Across the month of April, IAB Europe kick-started key topics of corporate responsibility in the digital advertising industry. A lack of understanding and accountability on key issues such as the environmental and economic impacts of digital advertising and the need for more diversity and inclusion across our ecosystem is more apparent today than ever before.
Our series discussed and debated what’s happening in our industry currently, why it’s important that we take action now and what needs to be done to take responsibility and ensure a great future for digital advertising.
To continue the conversation, we caught up with some of the members of IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee, to discuss diversity and inclusion under the theme of recruitment and the workplace in digital advertising. We explore what some of the biggest challenges and opportunities are, talk about what companies can do to embrace more diversity in the workplace and assess what we can all do to ensure more diverse talent is included in the digital advertising ecosystem.
A Q&A with:
Gosia Adamczyk, Head of HR, Verve Group
Michael Olaye, Senior Business Development Manager, Integral Ad Science (IAS)
Kris Smith, VP, Global People Experience, DEI & Belonging, DoubleVerify
Q1. In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges when you think about diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
Gosia - “There are several challenges I can think of in terms of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. First, managers and team members often don’t realise that they are being non-inclusive – they use non-inclusive language due to old habits, they make hiring decisions based on unconscious bias, and they tend to be closer and promote team members that are like themselves. The more educational initiatives we introduce in the organization, the more inclusive the workplace will become.
Another major challenge is the fact we’re sometimes simply missing the diverse talent in the market. This is a more complex issue, and we should think about the solution by investing in education and supporting junior talent.”
Michael - “Diversity by its very definition cannot just be one event or activity. Across the industry, there is an ever-increasing commitment to champion DE&I as a movement.
However, there is still much more to be done. As the WFA pointed out in their recent DEI guide, much is being done to improve the representation of women, but the industry should be doing more in promoting much broader inclusion. The challenge lies in harnessing environments and workplaces that are intrinsically inclusive - where people from all walks of life feel safe and the opportunity to have a voice. This represents an opportunity because a diverse work team achieves a better result than one in which the same point of view is present. It’s not just about gender, race, age, or ethnicity - it’s about all of them and more. DEI efforts are always a work in progress, and there's much more to be done to truly reflect our multicultural society as a whole.”
Kris - “There are numerous challenges, many of which create significant roadblocks to progress. Often we hear how companies are evaluating sourcing strategies to attract talent from different backgrounds and bridge representation gaps in their organisations, but - we hear less about how they will retain this talent and set them up to thrive. In many cases, these same organisations continue to operate with programs, policies, and processes that leave room for bias, discrimination, and exclusivity. They are not set for success in furthering diversity and inclusion in the workplace because their company culture and environment are not designed for this talent to thrive in. Progress can be made, but it will take focus and commitment to drive foundational change. Organisations need a plan for supporting this talent after they get them in the door.”
Q2. What are the biggest opportunities available today for more diversity in the workplace?
Gosia - “I believe creating educational programs for juniors or people that want to switch their career paths especially targeted to reach a diverse audience is something that will not only benefit us in a few years, but also support society. We should focus not only on solving our hiring problems and positioning ourselves as an inclusive organisation, but on solving a global issue and ensuring we’re building a better future for future generations.”
Kris - “Create an environment where people who are not in the majority will also thrive. Our success in improving representation gaps relies on both our ability to recruit AND retain talent from underrepresented groups. Sustainable progress starts with ensuring inclusive and equitable policies, processes, and programs. We also need to invest in developing managers at all levels to ensure they have the skills and tools to be inclusive leaders. This is one of our biggest opportunities - create environments designed to embrace and foster diversity starting with those who manage others.”
Q3. What do you think companies should do to embrace more diversity & inclusion in the workplace, to ensure it is the new normal and not just a box tick exercise?
Gosia - “First of all, top management needs to understand the benefits of having diverse talent in the organisation. Diverse personalities, opinions, and backgrounds help us to notice a different angle and give us an opportunity to have healthy discussions and develop ourselves.
When management notices the true advantages, the urge to hire diverse talent and build an inclusive workplace will be authentic. With this authenticity as a foundation, we can work on educating different layers of the company and adjusting our people processes to match the need.
If top management doesn’t see the benefits and the real need for hiring and retaining diverse talent, the D&I initiatives will not be as effective as they could be.”
Michael - “Companies have a significant role to play to ensure inclusivity is at the heart of workplace environments, both in the office and in virtual environments:
Kris - “This is a great question. I think this is about shifting perspective, setting expectations, and equipping all levels of leadership, including the executive team. If the goal is for D&I to be a core component of the workplace, it should be embedded as a part of your business strategy. It should be a clear expectation that every department, function, and person in the organisation fosters an inclusive environment. Leaders should be provided with the tools to lead inclusively and the understanding they are expected to do so. There should be a clear and visible connection to company values as well as business goals. Overall, this is about demonstrating diversity and inclusion is not separate initiative but a core part of the organisation’s culture and identity.”
