36 Marketing Trends found for Regulation / UK

... issues consumers truly care about are data security and privacy, whilst looking to brands for more robust leadership and delivery of social values.

Read the original unabridged The Drum.com article.

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...  General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] which will take effect in May 2018.

It’s fair to say that legislation has failed to keep pace with the speed at which technology and big data has advanced – particularly the ability of a company to gather, store and analyse data.

GDPR is specifically intended to enhance data protection and the right of EU citizens to privacy, giving them greater control over their personal data and its use by marketers.

The new Act represents a complete overhaul of the legal requirements that must be met by any company handling EU citizens’ personal data – and that also includes employees’ personal data.

The implications of GDPR are not to be sneezed at. Companies who fall foul of the regulation and are found to be misusing personal information face stiff fines of up to €20m or 4% of annual worldwide turnover, whichever is the greater of the two.

Read the original unabridged Forbes.com article.

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... well-being of the family.

In a debate chaired by the Rt Revd David Thomson, Bishop of Huntingdon, Mothers’ Union [MU] raised awareness of their Bye Buy Childhood campaign and called upon the Lords Spiritual to raise in Parliament the recommendations drafted by MU based on its recent research.

According to Rachel Aston, Social Policy Manager at MU: “Despite significant progress since our original research in 2010, we know that only 50% of parents feel equipped to manage the significant influence of advertising and the commercial world on their family."

"We want to ensure that parents are empowered to manage the impact of commercialisation, and that government continues to ensure that regulation is working and that industry follows the spirit, as well as the letter of the law when marketing and selling to children.”

Ian Barber, Director of Communications for the Advertising Association, represented the ad industry at the event. He assured those present: “When it comes to children’s well-being, everybody must be ready to play their part.

"The Mother’s Union has inspired a positive debate in our sector and UK advertising is committed to ensuring that marketing to children continues to be responsible and appropriate. Industry initiatives like Media Smart, created to help teachers and parents talk to children about advertising, are a great example of how we can make a real difference.”

Read the original unabridged AnglicanNews.org article.

All data sources are attributed with links to the original insight. The insight is then summarised and, where appropriate, enhanced with additional information.

... favouring, to the detriment of rivals, of Google's own web properties in search results .

Another of Google's current practices under investigation by the EU is the delivery of instant product reviews, thereby diverting traffic away from rivals such as Yelp.

According to an article by Garrett Sloane in today's AdWeek.com, punitive action by the EU could force Google to change its search tactics. Additionally, the probe could also veer into other aspects of its business that impact upon advertising.

Back in 2013, when the US Federal Trade Commission conducted a full investigation into Google's alleged business practices, the commissioners declined to label Google a search monopoly whilst, nevertheless, continuing to maintain a close watch on the company's commercial behaviour. 

Said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz: “The changes Google has agreed to make will ensure that consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy.”

It appears that the EU is now adopting a similar stance.

Read the original unabridged AdWeek.com article.

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... intensify counter-terrorism efforts within the EU.

For example this might require the creation of an EU-wide system for storing all airline passenger data.

This would require a careful balancing act, as the EU Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos notes: "On the one hand, the fundamental role that telecommunications records could play in the fight against terrorism and, on the other, the importance of adopting a cautious and measured approach".

According to the minutes of the Commission's meeting, Mr Avramopoulos intends to launch a consultation on the issue to determine whether a new law on data retention that respects privacy rights could be prepared over the coming year.

Following the proposed law's initial rejection by the European Court in 2014, Britain rushed through emergency legislation requiring UK-based telecoms firms to retain customer data for one year thereby prompting criticism from privacy campaigners.

Read the original unabridged Reuters.com article.

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... route traffic to or from certain sites faster than others.

Mr Ansip's move is timely, given that the bloc’s telecoms ministers will today discuss dropping the definition of the concept from upcoming new legislation.

In a speech delivered to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, commissioner Ansip declared: “The net neutrality concept has to be solid and should be clearly defined.”

“Our citizens want the best the internet can offer, they want an internet that is safe and accessible to everybody ... this is not a reality in Europe today.”

He continued: “One particular area to address will involve putting a stop to blocking of online consumers based on their location or residence.

“This will be about reforming and modernizing copyright rules and getting rid of unjustified curbs on transfer and access to digital assets."

Read the original unabridged WSJ.com article.

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... the very idea triggers a furious barrage of resistance.

However, the UK Government Digital Service, [GDS], fresh from winning a cornucopia of awards for its gov.uk family of websites, is confident that an identity assurance system branded Verify will be even more transformative.

