This week's member guest post is written by Tead's Global Creative VP, Bertrand "Coca" Cocallemen. Coca describes what is important for mobile-optimised campaigns and invites everyone interested to the Teads Grand Prix. The ceremony takes place on July 29th! Register here to see who takes home the gold and be inspired by creative best practices!
Discussions around creativity in advertising are predominantly focused around the core idea, with conversations around effectiveness leaning towards the message itself. But the execution of that creative should carry equal weight. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your ad is, a 60 second landscape video with sound on isn’t going to deliver results on mobile. Equally a 6 second, low-res, vertical ad on a cinema screen won’t carry the weight it should. This might seem obvious, and for a lot of media planners it is, but when you dive into outstanding examples of collaboration between media and marketing teams, you can see these nuances are clearly understood.
Our in-house Teads Studio team works in collaboration with our clients to make their content be as impactful as possible on mobile by combining their brand expertise and our knowledge of how consumers engage with our platform. And the results show how important this optimisation is delivering an average uplift of 49% on attention and 31% brand lift for clients
We wanted to ensure we made the most of these learnings for what makes great content for mobile and also celebrate the best creative work done with our clients. So in June 2020 we created our first ever awards programme analysing the best creative work from across the Teads network.
We’ve done six to date, each one focusing on an individual category (Pharmaceutical, Beverages, Beauty/Luxury, Automotive, CPG and Technology) and this is going to culminate in the inaugural Teads Awards Grand Prix on the 29th June featuring all creatives that won and stood out from over 3,000 submissions from 30 markets across US, Latam, EMEA and APAC.
The grand prix are going to be judged by an esteemed panel of marketeers including:
You can have a look at the shortlist here, but through this process, what have we learned about brands and agencies creatively collaborating with tech partners on mobile?
The suite of formats and innovative ad experiences that have reinvented display advertising is really exciting for brands. It’s unusual actually, because the “banner” industry is probably the least exciting format for senior marketers, but the way that we’ve approached it is by creating experiences that leverage the natural behaviour of users when reading an article. For example, leveraging the scroll and giving the audience control of the ad. As a result we see dwell time of up to 13 seconds for our best dynamic display creatives, on par with a TV ad.
When it comes to video, our Teads Studio team does a range of work. Starting at a basic level of optimization that delivers much higher brand awareness through a consistent brand presence through the whole video, through to more advanced optimization that allow the video to generate more stopping power (adding special effects to the video), increasing the comprehension of the campaign and delivering a higher intent to purchase through more immersive experiences (adding packshots, interactivity or shoppable elements.).
Through advanced AB test methodologies partnering with Kantar, we are constantly comparing the performance of shortlisted and rewarded ad experiences with original assets. Through those studies we’ve learned that ad experiences that leverage the scroll, and exciting ads such as 3D Cube or vertical interactive experiences, are really successful in driving positive marketing outcomes (attention, brand, ad recall and intent) as well as content KPIs (message comprehension and consideration).
Innovating to create better ad experiences is at the heart of what we do at Teads, and we’re really excited about revealing our grand prix winners on the 29th June. But this isn’t a finite process, we’re going to continue our awards programme into 2022 and it will be fascinating to see how the bar is raised once again this time next year.
Make sure you’re signed up to watch the ceremony on the 29th, register here to see who takes home the gold!
If you’re interested in seeing how Teads can optimize your next campaign, feel free to reach out to your Teads representative, or visit our official Teads Awards website.
Today, Google announced the revised timeline for the phasing out of third-party cookies, with new Privacy Sandbox milestones. In the announcement on their Chrome blog, Google said they will phase out third-party cookies in Chrome over a three-month period ending in late 2023.
This adjusted timeline reflects Chrome’s expectation that the new Privacy Sandbox technologies will be deployed and ready to use together in late 2022, providing a nine-month window of time for companies to integrate them before the third-party cookie phase-out begins.
These efforts are meant to ensure that all ecosystem stakeholders have access to clear and helpful information, with reasonable timeframes and advance notice for planning. This is consistent with Google’s recent commitments to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority regarding the Privacy Sandbox. IAB Europe remains committed to helping all stakeholders navigate this new era with it's bi-weekly Post Third-Party Cookie taskforce. The taskforce's mission is to enlist a broad network of European stakeholders to support the emergence of a technical outcome or outcomes in which comprehensive individual privacy control and responsible addressable internet advertising coexist safely and comfortably, to support a rich and diverse universe of online content and services available at low or no cost to users.
Please read the Google's blog post for more detail on this staged plan.
The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and its partners set up a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force last April just before the tragedy of George Floyd and the resulting DEI movement through our industry. The group came together to be accountable for achieving meaningful change within the industry. While we recognized there were many DEI groups and initiatives, we saw unique value in having a group of global leaders who would challenge ourselves and our peers to deliver measurable change which moves our industry, and our society, forward.