Q4. What steps are you or your company taking to bring on more diverse talent in digital and programmatic advertising? Have you seen any examples of companies that are doing this well?
Gosia - “The game-changer for us was when we decided to start recruiting globally and support relocation of the talent from different parts of the world. It helped us to naturally become more diverse as a team. We’re building intercultural awareness by speaking about differences in the communication styles, showing people diverse cultures, celebrating global holidays, and ensuring we’re being inclusive in our language and behaviors.
Speaking about the recruiting process, we work on our job descriptions to ensure we use inclusive language. We also include different team members in the process to ensure we’re showing a candidate an opportunity to talk to a diverse team and get answers to potential questions about being an inclusive organisation, and get a fair evaluation of the candidate.
Speaking about the future, we’re planning to start intense educational programs too. We want to conduct training on how to handle unconscious bias during the interview process, and we want an intercultural communication workshop to be a part of our standard onboarding process, to name a few initiatives we’re currently working on.”
Michael - “We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, nationality, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability or age. We strongly encourage women, people of colour, members of the LGBTQIA community, people with disabilities, and veterans to apply.
Inclusion unlocks the potential for innovation and helps everyone. At IAS we celebrate the beautiful tapestry of cultures, backgrounds, and rich traditions that comprise us all. While there are differences and similarities to acknowledge and celebrate, we must also find time to educate ourselves and demonstrate our commitment through our core value of #oneteam.
We achieve this through our recruitment teams and Inclusion and Diversity Council - which upholds this company value by championing our inclusion and diversity strategies, ensuring progress towards our goals.
Great initiatives from other companies include the GroupM Media Inclusion Initiative, pledging that at least 2% of its total annual media budgets will be invested in diverse media companies and creators.
Also The Women in Programmatic network that provides opportunities and support for women in the programmatic and advertising technology industry, pushing to eradicate the gender pay gap.
Brixton Finishing School is such a great initiative. They are on a mission to create an inclusive ‘talent’ blueprint for our homogenous industry. Their free 10-week programme for 18-25s students from underprivileged and diverse backgrounds delivers a premium learning experience through a mixture of lessons and real-world advertising experience.”
Q5. What Diversity & Inclusion initiatives has your company implemented that have worked well and resonated with you?
Gosia - “We’ve started speaking more about the language. Often, we don’t realise that language is a powerful tool – it shapes reality and can make people feel excluded even without having wrong intentions.
We are now talking about inclusive communication. We are careful about designing messages and we raise awareness across the team.”
Micheal - “Diversity & Inclusion initiatives should be seen as a journey - whilst there are great initiatives taking place, there is constantly still more work to do, both in the workplace and in wider society.
We have a variety of ERGs operating across the globe, encouraging and providing a nurturing environment for employees to share their experiences and introduce others to their cultures. These include IAS Women, BIND (Black Integral Network Domain), IAS PRIDE (LGBTQIA+), ASIAS (Asian Society IAS), IAS Working Parents, VIVA (Verificación integrando y vinculando los Américas), and STAR (Introverts - Social, Thinking, Anxious, Restrained). The ERGs champion and celebrate IAS talent from individuals through education, connection, and community support. The belief of each ERG is to provide IAS employees with the confidence to be their authentic self. Members of these groups can expect to develop connections by networking with other like-minded individuals at IAS on similar missions, promoting well-being through wellness activities, and accessing educational and professional development opportunities.
For example, our ERG hosted Asian Heritage and Women’s History Month to celebrate diversity through profiling of teams, cultural events or workshops. Recently, teams at IAS helped deliver #IamRemarkable (#IAR) workshops empowering underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond.
IAS took part in the Per Scholas’ training, working with aspiring technologists to improve their communication skills, learn about key technical content, and better understand varied corporate cultures. Through the interactions, candidates were able to learn more about a corporate environment and gain valuable practice speaking with a working professional.”
Kris - “The first two cohorts of our DEI council focused on introducing inclusive programming to celebrate and educate on awareness months and initiatives, they created an inclusive language toolkit, and laid the groundwork for our employee resource groups, starting with the launch of our first one, which was Women@DV. We recently enhanced several policies after an inclusive policy review, including expanding parental leave globally.”
Q6. What is the one thing you think we can all be doing now to ensure more diverse and inclusive talent is represented in digital and programmatic advertising?
Gosia - “I think we should team up and make educational programs available for diverse talent in order to allow them to enter digital and programmatic advertising. We should think about the future and work together, not under one company’s name only, but holistically as an industry.”
Michael - “Firstly, companies must look internally to assess what more needs to be done. This can be achieved through surveys and employee engagement analysis exercises that truly understand the makeup of companies.
