issue, but if user data is anonymous, website user experience is enhanced and industries flourish in the UK, then with a level of control, hopefully we can be allowed to effect these campaigns to the benefit of all.

The likely outcome?  A quick roundup of comments from our numerous network and exchange suppliers suggests they are unsurprisingly favouring the ad level solution that has been adopted by some… that is, the AdChoices logo in the corner of any display ads that are retargeting users. But this is clearly opt-out rather than opt-in, so that sits at odds with the current Directive. Seems as though confusion still reigns.

Until 26th May, and likely beyond, we are available to advise objectively on any and all methods of behavioural targeting so please call with any queries around current or planned campaigns and we’ll be happy to answer them!

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Everything Changes

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June 23, 2011

This time last week, Alan Rusbridger, Editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media, announced that they were to become a digital-first organisation. He explained they would “move beyond the newspaper, shifting focus, effort and investment towards digital, because that is our future”. It was a bold statement but a timely one. The last few months have seen the Mail Online rise to the second most-read news site on the internet and The Huffington Post being sold for $315 million. It’s the beginning of the realisation that the publishing empires of today are digital. They are online. They are mobile. And most importantly they build communities. Communities that can comment, can talk, can interact and eventually become a target market so valuable, they can be sold for vast sums of money.

It’s with that in mind, that we tip our hats to the launches of high50 and DaddyBeGood. high50 is now three weeks old and it celebrates the second half of your life. Last week saw the launch of its sibling, DaddyBeGood, which celebrates all things dad. Even a decade ago, those with a conviction to launch more than one publication would have opted for the print route. Flog some ad space, flog some subscriptions and away you go. Now, it’s nothing new to say that the internet is faster and more responsive – but the element of a constantly engaged community is what makes digital publishing so appealing.

The significant drop in audience since The Times introduced a paywall suggests the content you provide must remain free. You have to be shrewder about how you make money online. And that’s an exciting challenge.

high50 is a stylish and celebratory site for the new generation of 50justs. Recognising that older and wiser and cooler citizens were sick of slippers and Saga. In our three weeks of existence, it’s graced the pages of Vogue.com, The Guardian, the Mail online, The Huffington Post; appeared on Sky News; been plugged on Radio 4 and appeared on billboards across the capital. The reaction has been fantastic.

DaddyBeGood is even younger, emerging as it did on Fathers’ Day. In a world swamped by advice on motherhood and general parenting, it was felt there was no viable home for dads. An equally overwhelming response has secured writing from former Loaded editor James Brown, chef Aldo Zilli and agony uncle Phillip Hodson, as well as seeing DaddyBeGood appear on Channel 5 and in the Sunday Times.

I’ll plug no more but if you’re a dad or if you’re over 50 do take a look. No expensive printing presses, no distribution worries and absolutely no use in wrapping fish and chips.
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The Name of the Game

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May 12, 2011

From next month, we could start to see marketers investing hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy their own brand names as top-level domains. This might sound boring, but What’s Hot can assure you it’s not. A ‘top level domain’ is the bit after the ‘dot’ in a web address, where you’d normally find ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’. The result could be the beginning of web addresses that end in: ‘.nike’, ‘.sony’ and even ‘.asda’.

The news is based on an announcement by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body that oversees the internet addresses. ICANN announced that next month it will outline its guidelines on brands buying these top level domains.
The rationale for this is that instead of brands having long sub domain addresses such as www.findaproperty.com/rent/lambeth/brixton, users will be able to find different products by visiting a much simpler (branded) top level domain such as brixton.findaprop.

Companies such as Canon, Hitachi, IBM and Unicef are expected to be the first to buy the unique domains  according to Brand Republic. However interest in this is far from universal. Motorola, for example, has insisted that it remains firmly committed to its existing site. Buying a top level domain will cost about $185,000 (£113,000) to register, as well as $25,000 (£15,000) a year in subscription and infrastructure costs.

Certainly there are benefits to large corporations with diverse business units that would be able to amalgamate their divisions under one domain, eg: mobile.sony, tv.sony, ps3.sony. However, there are lots of issues for a brand that wants to make these changes – most notably the reaction of users that have grown up with the ‘.com’ and ‘.co.uk’ domains. These are embedded in the psyche of the internet generation and any changes could cause confusion. To switch off ‘.com’ and ‘.co.uk’ would be extremely risky and brands would need to consider how they might align these with any move to a branded domain.