IAB Europe is a proud supporter of this initiative. Together, we are absolutely thrilled to be embarking upon the first ever global census of the marketing and advertising industry. Building on the UK All In initiative this work is critical in setting a tangible and factual benchmark for inclusion and diversity across our industry, globally. Our global research will be conducted in 27 territories from June 21 to July 2 and we need your help to ensure that this is the largest, most accurate, sample possible. An exciting and worthy feat!
Have Your Say!
We’ve built a 15-20 minute survey to gather data about the diversity and inclusion in our industry – and we need your help. Please fill out the survey here.
Hearing your views will be a critical step to making our industry more diverse and inclusive. This is vital because many industry efforts have been strained or delayed by the unique pressures of the pandemic.
Responses are entirely anonymous and cannot be traced back to respondents.
The data will help inform an action plan for change and the industry will re-run this research in 18 months to measure progress.
The survey will be open until July 2nd and is being conducted in 27 countries.
Brussels, Belgium, 18th June, 2021: IAB Europe is delighted to announce that a new Board of Directors has been appointed. The new Board of Directors were elected by IAB Europe members during the Annual General Meeting for a two-year mandate. The meeting, held virtually, took place on 16th June 2021.
IAB Europe’s new Board is composed of ten Corporate members and ten National IAB Members, which ensures a multi-stakeholder representation in leadership, including Publishers, Agencies and Ad Tech companies. IAB Europe – whose mission is to lead political representation and promote industry collaboration across Europe– is pleased to share the list of the newly elected Board members as follows, who have pledged to drive this mission forward:
Corporate Board Members
National IABs Board Members
The new Board will oversee IAB Europe’s 2021-2022 workplan. The plan is built around three core areas: policy advocacy & regulation; frameworks & codes of conduct; and industry programmes.
Townsend Feehan, CEO at IAB Europe said: “The next 12 months will bring a lot of change to the Digital advertising ecosystem. We are entering a new era void of third-party cookies, and bound to new policy regulations which may deeply impact how the open internet is sustained and funded. The board will play a pivotal role in enabling IAB Europe to successfully steer its members and stakeholders forward, advocating for a sustainable and open internet for all. The team and I look forward to working with the board and welcome their support and experiences to lead our industry forward over the next two years’.
Media contacts
Recent weeks have seen important milestones in both the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the proposed Digital Services Act (DSA), reflecting the keen interest and relatively fast pace of work on the file by both of the co-legislators. On 27 May, the Competitiveness Council received a progress report from the Portuguese Presidency. In the Parliament, three out of the four associated committees have now released their draft reports, and deadlines for amendments either loom or have already passed. In the Council, on the provisions that relate most directly to digital advertising, there seems to be a consensus that the Commission’s proposed way forward - doubling down on transparency to consumers so they are empowered to make choices that are appropriate for them - is the right one.
But the direction of travel in the Parliament, if the draft reports from the IMCO & LIBE Committees are any indication, is alarming. Here a fear of societal harm from online disinformation, insufficient awareness of how much transparency is already required under existing privacy and data protection law, and exasperation at the perceived failure of GDPR enforcement are driving a desire for something more radical, potentially including a full ban on targeted advertising. Rather than protecting democracy, amendments tabled in the two Committees would entrench inequality of consumer access to quality online content and services. A ban on targeted advertising, in particular, would effectively deprive all European citizens of a significant proportion of the content and services they benefit from today.
Over the past few months, IAB Europe has engaged extensively with EU policymakers about the value of data-driven ads and the existing policy and regulatory landscape. We appreciate these opportunities as they reveal legitimate and sincere concerns and questions about the advertising business model, which can be addressed during a frank exchange of views.
Nonetheless, as we have been digesting the released Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) drafts, we note recommendations which could damage thousands of businesses that depend on digital ads across Europe. The IMCO report proposes an opt-in only paradigm for targeted ads, whereas the LIBE Rapporteur goes as far as claiming that even with consent, targeted ads compromise user safety and the sustainability of traditional media.
From the outset, we have approached the DSA with an open mind. We have taken good note of the importance attached by the European Commission to ensuring a sufficient level of transparency in digital advertising, an attachment that aligns to our own given the industry’s self-interest in ensuring transparency and trust across the value chain.
But we also believe that a discussion on what new transparency requirements is required in the DSA must be fact-based, in particular if restrictions on certain practices are contemplated. Data-driven advertising is comprehensively covered by the existing EU privacy & data protection legal framework, and any new provisions must not undermine or contradict that framework or its enforcement. Surely this should be as important for regulators as for the companies that have invested in GDPR and ePrivacy legal compliance, including by implementing the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF).