Brussels, 13 May 2022 – IAB Europe today announced that it is withdrawing its request for suspension of the execution of the decision issued by the Litigation Chamber of the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“APD”) on IAB Europe and the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). The request for suspension had been submitted as part of the appeal to the Belgian Market Court lodged on 4th March.
The withdrawal coincides with a confirmation by the APD that it will not take a decision on validation of the action plan submitted by IAB Europe until 1st September at the earliest, date by which the Market Court is expected to have issued a ruling on the appeal. The plan, which IAB Europe was required to produce as part of the APD decision, captures how it proposes to deliver on the various orders contained in the decision. The plan is currently being evaluated by the APD, and IAB Europe will have six months to implement it from the date of validation.
“With the APD having confirmed it will not start the clock running on the 6-month implementation period, the operative part of the contested decision, until we expect to have the ruling on the merits, it just makes sense to withdraw the request and focus on the next steps of the appeal”, explained Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO. “Should the decision on the merits of the case not be rendered by the Market Court in this timeframe, for example if it wishes to refer questions to the European Court of Justice, IAB Europe will be able to ask the Market Court for provisional measures at such a time.”
An updated FAQ on the case may be consulted on IAB Europe’s website here.
For more information, please contact Lauren Wakefield, IAB Europe’s Marketing & Industry Programmes Director (wakefield@iabeurope.eu).
In this week's member-guest post we hear from Tanya Field, Co-Founder, and CPO of Novatiq, as she analyses McKinsey's recent report on post third-party cookie strategies and provides key recommendations on how to go beyond owned intelligence in order to succeed in a post third-party cookie world.
McKinsey’s recent report into the post third-party cookie advertising ecosystem recommends three strategies for brands to take: 1) leverage owned touchpoints to generate first-party data, 2) partner with second-party data vendors for additional insights, and 3) leverage contextual strategies.
While this is welcome insight from a company outside the core adtech ecosystem, the recommendations do little to move the debate on. Moreover, while the steps outlined by the consultant will have a significant positive impact on brands’ marketing efforts, they still fail to meet the core requirement that will follow the loss of third-party cookies: verifying audiences at scale across the anonymous web.
Our view is that McKinsey’s analysis provides only part of the answer. First-party data will undoubtedly take on added importance for brands and publishers alike, and there is of course a convincing argument to be made for augmenting this data with that of second-party organisations. McKinsey is suggesting an approach where universal IDs are leveraged as first-party cookies to activate and enrich consented information across marketing channels, adtech providers, and publishers.
However, while universal IDs will clearly play a role in the emerging programmatic ecosystem, they cannot be the only solution. This is because universal IDs are not capable of providing a joined-up view of web users across the anonymous web, nor are they able to recognise users across devices.
Going further than McKinsey, we would therefore also recommend the use of an interoperable pseudonymous verification ID. This ID would enable advertisers and publishers to leverage telco intelligence to verify users behind the telco firewall.
The benefits of using telco intelligence are clear: telcos have full visibility of subscribers across devices and are trusted by consumers, which will be important for managing consent. Moreover, using the pseudonymous verification ID removes the need to transact personally identifiable information, making this a privacy-first design.
McKinsey rightly notes the importance of data partners to solving the post third-party cookie challenge. To reach users on both the authenticated and anonymous web, telcos must be one of these partners, and interoperable pseudonymous verification IDs a core enabler of programmatic transactions.
Our proposed approach will mean that advertisers can retain all the current benefits of verified audiences at scale and will therefore not need to rely on contextual to fill the gap (the third of McKinsey’s strategies). While there’s a role for contextual advertising, it does not currently have what it takes to reach the right audiences every time.
McKinsey has provided useful, objective insights for advertisers and there is much of value in its analysis. However, first-party data is only the beginning of a solution, not the solution itself. By combining brands’ owned data with that of publishers and verifying it with the help of telcos, advertisers can build complete, 360-degree profiles of their customers that are as rich, if not richer, than anything available today through third-party cookies.
For more information on the ID ecosystem, and strategies for responding to the withdrawal of third-party cookies, read IAB Europe’s updated Guide to the Post Third-Party Cookie Era. Here you can learn more about interoperable pseudonymous verification IDs and how they will interact with universal IDs and other solutions to help create the privacy-first programmatic ecosystem of tomorrow.
25 April 2022, Brussels, Belgium - IAB Europe welcomes the Council and European Parliament on the political agreement reached on the Digital Services Act (DSA) proposal on 23 April. The agreement marks an important further milestone in increasing user and business confidence online.
In particular, we commend the EU institutions’ adherence to much of the Commission’s original vision, and the relative lack of overlap with existing EU law, most notably the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in the final text.
