Media Agencies Are Embracing Data Ethics to Help Clients Do What's Right, Not Just What's Legal

As heightened awareness drives such changes in perception, with increasing support from legislators and platforms like Google, media agencies are rethinking their relationship with customer information. More and more, these agencies are investing in ways to guide clients beyond data privacy to embrace a higher standard and earn consumer trust through data ethics.

Time to reassess

“The past couple of years, we’ve been living in this age where data represents a competitive advantage. There’s been a race to utilize more and more,” Mindshare executive director, managing partner, customer strategy Brian DeCicco told Adweek.

Between recent and upcoming changes to regulations and individual platform changes, the time was ripe for reassessment.

“Consumers are more aware of their data, and we need to be responsible around the gift … [that] the consumer giving them their personal data is, and then manage that appropriately and maintain that trust,” GroupM global chief innovation officer Krystal Olivieri said.

While the agency has had frameworks around adherence to data privacy rules for some time, “we were finding [that] privacy regulation hasn’t kept pace with what we’re hearing from consumers about how they want us to use their data,” DeCicco said, with such consumer research informing the Data Ethics Compass tool GroupM and Mindshare created in partnership with client Unilever.

Cool or creepy?

IPG Mediabrands included data collections and use among the 10 principles in the Media Responsibility Principles it released last year.

“What we seek to do is operate in the spirit that the regulations are intended and what is in the best interest of the individual and what the individual would expect,” IPG Mediabrands global brand safety officer, UM chief digital officer Joshua Lowcock said.

Consumers are more aware of their data, and we need to be responsible around the gift … [that] the consumer giving them their personal data is.

Krystal Olivieri, GroupM global chief innovation officer

The gap between data privacy regulations and ethical data use provides ample opportunity for questionable practices to fall through the cracks.

Olivieri noted device fingerprinting, which collects various attributes about a device to determine a probable identity without collecting personalized information, as one example. Since it doesn’t inform the user or give them a choice to opt out, Olivieri said, it’s not something GroupM would support.

She explained that data ethics allows GroupM to look at tactics and decisions holistically to answer the question: “Would a consumer in this market find this tactic cool or creepy, and how do you draw that line?”

Getting ahead of the great reset

An approach of maximizing data collection under legal compliance could leave marketers scrambling to anticipate and adjust to regulatory and platform changes, an approach DeCicco called unsustainable.

“People looking for loopholes are going to have those loopholes closed,” Lowcock said. “What we’re saying is lean in, adapt to those changes and learn to do business the new way.”

Data ethics practices could help marketers get ahead of future changes in regulation and platform policies.

“We believe that the gap between regulation and consumer sentiment will close,” DeCicco explained. “Helping our clients get to holding themselves to an ethics standard will be part of their strategy to stay ahead of what some are calling a great reset in our ecosystem.”

That reset is part of the larger shift in how consumers interact with brands.

“I’ve always thought that data privacy would be the next big brand safety challenge. If what you’re doing falls afoul of the perceptions of the public, legal compliance is not a defense in the court of public opinion,” Lowcock said.

Publicis Media claims it views data ethics as part of its emphasis on brand integrity.

“We’ve developed a unique framework, tool kit and approach that helps our clients with planning, delivery and response to ad standards to ensure everything they’re doing aligns with the brand values their consumers have come to expect,” PMX evp, global digital standards Yale Cohen said.

Those who skirt ethical practices risk serious reputation damage at a time when consumers expect more from brands. A recent Morning Consult survey found that 76% of consumers expect brands to exemplify responsible or ethical business practices. Meanwhile, a December 2019 poll found that 64% of voters held companies responsible for online data protection.

“Brands and their media agencies must reset their relationship with consumers, less risk further alienating them from ad-supported business models,” Forrester principal analyst Jay Pattisall told Adweek. “The industry needs to reimagine the ad experience. Data privacy and ethics will likely play a role in that reimagining.”