With regard to the IMCO approach to targeted ads, it is relevant to recall that under the GDPR, there are six available legal bases for processing personal data, and no single legal ground enjoys an elevated status. A company’s choice of the most appropriate legal basis for processing of personal data cannot and should not be mandated a priori. Data Protection Authorities’ guidelines and interpretation can aid in taking such decisions, but pre-determining that choice solely for targeted ads, and in a legal act with a very different substantive scope to the GDPR would be inadequate. It would also add to the enforcement complexity, given a new proposed institution of Digital Service Coordinators.
Worryingly, the LIBE report proposes an outright ban on targeted ads. From industry perspective, bans and prohibitions are extreme and unnecessary, and anyway inappropriate in the context of DSA which focuses on ex-post transparency. The legal and enforcement uncertainty created by a ban would not only hit businesses. Ultimately - if reflected in the final regulation - it would result in the demise of ad-supported open web, and critically, take choices in regard to consumption of online content out of users’ hands. The very ad-supported web that is powered by targeted ads and which - according to our latest research - 75% of Europeans surveyed would choose over an internet without targeted ads, where they would need to pay to access most sites and apps.
The hard truth is that a ban would be illusory - that it would not end the practice of users’ behaviour across multiple sites and services being used to derive insight into what types of products they might be interested in, but instead just ensure that only a very small number of companies with a wide portfolio of online services would be in a position to do it. The advertiser spend that these diversified companies will be able to attract will be redirected from smaller sites to them, aggravating existing market failures.
We call on EU policymakers and legislators to ensure law-making grounded in studious care and attention, and we remain committed to continuing our critical conversations on the DSA dossier. It should be our joint priority to ensure that digital advertising can continue to support a pluralistic media and Europeans’ access to the free and open internet dependent on ad-supported content.
Greg Mroczkowski, Director, Public Policy at IAB Europe .
In this week's member-guest blog post, we hear from Rachel Gantz, General Manager, Activation at Comscore as she shares why brands should consider contextual solutions not just to solve brand safety problems but for CTV and audience targeting as well.
Recently, the IAB Europe issued a summary of brand safety solutions in the modern era. With GDPR, cookies being deprecated in just 200 days (!?!?!), and CTV on the rise there is a strong argument to be made for why brands should take a second look at contextual solutions to solve not only their brand safety problems, but their CTV targeting and audience targeting problems as well. There was much discussion amongst the brand safety providers about what the future of contextual targeting should be. Can we move the industry to one where publishers see value in monetising their ad-supported CTV programming with contextual categories? Will advertisers one day be able to apply brand safety applications that have been tried, and true in web to CTV live streaming news or sports?
The discussion of the future of contextual CTV targeting mainly consisted of two key topics:
The discussion argued that brand safety for CTV needs to evolve beyond basic metadata processing to include frame by frame and second by second audio and visual processing to give advertisers a more complete brand safety picture. It also argued that for a transparent ecosystem, efforts will need to be made by publishers to better categorise CTV content (including live streaming) in a standardised way.
Well friends I have great news, the future is now.
From methodologies that include frame-by-frame video and second by second audio applications to patent-pending brand safety for live streaming solutions, Comscore is evolving how the CTV landscape thinks about brand safety. With an increasing percentage of eyeballs focusing on video content and ad-supported CTV becoming mainstream, these technological evolutions are critical to giving advertisers the tools needed to make informed choices. However, they are also critical for publishers and when done right, give publishers the ability to monetise more of their content, not less, by offering more contextually relevant moments for advertisers to take advantage of.
In addition, we are partnering with SSPs, DSPs, and publishers to ensure standardisation within the bidstream so that advertisers can apply brand safety, contextual categories, or even Comscore’s new Predictive Audiences, our contextually driven audience targeting solution, at scale. This standardisation is critical for better monetisation and better scale for advertisers.
In summary, while there will always be future evolutions that will make the market better, Comscore is doing a lot of the ‘future of CTV’ now. Come talk to us, we’d love to tell you about it.
In this week's member-guest blog post, we caught up with IAB Romania's Director Executive, Ioana Anecu on Clubhouse, the new age of the audio economy and how it is paving the way for more meaningful content.
There have been many opinions written and shared across the Internet about Clubhouse, pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, Many “how to”s from the brand’s perspective, and “riding the waves of the new Clubhouse trend” for KOLs and worldwide specialists - from marketing to lifestyle, hobbies, and music. It will remain the symbol of Social Audio (real-time audio that allows listeners to actively participate in the dialog). But it wasn’t the first and will not be the last app in this sector. Based on exclusivity and scarcity - due to the lack of a recording possibility of the talks - Clubhouse has been, undoubtedly the “rising star” of 2021, harnessing people’s need for getting close to one another, the nostalgia of direct interactions, and following a worldwide video call fatigue.
One More Step Towards the Age of the Audio Economy!
While in the last few weeks there has been a flattening in the usage curve, downloads of the app, and interaction within the audio social network, now it seems that Clubhouse is on the rise again, due to the long-awaited Android version that is now available for download and use. Good news for the audio content creator’s economy!
