• 5 Reasons to Say Goodbye to Cookie Targeting
• Key Partner Updates
• More

Enjoy and register for Aperture news and updates to tune into our latest news as it breaks.

• Register for the Email Experience Council’s Email Marketing Forum and Certification Workshops taking place during Connected Marketing Week (CMW).
• Take advantage of our discount code: EEC20F.
• Engage with Datran Media VP of Deliverability and Strategic Services Nicholas Einstein as he participates in the multi-channel integration panel on August 17^th and then leads the full-day certification workshop on August 19^th.

 The first recommendation is TRAFFIQ SVP of Sales and Marketing Chris O’Hara’s guest blog on eConsultancy, Why Real Time Bidding is More Important than You Think.  The post explores the trends in real time bidding to look for over the next 18 months.  It also makes the case that the measurability of digital media is helping brands justify their enourmous budget shifts as the ROI metrics speak for themselves in cross-channel comparisons. Chris gives some of the credit for measurability to solutions like Vizu and our own Aperture.  Thanks Chris! We appreciate the confidence and recognition.

The second recommended read for the day is Peer39 CEO Andy Allenthal’s Digiday article, Audience Buying Alone Cannot Succeed. The piece eloquently reinforces brand marketers’ critical need to engage target audiences in context at scale.  The topic is one we work with clients every day to address and a solid reference for anyone tasked with transforming the challenge into an opportunity within their own organization.   

Please enjoy these ideas from the fine company we keep and let us know your point of view.

Ms.  Tareen kicks things off at 9am at the Eighth Conference on Innovation Journalism at Stanford University on a panel titled ‘The Arab Awakening’.  Prior to joining Datran Media, Ms. Tareen served as the founder and CEO of Allvoices.com. The company was recently acquired by Datran Media. For more information on the conference and panel, please visit the conference website.

At 1:30pm E.T., Mr. Einstein will lead an online MarketingProfs University course on email marketing. His presentation will primarily focus on an ABCmouse.com case study, highlighting steps the savvy publisher took to ensure a successful program launch while optimizing communications across all stages of its customers’ lifecycles.

Finally, at 7pm Ms. Tareen again presents on the topic of how technology will shape government transparency and decision-making here in the US and around the world for Technocracy Now at the Computer History Museum  in Mountain View, California.

#datranmedia #stormpost #aperturetweets #othereinstein #amratareen

Please feel free to share the news with others and let us know if you have questions. Most of all, thank you for your ongoing support and interest.

Demystifying Choice in Online Privacy

Steven Vine, Chief Privacy Officer, Datran Media

You may not have noticed but the Do-Not-Track (DNT) revolution has reached a new stage. It has become a reality, and the digital marketing industry will now have to adapt and adjust.  The scope of this new DNT is still being shaped and defined.  It is important that we get this definition right, because DNT can be a successful tool to address the privacy concern of consumers.

Many industry veterans still see the debate about targeting and privacy as a zero sum game – either privacy wins or the marketers win. I do not see it in these terms. Do Not Track does not have to be an either/or proposition.  What’s good for marketers does not necessarily have to be something that is not good for consumers. The reality is quite the opposite; a DNT system that encourages meaningful choice for consumers will be a positive development for everybody.

The best way to achieve this is through a DNT mechanism that is deployed via a browser header request. Using the DNT header as a universal choice mechanism allows consumers to communicate their desire not to be tracked.  This solution creates a virtual “Do Not Trespass” sign, and the onus to comply would be on individual web sites, networks and technologies. 

In addition to the technical benefits, the reason the DNT header works is because its goal is not actually to stop tracking. Simply put, this is a system that communicates a preference rather than acts as a blocking tool. Communication of preferences should be welcomed by the industry, as this provides the opportunity for marketers and brands to present a value proposition to consumers.  By bringing the value proposition of targeted advertising to light, we can ensure that a consumer’s experience will reflect a more complete understanding of the consequences of their choices. More importantly, encouraging communication will foster trust between consumers and brands.  This is a critical first step to build brand loyalty and companies should embrace it. 

Once a well-defined Do-Not-Track mechanism is in place, there will be an incentive to provide new models of choice to consumers. Some will present the most basic choice – either pay for content or get it for free in exchange for ad targeting. However, the choices will evolve over time. Rather than users paying a premium to prevent undesirable advertising, perhaps we will start to see brands paying consumers for access.  Payment may take the form of financial incentives, or may evolve into innovative value-add propositions for consumers. This represents true progress in the empowerment of consumers. 

In some cases, marketing is already moving beyond intrusive messaging to providing more functional value for customers.  For example, the successful Kraft iFood mobile app offers recipes which can be accessed while shopping in the grocery store and Starbucks’ MyStarbucksIdea.com encourages consumers to share their ideas for making the brand better.  As technology continues to evolve, brands can serve a more specific purpose in the lives of their customers. This in turn can motivate consumers to request marketing messages from brands, while privacy concerns become a non-issue as consumers essentially begin to target themselves.

The key for companies to successfully adjust to DNT is to simplify and demystify choices for users. This is the reason we launched PreferenceCentral, an online service which provides consumers with the choice to select specific brands they want to see and hear from online. This is the kind of control that makes the most sense to consumers.  They don’t intuitively understand the difference between ad networks, which is the choice they are given in today’s cookie based opt-out environment. But consumers definitely understand making choices about brands – they do this every day. 

As the privacy landscape matures, it’s essential for all players to understand that respect for consumer choice and consumer trust are not an option but the key to the long-term survival of the advertising industry. Only when there is clarity for consumers and the industry as a whole, can that trust be restored.