“Despite having a number of provisions that relate to use of consumer data, DSA will have a separate enforcement regime from the EU’s privacy and data protection legislation”, noted Greg Mroczkowski, IAB Europe Public Policy Director. “Broad restrictions on the use of data for advertising that were discussed during the legislative process looked like creating a risk of rules governing the same data processing being subject to different, competing enforcement regimes, with the risk of confusion for both users and business. While it would appear that the final text mostly avoids this, the regulatory landscape will nonetheless be a very complex one. IAB Europe will remain invested in constructive dialogue with policymakers and regulators with a view to improving legal certainty”.
IAB Europe looks forward to working with the European Commission and other stakeholders on implementation of the new advertising transparency requirements.
IAB Europe’s Annual Flagship Event Interact is back and ready to welcome you from 25th - 26th May 2022 in Madrid and you have just one week left to get your tickets at an exceptional early bird rate.
Don’t miss out, secure your space today!
Interact is a must-attend event for the digital advertising and marketing industry. For more than a decade, leading European advertisers, industry experts, agencies & media owners have met, got inspired & shared best practices in different capital cities across Europe and we are very excited to welcome you all to Madrid.
In partnership with IAB Spain, we will be hosting two days of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and networking opportunities for you to join.
With a central theme of ‘Driving the Next Digital Decade,’ we will cover a full range of key topics on the agenda as we look to address and drive the digital advertising ecosystem forward. From the attention economy, CTV, and retail media, through to premium publisher’s advertising models, sustainability, the latest policy and regulatory developments, and more, we will dive deep into the next era of digital advertising.
A big thank you to all of our sponsors for helping to make this happen!
Get your Earlybird tickets here.
Latest Speakers Announced:
Alongside our Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, and our Chairman Emeritus, Constantine Kamaras we have a fantastic line-up of speakers confirmed.
Check out our current list of speakers below:
For more information on tickets, and to join us in Madrid, follow the link here. And be sure to be quick, as our early bird tickets are available until next Friday 29th April.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Earlier this month, IAB Europe released its latest comprehensively updated ‘Guide to the Post-Third-Party Cookie Era’.
The Guide has been developed by experts from IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee and Post Third-Party Cookie Task Force. It provides the latest insights into the many alternative solutions that are being developed to replace third-party cookies when they are depleted in 2023, including context, identity, the use of telco data, and the Google Topics initiative, and expands into new challenge areas including measurement and attribution.
So, what is included in the latest guide and what do you need to know about the post third-party cookie world today?
We caught up with some of the members of IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee who contributed to the guide to share their thoughts and expertise.
Q&A with:
Tanya Field, Co-Founder & CPO, Novatiq
Piper Heitzler, Head of Growth, EMEA, Amobee
Alex Berger, Senior Marketing Director, Buy-Side Products, Adform
Q1. Since the last updated version of the guide was released in February 2021, what changes have you seen, and what have been the biggest developments?
Piper - “Well, I’ll start with the obvious. On June 24th, 2021, the advertising and ad tech industries let out a sigh (of relief?) when Google announced a two-year delay in phasing out the third-party cookie phaseout. That shift in time frame has allowed the P3PC guide to evolve into a comprehensive mini textbook of the identity market, rather than being a short-term assessment of what marketers should do immediately. There’s been a ton of growth from existing and new players, which means marketers now have a buffet rather than a tasting menu to choose from; all of which are detailed in the guide.”
Alex - “When the guide was first written, there was a big open question pending over what the solution that replaced third-party cookies would be. That began to take shape in 2021, and now this year the industry has a series of functional and proven solutions which are well on their path to implementation. The focus and educational piece about how first-party IDs are perhaps the single biggest solution is a significant addition. There’s also great added clarity around key definitions surrounding things like different types of identity.”
Tanya - “Over the past year, the depreciation of cookies and Mobile Advertising IDs has gathered pace, and the first major impacts of this shift have been registered. One of the more significant news items in this respect include Google’s announcement that it will extend its Privacy Sandbox to its Android Advertising IDs. This is a significant blow to publishers, who are still reeling from Apple’s decision to make its Identifier for Advertisers opt-in. The latter’s move has already had significant consequences, causing a combined £315 million drop in market value for companies like Meta Platforms, Snap, Twitter, and Pinterest, which rely heavily on mobile advertising revenues. In this climate, IAB Europe’s Guide is more relevant than ever.”
Q2. What is your take on what the industry has developed over the last 12 months? Are we any closer to having solutions in place the end of 2023?
Piper - “In short, it’s been a year of extremes. On one end, the industry has developed even more proprietary platform experiences for investment teams – which is fragmenting the media buying experience to a nearly equal degree that consumers’ experience content across screens and platforms – but on the other, there’s been incredible collaboration between advertisers, data providers, DSPs, SSPs, and publishers to drive scale for cookieless ID solutions, which will ultimately allow the open internet to continue.
It’s safe to say that the media plans of tomorrow will require marketers to balance a world of walled gardens with independent ad tech stacks in order to drive combined performance and reach. And in general, having spent much time consulting agencies and brands over the past year(s), I am confident they are learning how to rebalance that pendulum swing more gracefully this time around.