In a world dominated by visuals in the last decade, audio media brings back to the fold the ability to focus on the real values of the brand and challenges creatives, marketing, and communication specialists to reconnect consumers to the opportunities and usage context of brands. Nonetheless to create meaningful and useful content it can be boring to talk about the brand. But it is interesting to talk and to engage in talks about lifestyle, context, and usage opportunities of products - that is the real creativity, and the real passion! What marketers have forgotten in the last years is the meaning of brands and services. They’ve got so caught up in racing with the competition and highlighting the best features and developing better and better products, both visually and physically, making people share and show off their products, making them go viral, that they have forgotten the core of the brand. The voice and purpose.
The Pandemic, however, has brought marketers back to the ground: it’s more than just to make a profit, it’s about empathy, purpose, and context. And those are good things to keep in mind for the new digital era. This is why audio has thrived, again, and why audio is passion and imagination.
After Clubhouse passed the milestone of 250,000 users (IOS only) at the end of April 2021, in Romania, we now have brands supporting rooms that talk about fun, friendship, and relations, because these are the core brand values that people care about. We have a news platform organising daily talks on one hot topic of the day. We have car brands talking about the driving experience and the expectations of their clients. And all of them are really successful in getting people to talk. Pedigree was one of the first brands to grab the opportunity of the Clubhouse platform, with its creative contribution of BBDO NewYork, by organising a room in order to find a home for 20 adoptable dogs, each with its own profile and voice. The impact was emotional and heartwarming, and the result, outstanding!
But what do you do when you have a brand with less financial power, time, or human resource. A brand that is not as “sexy” as retail, tech, or apparel, but an NGO with a mission in self-regulating and overlooking an industry so dynamic as digital advertising, like us at IAB Romania?
We did what we knew how to do best - we connected the dots in digital! We were there, listening and engaging in new trends, being active where people were, supplying and highlighting our power, content, and network. We got the chance to reconnect with specialists and those with who we used to interact more at conferences and events. We had missed that, the human interaction and the after-events talks, the spur of ideas and enthusiasm of new ideas and involvement. Behind every successful project & organisation there are good people who roll their sleeves up and get things done!
Being the first local association to be present and actively involved in various rooms dedicated to digital marketing, we had the opportunity to get in contact with some of the people that were a little bit farther away in our usual communication chain. This helped to add growth in attention towards our projects, plans, and to attract new members.
Within our weekly IAB Romania Digital Brunch (now in its #12 edition since early February) we have approached topics such as the value of the local and European Digital Advertising market, past, present & future trends, Artificial Intelligence in Digital Advertising, Influencer Marketing both on a local and international level, and the impact of cookie depletion. We have also talked about and with Romanian MIXX Awards winners and chatted with the latest MIXX Europe Awards Jury members. We have debated local and international laws and regulations, talked about budgets and performance, targeted ads vs the paid business model, and still have many more ideas to share and comment upon. For example, we plan to have a monthly fireside chat with one of our local members or with IAB Europe’s members to pick a specialist’s brains on forecasts. We’re also looking forward to meeting the winners of MIXX Awards Europe & IAB Europe’s Research Awards so that we can invite them to talk about their winning work and get the jury back to do a talk on this too. We plan to talk about quality in digital advertising, the need for standardisation, new technologies and tools, big data, research, impact and sustainability in digital, minimalism in online advertising, and so much more.
We created a Club dedicated to various DigiTalks and online advertising topics, which you can access here.
Now, with Clubhouse opening to Android users the sky is the limit!
What’s Next?
But talking about stuff is not enough. We need to make stuff happen. We need to harness all the ideas, content, and enthusiasm around the topics that we approached. So, we now have a repository on our website, a list of people willing to get involved in the task force on Influencer Marketing and new tech trends, and we have new members willing to put a hand into ongoing or new projects we are rolling out. Plus now with Android availability, our target is to use the app to get representatives of the authorities and legislative areas to get in touch and involved in talks with industry representatives.
The “Never Stop generation” representatives with whom we got in touch on Clubhouse are the people who suffered “event fatigue” in 2019 and then grew tired of video calls. Research from Publicis Romania shows that in one and a half months the number of Clubhouse users in Romania tripled and the main reason for accessing the app is an interest in personal development. 30% are accessing the app daily and are mainly following topics like tourism (yes, we all miss traveling!), wellbeing, business, and personal development.
Other local research conducted in March shared the profile of the Clubhouse user in Romania. This can be somewhat extended internationally, as well: 77.4% of the users are between 25 and 44 years old, have a high level of education (92.8%), are active mainly in Marketing and Communication (23,5%), IT and Telco (14.9%) and Social Media (9.9%) & Content Creators (7%) and spend a minimum of 2 hours daily on Clubhouse (54.6%). The grade given to the content found on Clubhouse is 8.1 out of 10. The main reasons for entering Clubhouse rooms and following people are improving knowledge (86.8%) and listening and interacting more easily with Key Opinion Leaders.