As well as buying the top level domains, brands will need to maintain them by having the right technical infrastructure. They will also need to migrate various business platforms over to the one domain as per the Sony example above.

Finally, brands need to consider key short- and medium-term concerns, such as extending their search keywords for PPC and SEO changes, and how they will raise consumer awareness of the new domains. In the end most brands will probably register a branded domain name and see how the market adapts before fully committing. In doing so, they will need to maintain their ‘.com’ and similar domains during any transitional period, and have a clear migration plan in place. The really interesting point will be when one leading brand takes the first step. What’s Hot is waiting with baited breath .

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Testing Times

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September 2, 2010

What’s HOT has been following the Times paywall story with much interest. So far, News International has not revealed any information about traffic on its sites since the paywall was introduced or how much money it was generating, but ComScore data suggests that traffic has fallen by 27% since June and 42% since May (the pre-pay wall drop could be explained by all visitors being required to register for access to the site though they did not yet have to pay). This is considerable but the new figures are fuelling then debate.

In the search for a new revenue model, strategists at the Times have decided there is a better future in serving a small select audience of dedicated paying customers and providing a quality demographic to advertisers than a mass of passers-by. This strategy has worked for the FT.com and Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal (1.1m paying subscribers) but will this translate to non-business critical news?

Conversely to the Times, the Guardian remains outspoken in its commitment to retaining free content and even welcomed former Times online readers in a post-paywall article. It believes there is (or will be) value in a large number of people choosing to use Guardian content world-wide. How they monetise this broad brand approach is yet to be seen.

Clay Shirky notes: “When we talk about newspapers, we talk about them being critical for informing the public; we never say they’re critical for informing their customers. We assume that the value of the news ramifies outwards from the readership to society as a whole. But what Murdoch is signing up to do is to prevent that value from escaping. He wants to only inform his customers, he doesn’t want his stories to be shared and circulated widely. In fact, his ability to charge for the paywall is going to come down to his ability to lock the public out of the conversation convened by the Times.”

Blogger Malcolm Coles refers to the comparative sociability of the two sites post-paywall noting that for two similar stories posted at the same time the Times had 4 comments in 2 hours whilst the Guardian achieved 117 comments in 90 minutes.  Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales claimed the paywall had made the Times “irrelevant” with stories that cannot be tweeting or picked up by blogs; and is practically invisible on Google.

News International clearly recognise the importance of social media and as such are launching a social media campaign designed to recruit new readers online imminently.  They will hope to learn from this approach before they send the Sun and News of the World behind the paywall at the end of November.

What’s HOT looks forward to bringing you an update next month…

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Ofcom undressed

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September 2, 2010

A loud ‘thunk’ announced the arrival of Ofcom’s seventh annual Communications Market report caused by the impact of 379 pages hitting our desks. And while we are avid fans of data we thought we’d supply a trimmed down version of the main points to save you, our loyal readers, from such time consuming activities.

Time, therefore, seems a good starting point for our review. The modern day Briton now spends 45% of their waking hours interacting with some form of media or
communications, however this 7 hours of time soon jumps to 8 hours and 40 minutes of combined media usage. Multi-tasking is now a recognised norm for the modern Brit.

Linking multiple media usage is the seamless integration of digital – broadband penetration is up to 71% and digital tv to 92% and this has led to a jump in bundling of services under one provider with 17% now taking multiple services vs 3% just 5 years ago. This way of interacting with media has been propelled by the ‘smart’ phone, which
now accounts for a quarter of all handsets and has now become central to the Converging world. Those over 55 spend 57% of their time using for actual voice calls,
however for the digital natives under 24 that figure drops to less than 25% with text messaging and social networking accounting for a whopping 63% of usage.

Media multi-tasking is particularly relevant with pc (62%) and mobile usage (57%) most likely to be combined with other media, however combining media doesn’t necessarily
reduce the impact of messages – something backed up recently by the RABs intriguing research into radios effects on online browsing history.

Beyond these points the report is filled with every conceivable digital statistic.

Want to know the penetration of wireless routers in the
home? Head to page 11. (it’s 66% btw). Or how about
the proportion of media and lifestyle activity? (Figure
1.13, page 32). Maybe even the ownership of iPods in
Wales? (Figure 3.5, page 231).

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