Alex - “Absolutely. We’re now at a point where the leading tech providers have real, functional solutions live. There’s still a lot of functionality to be fleshed out, and key gaps to close/regulatory questions to navigate, etc. – but we’ve gone from the bleeding edge focusing on proof of concept, to a subset of industry leaders now being live with eg first-party ID solutions and fully operational while supporting scaled ad buys. At this point, there are also some fairly significant benefits for advertisers who choose to start embracing these solutions. Every advertiser should be asking their agency and adtech partners how to turn things on immediately, start testing, and come off the sidelines. There’s a temptation to sit and wait it out, but the time for that was 2021.”
Tanya - “As the depreciation of cookies gathers pace, the industry is responding with a range of options.
One of the biggest changes has been from Google, which has abandoned its Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) proposal in favour of Topics for ad tracking, which determines’ web users interests from their short-term browsing history.
We have also seen new players enter the market with authenticated ID solutions, and probabilistic IDs that use AI to stitch together signals from the bid stream. However, neither offers a silver bullet to the industry’s dilemma. Authenticated IDs do not address users on the anonymous web and so will be unable to deliver audiences at scale, while probabilistic IDs will become increasingly inaccurate as signals disappear from the bid stream.
There are a range of options on the table. The full picture is still emerging, and we have yet to hear plans from major players like Apple. What is clear is that the industry still requires a solution that delivers scale. This could be either an alternative ID solution that covers both the authenticated and anonymous web, or a platform that enables interoperability between a range of IDs.”
Q3. ID solutions continue to come to the fore, how can stakeholders best identify and select partners?
Piper - This may seem like a very tactical answer, and keep in mind that I come from a technical Solutions Engineering background, but a humble matrix. The Post Third-Party Cookie Guide provides a breadth of description about ID solutions, much of which may be out of scope for someone’s current day-to-day job, but given the monumental shift that the deprecation of third-party cookies brings, it’s ever more critical to simplify what the past, present and future look like for a brand’s marketing strategy.
To create the matrix: collect any and all solutions (and KPIs!) that your brand uses today. Bucket those by how you capture user data versus reach users, then outline how that practice works today, and finally what effects may change the status quo. With that information you can align solutions from the Post Third-Party Cookie guide to those sections, rank each tactic based on its potential business impact, voilà, now you have a prioritised testing framework.
Alex - “I see a huge amount of confusion, and rightly so, between different types of ID types, ID solutions, and their market coverage. It’s quite clear that there won’t be one universal ID that takes it all. Instead, we’ll see a wide range of first-party IDs across technology providers, geographies, and solutions. This was one of the reasons that Adform opted for an approach that is fully ID agnostic, builds our own platform-based solution, and focuses on integrating with a wide range of IDs. Each ID solution provides different strengths and use cases. So, the conversation to take is much more about what are the benefits of the ID, how does it fit your geographic or media blend, and how does it scale alongside other IDs in your tech stack? It’ll also be very important to cut through the hype and look at who can provide actual data and real live solutions that work in the chaotic and often challenging fragmented adtech landscape.”
Tanya - “There are a broad range of factors that stakeholders will need to consider. First, to be effective the ID needs to be dynamic and able to operate in real-time to reach people at the right moment. Second, they need to be privacy-assured, ideally with patented technology and proven applications. Third, the ID should be interoperable with others and easy to integrate with intelligence sources and the adtech ecosystem. Security is also key. Stakeholders should check that the ID can enable safe data activation at scale. Above all, it is important that consumers feel comfortable giving consent for their information to be used in the ID. Here, finding an ID that is supported by trusted third-party organisations such as telecoms operators will be crucial. These organisations will be guardians of consent and they hold the key to achieving scale.”
Q4. Measurement and attribution are key challenges that have been highlighted in the latest edition of the guide. How do you think it can be possible to deliver effective attribution in a post third-party cookie world?
Piper - “In many organisations, the path of least resistance is to evolve with a degrading framework – for example, ad server and website analytics reports that have weakened to only cookie-supported browsers – rather than overhaul a brand’s entire measurement practice. However, as the proverb goes, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is now”, well, now is the best time to re-evaluate what, why and how you measure each KPI. It is absolutely possible to develop effective measurement practices – which lead to reasoned attribution frameworks – and in the Post Third-Party Cookie Guide, marketers can evaluate the various experimental designs, panel-based strategies, publisher partnerships, and advanced analytics they can use to do so.”