Video Didn’t Kill the “Radio Star” But it Made it Reinvent.
The Audio Economy is on the rise, without question. Facebook, Spotify, Apple, Twitter, and others focus on audio features. Although podcasting is not a recent trend, it had the right soil to grow and still has room to be valued as a marketing and communication tool. There is so much to harness in terms of audio, as a brand. First, because there are still a lot of people to “enter” the “audio zone” as listeners of podcasts and streaming, and as Clubhouse users. Second, it’s now becoming easier to podcast and stream audio content due to the improvement of podcasting apps and new technology that makes it easier to listen to podcasts while doing everyday chores. It’s a wheel that keeps turning - the more listeners there are, the more content producers that will enter the audio arena - being supported by advertising or by subscription. Considering the findings here, music (and to some extend audio content) is on top priority for willingness to pay for a subscription. The more users and content providers, the more it will become interesting for brands too.
There is also a need for sharing ideas and knowledge that is usually done by various conferences and events. We, in Romania, had our first audio-only conference exclusively on Clubhouse, which we streamed online. We have a dedicated Podfest conference with insights from brands, tech and content producers. And the wave is still rising. In just a few weeks from now, we’ll find out more about the European Audio landscape at IAB Europe’s Digital Audio Day.
Looking forward to hearing from you all on Clubhouse and Podcasts soon!
For more insights and learnings on the digital audio opportunity in Europe, join us on 6th July for our Digital Audio Day. Secure your free space today!
This week's guest editor for the IAB Europe blog is IAB Europe's Legal Director, Filip Sedefov. At IAB Europe, Filip is the subject matter lead for privacy & data protection, overseeing the GDPR legal compliance programme, including the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). Filip shares his views on the cookie banner complaints sweeping Europe. Filip disseminates the arguments put forward by NOYB, discussing the TCF's value as a GDPR and ePrivacy compliance tool to help combat future complaints.
This week, consumer organisation NOYB led by Max Schrems announced that it has sent out over 500 draft GDPR complaints to European organisations, aimed at ending the “cookie banner terror” in the EU. NOYB is targeting companies which it says deliberately make it hard to opt out of tracking cookies. According to NOYB, a total of 560 draft complaints across 33 countries have already been issued and organisations have been notified of NOYB’s intention to submit formal complaints to competent data protection authorities (DPAs) where they do not take steps to remedy the alleged compliance failures. NOYB claims it will issue a total of over 10.000 similar complaints by the end of the year.
Most of the complaints appear to target European digital publishers that deploy Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) on their properties in order to comply with essential ePrivacy and GDPR transparency and user choice requirements. Although IAB Europe does not have access to the complaints themselves, it appears the arguments put forward by NOYB center on a failure by data controllers to obtain valid user consent through the use of cookie banners that allegedly lack reject options, make use of so-called dark patterns to manipulate the user into consenting, or prevent the user from easily withdrawing consent.
Cookie banners or notices, implemented on behalf of digital publishers by consent management platforms (CMPs), enable users to express preferences with regard to how their personal data is handled by the website they are visiting. They have become an essential legal tool for publishers and their technology partners to comply with the requirements of the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.
IAB Europe’s TCF in the context of the NOYB complaints
IAB Europe is, like NOYB, fully committed to ensuring that user rights are upheld and that organisations within the digital advertising ecosystem are well aware of, and comply with, their data privacy obligations. That is, after all, why IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), which establishes a minimum standard for disclosures and options provided to the user, was created.
In the main, NOYB’s interpretation of the GDPR and the TCF Policies appear quite aligned. (A number of the allegations put forward by NOYB are, in fact, points on which the TCF is silent or where it provides flexibility - for example, use of legitimate interests, implementation of a “reject all” option, or colour and contrast of calls to action.) The Framework itself was explicitly designed in a way that sets a high minimum standard for the industry and helps data controllers comply with those requirements that benefit from a significant level of harmonised interpretation. Individual local DPAs may have differing interpretations on specific aspects, however. Examples include the Danish DPA (Datatilsynet), which requires a “reject all” option in the initial CMP user interface (UI) layer or the Dutch DPA (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens), which takes the view that legitimate interests as a legal basis are unavailable for digital advertising purposes. In these cases, organisations should naturally be aware of and implement such more stringent requirements, as necessary, in addition to their implementation of the TCF.
In light of the above, IAB Europe remains confident in the TCF’s value as a GDPR and ePrivacy compliance tool. NOYB’s scrutiny of compliance with the GDPR should, in fact, benefit publishers who have made the investment of implementing the TCF, since persistent non-compliance by other actors may confer an unfair commercial advantage and damage the image and reputation of the industry. We strongly encourage NOYB to recognise these points of alignment and adjust the focus of its actions accordingly.