Reports BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones: "Last week in a conference room inside the Treasury, I got a first glimpse of the new GDS service from a group of people who couldn't be less like your average civil servants. Casually dressed, toting fold-up bicycles and laptops covered in stickers, they come across like programmers from an edgy start-up. Which is what GDS aspires to be."

They explained with some excitement that I was the first outsider to get a glimpse of Verify - a one stop shop for proving an individual's identity in order to access a range of government services, such as paying tax or renewing your passport and/or driving licence.

Explains Cellan-Jones: "The process of verifying your identity is not done by the government itself but is handed over to a range of outside companies. Right now, at the beta testing stage, this is limited to the credit rating agency Experian and the US company Verizon, which has an identity assurance business as well as a mobile phone network".

As the scheme progresses other organisations such as the Post Office, banks and UK mobile phone operators will also be suppliers.

Read the original unabridged BBC.com article.

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... overall monthly Household Finance Index rose to 42.6 last month, the second-highest reading since the survey was launched in 2009.

Markit also predicts that the survey results are "likely to be noticed by the Bank of England", implying that BoE governor Mark Carney could be poised to ease restrictions on interest rates - in force since the financlal crisis of 2009.

Mr. Carney said the UK's economic recovery had "exceeded all expectations" and "has momentum." Against that background, he said, the time for interest rates to "normalise" is nearing, and that in recent months the decision on whether to raise borrowing costs or leave policy unchanged "has become more balanced."

Figures released Tuesday show that UK factory output increased in July. Conversely the nation's trade deficit widened, a sign that economic recovery remains dependent on domestic demand.

In a speech to trade-union members in Liverpool, Mr Carney said the rate at which wages rise over coming months will be key to the exact timing of the first move. He also repeated his assurance that an increase in the benchmark rate will be "gradual and limited."

Suspending his legendary caution, Mr Carney also observed that the UK's economic recovery had "exceeded all expectations" and "has momentum."

In the light of this encouraging trend, Carney said the time for interest rates to "normalise" is nearing, and that in recent months the decision on whether to raise borrowing costs or leave policy unchanged "has become more balanced."

Despite this positive trend UK wages remain "in a rut" - although Markit's senior economist Jack Kennedy believes incomes are now showing "tentative signs of life".

Notes Mr Kennedy: "With the Bank of England now forecasting a return to real wage growth by the middle of next year, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel".

Read the original unabridged Reuters.com article.

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.. protect the rights of web users worldwide.  

"We need a global constitution – a bill of rights", he said.

Sir Tim's "Magna Carta" plan is part of a wider initiative called "The Web We Want". This urges people in each and every nation to generate a digital bill of rights – a statement of principles he hopes will be supported by public institutions, government officials and corporations.

Warns the web guru: "Unless we have an open, neutral internet we can rely on without worrying about what's happening at the back door, we can't have open government, good democracy, good healthcare, connected communities and diversity of culture.

"It's not naive to think we can have that, but it is naive to think we can just sit back and get it."

In the wake of revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden regarding the illicit activities of America's National Security Agency, Berners-Lee has been an outspoken critic of the US and UK spy agencies' surveillance of citizens.

In the light of what has emerged, he said, people are looking for an overhaul of how the security services are overseen.

Sir Tim's views also echo across the technology industry, where there is particular anger about the efforts by the NSA and Britain's GCHQ to undermine encryption and security tools – something many cybersecurity experts say has been counterproductive and undermined everyone's security.

Read the original unabridged TheGuardian.com article.

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... furiously lobbying ahead of the vote in the hope of negotiating a lighter-touch regime that takes into account the interests of business. 

Argues Malte Lohan, director of public affairs at the WFA: "The European Parliament wants to make the toughest privacy law the world has ever seen. The EU is championing the rights of citizens, but it's not that straightforward - this could undermine the digital economy."

The first crucial issue is around the definition of personal data.

The Data Protection Regulation could include not only personal information like names, bank details and passport numbers, but all sorts of identifiers that marketers routinely use – and consider to be anonymous -- in the world of big data.

The second - and equally crucial - bill centres on the definition of consent.

It seeks explicit, prior, opt-in consent at every turn, asking consumers to negotiate a cookie wall before they can engage in such routine activities as checking the weather or viewing the news.

Posits Mr Lohan: "From a marketer point of view it's totally disproportionate."

The proposals were first outlined last year. Since then, Jan-Philipp Albrecht, a Member of the European Parliament who represents the German Green Party, has been working on refining the complex document.

Reports AdAge: "Mr Albrecht specializes in civil liberties and is tough on privacy issues."

Read the original unabridged AdAge.com article.

All data sources are attributed with links to the original insight. The insight is then summarised and, where appropriate, enhanced with additional information.