Alex - “Attribution moving forward requires a bit of a mentality shift. It will take a while to be as effective as it was under third-party cookies. However, attribution and measurement aren’t in nearly as bad a shape as was initially feared and as a lot of stand-alone point solutions want folks to believe. What is required are more robust technology solutions that have strong connections. What I think we’re seeing is a lot of sub-par quality measurement and attribution in the old setup getting cleaned up/wiped out. That’s being replaced by measurement and attribution that’s a bit more technologically complex, but which delivers higher quality IDs with superior longevity. It’s also opening new opportunities. I know for our part at Adform, we are focused on making it a simple process, and we’ve really been able to bring back measurement and attribution to things like Safari and Firefox due to first-party IDs and the unique nature of our technology. So, it’s definitely a challenging period, but also exciting.”
Tanya - “In my view, it is only possible to deliver measurement and attribution at scale with a dynamic ID that can be carried through the programmatic ecosystem and into execution, while also being used as a point of reference that ties back to an obfuscated, semi-persistent ID that is held elsewhere. This approach enables brands and publishers to map back to a single user without knowing who that user is. This approach is not theoretical - it is already deployed in several markets today.”
Q5. What are your predictions for the future and how do you see solutions developing over the next 12 months?
Piper - "On a macro scale, the ad tech industry is at an inflection point of many intersecting trends, all of which are underpinned by the concept of “privacy-compliant data access at scale” and rely on either pseudonymous or PII data points. So my predictions are: retail media networks will explode in Europe, streaming services will continue to multiply in number through ad-supported models, and large companies will go on an acquisition spree to gain access to first-party data. In addition, identity-based solutions will be expected to perform cross-domain reconciliation in order to drive value for marketers and cookieless IDs that don’t support data onboarding will be deprioritised by those that do.”
Alex - We'll continue to see a filtering effect. Right now, almost everyone is understandably quite confused by a wild-west in ID solutions, potential fixes, technologies that are still barely proof of concept but “launched”, technologies that are live and rapidly evolving, and folks trying to figure out how to run a third-party cookie dependent business once they’re gone. I think we’ll see major sources of uncertainty such as the regulatory consent component resolve with solutions and more clear-cut guidance being established. I also think we’ll see more consistency in terminology and deeper understanding of which technologies use IDs, which IDs have legs, as well as how they end up getting bundled and used effectively. We’ll also continue to see scale and adoption accelerate. At Adform, we’re already seeing about 80% of top 1,000 publishers in most European markets send first-party IDs. This means the capability is there, and the volumes are ramping up. That’s great news for Advertisers as they look to buy and use platforms and technology that helps them achieve those goals without getting locked into a single ID solution, the walled gardens – which I expect will continue to fracture - or stand alone third-party engineered solutions.
Tanya - “I have three predictions for the year ahead. First, all IDs will become interoperable to deliver an all-encompassing solution for the digital advertising ecosystem. Second, there will be new entrants into the ecosystem from vertical markets as companies with large sources of first-party intelligence provide the underpinnings of new types of ID. Finally, consumer needs will be at the heart of new IDs and there will be a clear focus on direct consent and consent management. This is because nothing works without consumers and consumer confidence. Securing trust must be the starting point for the post-cookie world.”
Since the European Commission’s proposal for the Digital Services Act was first published in December 2020, the legislation has progressed at pace. The trilogue negotiations commenced swiftly after adoption of the Parliament’s mandate in January and as the DSA reaches its final phase – with the co-legislators turning their attention to online advertising-related aspects – IAB Europe believes that policymakers must remain alive to the value of data-driven marketing, the risks of some remaining provisions of the DSA, and finally, the importance of a thriving digital media ecosystem and economy at large for Europe’s future.
The European Parliament proposed to introduce new obligations and further restrictions on digital advertising. Expansive and undue formulations under Art. 13a and Art. 24 raise fundamental questions about the implementation and functioning of the data-driven ads ecosystem as it functions today.
Unintended consequences and real-life implications of the DSA proposals
The proposed ban on so-called ‘dark patterns’ has been making headlines – as clearly no one wants the user to be misled in any way – but sweeping proposals under Art. 13a risk duplication and overlap with the existing privacy & data protection legal framework as well as relevant consumer law, the latter being evident from the recently published Commission’s guidance on the application of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.
Art. 13a 1(e) would likely take away the right of a publisher to independently hold a dialogue with the user about access to their very own ad-supported content or services – a growing concern given the ability to set signals such as ‘Do Not Track’ at browser or operating system level. Far from being a technologically neutral provision, this will pose an increasing problem for publishers looking to carry ads, as well as the businesses who rely on the reach of digital advertising to attract new customers. In 2021, Apple’s ‘Ask App Not To Track’ feature was estimated to have cost the biggest internet companies almost $10 billion – a significant sum that smaller players simply could not absorb.
Art. 13d 1(b) would in effect introduce a blanket approach to establishing validity of ‘consent’, imposing a prohibition of repeatedly requesting a recipient of the service to consent to any - not just ad-related - data processing when they have already refused. These matters - including the storage duration of user consent or refusal - are already being addressed by Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) guidance on the basis of their analysis of the GDPR provisions. It is important for any such interpretation of the GDPR requirements to be made on a case-by-case basis, including taking into account the context of different business models. Adding new, overlapping and possibly contradictory language on the matter of obtaining ‘consent’ would obfuscate the GDPR, and render DPAs efforts to-date irrelevant. For similar reasons, the added value of Art. 24 1a should be questioned.
Finally, though provisions that stand for an online environment that protects children and vulnerable people are important, they present cause for concern about how they might work in practice. The ban on targeted advertising to minors proposed under Art. 24 1b should take into account the business context and technical possibilities, avoiding a full ban on targeted advertising when the means of reliably discerning an internet user’s age - fully in line with the data protection regulation - cannot be found.
Preventing websites from asking vast swathes of users for their consent to advertise would remove a vital element of websites’ autonomy and concentrate it in the hands of a small number of gatekeepers – something European legislators are explicitly seeking to prevent and which has not been subject to any impact assessments.
Sustainability of the digital media ecosystem at stake
In this situation, many publishers could find themselves struggling, deprived of yet another crucial source of revenue. Facing years of declining print circulations, small publishers across Europe have turned to digital advertising to sustain themselves, often with great success. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism reported that digital advertising revenues grew at their fastest rate ever in 2021, at over 30 per cent year on year, accounting for almost two-thirds of advertising spend.
Making digital advertising unviable would ultimately result in declining media pluralism across Europe. Even as policymakers strive to improve it. The Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee reflected on the fact that a shift to a subscription economy without advertising could lead to a decline in the availability of free quality information, stressing underlying liquidity issues of media organisations on another occasion. Diminished access to free, reliable content provides space for disinformation to take root, something that has plagued governments trying to combat uncertainty of the current times . Far from solving a problem, restricting digital advertising in this way could make the problem worse.
Digital advertising is no longer simply a nice to have. It is a crucial element of the modern media ecosystem, supporting pluralism and the proliferation of free, high-quality information. Severe restrictions on digital advertising could have equally severe, negative consequences.
Authored by Industry Leaders From Across the Digital Advertising Ecosystem
The Latest Version of the Guide Provides the Most Recent Updates to Support the Digital Advertising Industry in the Transition Period and Beyond
10th March 2022, Brussels: IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem, has today released its latest comprehensively updated ‘Guide to the Post-Third-Party Cookie Era’, to enable brands, agencies, publishers, and tech intermediaries prepare for the impending post-third-party cookie era.
The Guide has been developed by experts from IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee and Post Third-Party Cookie Task Force. It succeeds the second edition of the guide, which was released in February 2022. It provides the latest insights into the many alternative solutions that are being developed to replace third-party cookies when they are depleted in 2023, including context, identity, the use of telco data, and the Google Topics initiative, and expands into new challenge areas including measurement and attribution.
It is clear that innovation around alternatives to third-party cookies continues, and the industry will have multiple solutions available. As such, the Guide continues to help and encourage the industry to keep testing, learning, collaborating and developing across 2022, right through to the newly extended deadline for cookie deprecation in late 2023.
Commenting on this latest work, Lauren Wakefield, Marketing & Industry Programmes Director, IAB Europe said “Although the deadline has been extended to 2023, the digital advertising ecosystem must continue to collaborate, innovate and deliver on the solutions that are outlined in the latest update of the Guide. As the European-level association for digital advertising and marketing, we must continue to help our members embrace these changes, educate the market on what is available and offer support to ensure we create a thriving future for programmatic advertising.”
Explaining the reasons for supporting this initiative, contributors highlighted the integral role of the guide in keeping brands, agencies, and publishers updated on the technological advancements and evolving opportunities available with identity. A new contributor this year is Amobee. Their Head of Growth, EMEA, Piper Heitzler, commented “What's happening in the world at large and more closely within the ad tech industry is a renewed appreciation for the power of collaboration. IAB Europe’s Post Third-Party Cookie Guide is an excellent example of what can be produced when experts from diverse principles, like our own Solutions Engineering lead in EMEA, Zara McDonald, work together to aggregate collective insights that are refined and reviewed by each other's experience and perspectives. A must read for brands and agencies looking to stay up-to-date on technological changes and opportunities in the Identity space."
Rémi Lemonnier Co-founder & President of Scibids, who is also a new contributor this year, continued, "Given the importance of the topic for the industry, we were more than happy to contribute to the update of IAB Europe's Post Third-Party Cookie Guide and share the expertise we have gathered in the past years, building a private by design AI. As marketers navigate this new era of privacy, we are convinced that providing knowledge and clarity will help the industry move forward!"
This was echoed by Tanya Field, Co-Founder and CPO at Novatiq who said, “The updated IAB Europe Guide could not come at a more important time. With protocol updates from the major platforms, lawsuits from privacy campaigners, and continuous industry innovation, the market is at risk of fragmenting, as interoperability challenges hinder growth. It is clear that advertisers and publishers need clarity on the best way forward. This is what the Guide provides and why Novatiq was delighted to contribute towards its creation.”
The extensive Guide provides a comprehensive and complete deep-dive into the following key themes:
Commenting on the depth of knowledge contained within the Guide and the importance of this continued conversation, Chair of the IAB Europe Programmatic Trading Committee and Integral Ad Science’s Head of Programmatic and Publisher Development, Nick Welch, said “Ensuring consumer privacy in digital advertising is essential and the demise of third-party cookies is one such industry initiative that aims to achieve this. Advertisers today must be armed with the right resources to deliver efficient and effective campaigns that meet the needs of consumers and must have the tools available to thrive in a post-cookie world. This Guide has been produced by IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee in a collaborative effort to include expertise from across the value chain to support brands, agencies and publishers in this new era. It aims to show the latest updates and solutions available, it demonstrates how far we have come and the opportunities we have to continue to move forward together.”
IAB Europe will be continuing the conversation and education around the post third-party cookie era throughout 2022 in a series of workshops, blogs and podcast conversations.
The IAB Europe ‘Guide to the Post-Third-Party Cookie Era’ is available here.
4 March, Brussels, Belgium: IAB Europe confirms it will file an appeal today against the administrative ruling by the Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD) regarding IAB Europe and the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF).
IAB Europe disputes the controversial and novel allegation that it acts as a controller for the recording of TC Strings (the digital signals created to capture data subjects’ choices on how their personal data can be processed), and as a joint controller for the dissemination of TC Strings and other data processing done by TCF participants under the OpenRTB protocol.
The appeal, filed before the Market Court in Belgium (part of the Brussels Court of Appeal), includes a request for suspension of the execution of the decision, which would pause all orders of the APD until a decision on the merits is rendered by the Market Court.
“Immediate enforcement of the decision would deny an appeal of its relevance and effectiveness, and would have irreversible and serious consequences for our organisation”, said Townsend Feehan, IAB Europe CEO.
“Eliminating the grounds on which the APD considers IAB Europe to be a data controller would reduce the TCF to a mere open-source standard without enforceable policies. Paradoxically, this would render ineffective the consumer protection objective that underlies the APD’s jurisdiction, and the apparent reason for which proceedings against IAB Europe exist. We do not believe this is the aim of the law, nor that self-regulatory standards should be weakened because of a misguided interpretation of the law. This is why we are challenging the decision.”
IAB Europe will communicate on the outcome of the request for suspension in the next few weeks.
For further information, please read and download the IAB Europe FAQ Document here.
3 March 2022, Brussels, Belgium – IAB Europe today announced a suspension of all cooperation with IAB Russia and IAB Belarus, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this week and the announcement that Belarus is acting in support of the government of Vladimir Putin.
“We regret taking this step against partner organisations, but the brutality of Russia's unprovoked attack against a sovereign European country gives us no choice but to use every lever at our disposal to increase its isolation,” said IAB Europe CEO Townsend Feehan. “IAB Europe stands with our innocent Ukrainian colleagues in Kiev and elsewhere, who are continuing to work under shocking circumstances.”
About IAB Europe
IAB Europe is the European-level association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem. Through its membership of national IABs and media, technology and marketing companies, its mission is to lead political representation and promote industry collaboration to deliver frameworks, standards, and industry programmes that enable business to thrive in the European market.
24 February, Brussels, Belgium - IAB Europe today expressed its solidarity with, and support for, its colleagues in Ukraine and their families. “In the week-to-week cut and thrust of our policy advocacy in Brussels, it is easy to forget why the European Union was created”, said IAB Europe CEO Townsend Feehan. “The events of the past few days are a powerful reminder. We are alarmed and saddened that in 2022, friends and colleagues in a sovereign European country can be confronted with armed conflict and a military invasion of their homeland. We hope and pray for their safety.”
IAB Europe is recruiting a full-time Privacy Compliance Officer to join our Brussels-based privacy team. The candidate should have a basic understanding of the European data protection framework and an interest in its impacts on technological development, especially digital advertising and media.
Scope of the Role: Key Responsibilities
The Privacy Compliance Officer will report to IAB Europe’s Privacy Director. The Privacy Compliance Officer will be responsible for executing IAB Europe’s compliance programmes in the context of the association’s GDPR compliance standard, the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). Tasks and responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Profile
Professional attributes:
Personal attributes:
What’s in it for you?
Location: Brussels
Type: Full-time
Salary: Commensurate with experience
Contract type: Indefinite
To apply, please send your CV & a covering letter by email to jobs@iabeurope.eu with a subject line: ‘Privacy Compliance Officer - Application’.
While we may not be able to reach out to every applicant, we will contact candidates whose skills and experience are a strong match for the position.