What is essential to ensure here is that those organisations that have taken significant steps to, for example, provide users with detailed, accurate and specific information prior to asking for their consent, are not reprimanded for complying with their obligations under the law or deterred from implementing standards that allow them to do so. Similarly, digital publishers should not be chastised for or prevented from communicating the value exchange that they propose to their users through their CMP, especially in instances where they depend heavily on advertising to monetise and derive value from their content. Tools like the TCF help standardise the way the information is presented and the controls available to users in ways that enable them to relatively quickly and over time become familiar with how to best digest the information provided and express their preferences in each instance where they are called upon to do so.
Arguments put forward in the NOYB complaints
There is merit in the approach adopted by NOYB in developing automated tools for auditing CMP compliance at a time when auditability and accountability at scale in the online context are essential to enable effective enforcement of the GDPR. IAB Europe has itself developed a monitoring and enforcement programme that sanctions instances of non-compliance with the TCF standard for those organisations that have signed up and committed to implementing its requirements. (More information on IAB Europe CMP compliance programme, can be found here.)
We encourage NOYB to focus its actions on those organisations whose CMP implementations demonstrate flagrant disregard for users’ right to information and choice and, in particular, where existing industry standards that represent a harmonised interpretation of EU law are not implemented, or are implemented incorrectly. In this context, while we note alignment with many of the interpretations put forward in the complaints (as is obvious from the content of the TCF policies), we would posit that, at least some such arguments reflect interpretations that cannot be reasonably claimed to be applicable throughout the EU. We take a look at some of the points put forward by NOYB (based on its press release), below.
Reject all option on the first CMP UI layer
While the updated Guidelines on consent from the EDPB explicitly recognise that “layered and granular information can be an appropriate way to deal with the two-fold obligation of being precise and complete on the one hand and understandable on the other” (para. 69), such guidance does not impose any explicit obligation for a “reject” option to be provided to the user in an initial layer in this context. Some guidance from national DPAs, such as the Datatilsynet in Denmark, has set out such an obligation, but the requirement is far from being a unanimously agreed interpretation of GDPR provisions. France’s Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL), which is often erroneously cited as having made this a hard requirement in its latest Recommendation, in fact only requires it where an “Accept all” option is provided and, anyway, explicitly accepts that there may be other ways of enabling the user to refuse consent (such as closing the CMP interface) as long as the method of achieving this is made sufficiently clear to the user.
Use of legitimate interest as a legal basis under GDPR
In line with the requirements of the ePrivacy Directive, it is clearly illegal, under EU law, to store and/or access information on the user’s device on the basis of a legitimate interest. As a result, if a user rejects ePrivacy consent, processing under a legitimate interest that requires such device access would be illegal. Conversely, however, where consent for storage and access operations has been granted by the user or where storage and access is not technically required, there appears to be no valid reason to make the legitimate interest legal basis unavailable to data controllers, if and when the legal requirements for leveraging that legal basis under the GDPR (such as conducting a legitimate interest assessment, including a balancing test) have been complied with.
While WP29 and EDPB have noted that it may be “difficult for controllers to justify using legitimate interests as a lawful basis for intrusive profiling and tracking practices for marketing or advertising purposes”, there is, contrary to what is suggested in the NOYB complaints, neither a generalised nor an explicit prohibition on the use of legitimate interest whatsoever, for example where such an interest is adequately justified, or where it does not involve “intrusive profiling and tracking”.
Use of pre-ticked boxes
In the context of gathering consent from the user, the use of pre-ticked options is an undeniable violation of EU law, clearly called-out by the EDPB (see para. 79 of Guidelines on consent) and in CJEU case-law (see the ruling case C-673/17, Planet49). In line with this interpretation, the TCF policies for example, explicitly mandate that the default choice be “no-consent”, “no opt-in” or “off”. Where CMPs registered for TCF and operating within its scope fail to implement this, they are in clear breach of the standard’s requirements and of EU law.
Use of dark patterns
Use of dark patterns involving deceptive button contrast, size or colour should obviously be avoided to ensure that the user is fully aware of, and able to exercise, their rights. While there is no agreed on definition of “dark patterns”, the TCF has, in order to fight against such practices, adopted explicit policies that require user options in CMP interfaces to be clearly visible, legible, have matching text treatment, as well as a minimum contrast ratio. We firmly believe that where TCF policies are complied with in this respect, the requirements of the law are satisfied.
Consent withdrawal
Article 7(3) GDPR states that “it should be as easy to withdraw as to give consent”. While surfacing a consent banner or notice every single time a user visits a webpage to remind them of their ability to withdraw consent is synonymous with bad user experience, it is undeniable that user’s should be reminded of their right to do so at regular intervals and that, in any case, the option to update their preferences, including to withdraw consent, should be available and easily accessible at all times. For example, the TCF contains a requirement that the user be reminded of their rights at least every 13 months and that an easily accessible link should be available to allow them to withdraw their consent as easily as it was to give it, notably by including a call to action for the user to signal such withdrawal.
On 25th - 27th May 2021, IAB Europe hosted its flagship event live and online for all to see.
The theme this year was ‘The Digital New Deal’ as we aimed to take stock of what is needed to ensure a sustainable and innovative future for the digital advertising and marketing industry. Across three afternoons we dived into the three pillars of IAB Europe, exploring industry initiatives, policy & data protection, and standards and frameworks.
Thanks so much to everyone who joined us live across the three days for Interact Online! And thank you to all of the amazing speakers who connected from across Europe and beyond to share their insights and expertise. With over 1400 people joining, this was our biggest Interact yet!
A big thank you to our event partners OneTrust, DoubleVerify, Relevant Digital, Google, and Magnite also. Thanks to their support, we were able to connect over a thousand people to hear panel discussions and keynotes on key topics for our industry.
If you didn't have the opportunity to join us live, fear not! In this post, you will find links to our event highlights, which include the overviews from each day, the sessions included, as well as video recordings for you to view in your own time.
Event Highlights!
Save the Date – Interact 2022
Next year we hope to meet you face to face! Stay tuned for next year’s save the date and be sure to add it to your diary.
On 25th May 2021, IAB Europe’s flagship event, Interact Online, kicked off with an afternoon dedicated to Industry Initiatives.
Featuring speakers from BBC World Service, DoubleVerify, Google, GroupM, ID5, LUMA Partners, Nestlé, Publicis Groupe, Relevant Digital, RTL Group, TikTok, The Trade Desk, and Xandr, the afternoon was split into three keynote presentations and three panel sessions. Topics included the much-anticipated results of the 2020 AdEx benchmark study, the new era of identity, the post third-party cookie world, and digital advertising in 2025.
Check out the session overviews and watch the videos below.
Keynote Presentation: 2020 AdEx Benchmark Study with 2021 Market & Investment predictions - Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist, IAB Europe
IAB Europe’s AdEx Benchmark report is the definitive guide to the state of the European digital advertising market. Compiled and launched annually, the report details the formats and channels that contributed to that year’s digital advertising market value.
To kick off Interact Online, Daniel presented the findings from the 2020 report covering 27 markets.
You can access the 2020 AdEx highlights here.
Watch the session recording here.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: Industry Outlook on Digital Investment in 2021 and Beyond
The first panel of the event discussed AdEx’s 2020 report findings and overall investment figures. The panel shared the trends they have observed this year and how they will shape digital investment in 2021 and beyond. They also debated the future challenges and opportunities and what stakeholders can do to secure a sustainable ecosystem.
Constantine Kamaras, Chairman Emeritus, IAB Europe moderated this panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Keynote Presentation: Exploring Digital Opportunity in a New Era of Identity - Terence Kawaja, Founder and CEO of LUMA Partners
Digital Advertising is poised for significant market growth just as the very foundation of identity is changing. In this keynote presentation, Terence Kawaja reviewed where the best areas for opportunity exist and examined how best to take advantage of the change.
Watch the session recording here.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: The Post Third-Party Cookie Era
2020 kicked off with one of the most fundamental technology advances our industry has seen in many years, the announcement that third-party cookies were to be depleted.
This panel discussion outlined what market alternatives and solutions are being developed and how prepared stakeholders, including themselves, are for this new era. They also explored the tactics and opportunities available as we transition into a post third-party cookie world.
Andrew Hayward-Wright, Partnerships Director, SeenThis & Programmatic Advisor, IAB Europe moderated this panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: Digital Advertising in 2025
CTV, Creator Marketing, e-commerce, transparency, and context. These are just a few of the hottest 2021 buzzwords that are predicted to shape the future of digital advertising. So what does the future hold for our industry and what will it look like in 2025?
In this panel discussion, industry thought leaders shared their views on how digital advertising will operate in 2025 and what we need to do to get there.
Constantine Kamaras, Chairman Emeritus, IAB Europe moderated this panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Closing Keynote: Creating Engaging Brand Experiences - Tina Beuchler, Global Media & Agency Operations, Nestlé
The world has changed. People are living differently, consuming media differently, and shopping differently. What does this mean for Nestlé? In her keynote speech Tina Beuchler, Global Head of Media & Agency Operations, talked about the challenges and opportunities – and the way Nestlé’s marketers are trying to better connect with consumers and creating engaging brand experiences.
Watch the session recording here.
MIXX Awards Europe & IAB Europe Research Awards
The first day of Interact Online concluded with the announcement of the winners of our prestigious MIXX Awards Europe and IAB Europe Research Awards.
You can view this year’s winners here. Or watch the session recording here.
On 26th May 2021, IAB Europe’s flagship event, Interact Online, dived into an afternoon that focused on Policy & Data Protection.
Featuring speakers from Adform, Bertelsmann, Bird&Bird, CNIL, DoubleVerify, Facebook, GroupM, ICO, and ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE the afternoon was split into two panel sessions, a fireside chat, a presentation. The event closed with a keynote presentation from Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency. Topics included transparency within the DSA, priorities of Data Protection Authorities (DPAs), and learnings from the GDPR’s enforcement in the context of ePrivacy trilogues
Check out the session overviews and watch the videos below.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: The Importance of Transparency within The DSA
The Digital Services Act (DSA) proposal confirms the important role that standards and codes of conduct can play in enabling industry practice to adapt to changing user expectations with respect to transparency. It is important that the future regulation preserves the possibility for users to make informed choices based on information disclosures.
In this panel discussion experts came together to discuss the theme of transparency in digital advertising and how it translates in the context of EU legislative discussions on the prospective DSA.
Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe moderated this panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Fireside Chat with Simon McDougall, Deputy Commissioner, Regulatory Innovation and Technology, ICO, UK
In this fireside Chat with Simon McDougall from the ICO, Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe, and Christie Dennehy-Neil, Policy Director, IAB UK, discussed the ICO’s priorities including their recent joint statement with the CMA on competition and data protection law.
Watch the session recording here.
Presentation: Priorities of CNIL in Connection with Digital Advertising - Armand Heslot, Head of the Technology Experts Department, CNIL
In this presentation, Armand Heslot, Head of the Technology Experts Department from one of the EU’s leading DPA’s – France’s Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) – spoke about the authority’s guidance and enforcement activities over the past year as well as priorities and expectations from the digital advertising sector for the upcoming months and year.
Watch the session recording here.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: Learnings from the GDPR’s enforcement in the Context of ePrivacy Trilogues
In this panel discussion, policy experts from industry organisations discussed and debated the GDPR interpretation and enforcement by the Data Protection Authorities, and how that critical work could benefit the industry’s understanding of the EU privacy and data protection legal landscape.
Gabriel Voisin, Partner, Bird & Bird moderated this panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Closing Keynote: Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency
Day two of Interact Online was concluded with a keynote address from Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency.
Watch the session recording here.
On 27th May 2021, IAB Europe’s flagship event, Interact Online, concluded with an afternoon that explored Standards & Frameworks, as we discussed the practicalities of putting everything we have learned across the event into practice.
Featuring speakers from DoubleVerify, eBay, IAB Italy, IAB Tech Lab, MediaMath, OneTrust, Publicis Groupe, PubMatic, Relevant Digital, Samsung Ads, Sirdata, and Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) the afternoon was split into three panel sessions, and two keynote presentations. Topics included the evolution and future of the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF), working towards sustainable supply chain standards and new standards that we can expect to come.
Check out the session overviews and watch the videos below.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: The Evolution and Future of the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF)
The Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) is the only GDPR consent solution built by the industry for the industry, to create a true industry-standard approach. But what is its current status? And how is it set to evolve and develop in the future?
This panel discussed the latest version of the TCF v2.0 and its market adoption. It explored how it is set to evolve and how the industry will need to support and help evolve the framework going forward.
Ninon Vagner, Privacy & Compliance Manager, IAB Europe moderated this panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Keynote Presentation: Working Towards a Sustainable Programmatic Value Chain for All - Daniel Knapp, Chief Economist, IAB Europe
Data from SSPs is a crucial tool for publishers to succeed in programmatic; from understanding advertiser and agency demand and spend patterns, managing inventory, setting prices, obtaining information for vendor QBRs and client briefings, as a source of intelligence for AdOps and Sales, and as the foundation for ongoing optimisation. As digital advertising switches towards a cookieless world, insights that can guide a monetisation strategy are ever more crucial. In this presentation, Daniel Knapp shared how we can work towards this.
Watch the session recording here.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: Supply Chain Standards
Following on from Daniel’s presentation, this panel discussed supply chain transparency and what we need to do to unify and standardise best practices. They explored data management and new approaches for all stakeholders to increase transparency and trust, to help solve the unnecessary trading and information sharing complexities within the ecosystem.
Constantine Kamaras, Chairman Emeritus, IAB Europe moderated this panel and was joined by:
Watch the session recording here.
Keynote Presentation: Why Standards? Shailley Singh, SVP Product Management and Global Programs, IAB Tech Lab
In this keynote presentation, the IAB Tech Lab discussed the relevance of standards in digital advertising and their 2021 priorities, which included Project Rearc, The Transparency Center, Open Measurement, and Programmatic.
Watch the session recordings here.
Panel Discussion with Audience Q&A: New Standards
Following on from the Tech Lab’s presentation, this panel discussed their views on future developments and standards, and what we need to do as an industry to launch these. They detailed the importance of partnerships in successfully launching and supporting standards and shared best practices on how their own organisations roll out and uphold such standards.
Tina Lakhani, Head of Ad Tech, IAB UK moderated this panel and was joined by:
