Addressing 'Big Data' Issues in Agency Agreements

The era of "big data" has created both greater opportunities and greater complications for marketers in terms of access and use of data. In fact, Advertising Audit and Risk Management (AARM), a North American provider of independent advertising audit and consulting services, recently urged advertisers and marketers to review agency contracts to make sure they address evolving "big data" issues. Data can drive a precisely targeted marketing strategy by leveraging insights from transactional and customer behavioral data--assuming that the advertiser has the right to receive and use that data. Based on their experience, AARM cites at least six key, but often unanswered, data questions that should be covered in contracts: Who owns the data; where the data is stored; how long the data is stored; how secure the data is; whether the data is kept separate from that of other advertisers; and whether the data is being used to aid other advertisers. AARM points out that data ownership is not automatically ceded to an advertiser or marketer despite investment in a media buy generating a data stream. Many within the media chain may try to claim the generated data: Ad agencies, trading desks, publishers, demand-side platforms, and third-party ad servers all may seek unrestricted access, if not ownership, of valuable customer data. That's why marketers and advertisers need to be sure that legal agreements clearly and consistently spell out data ownership rights, privacy considerations, security and access rights for first-, second- and third-party data. For more, see the full post at http://www.acculistusa.com/what-data-questions-should-agency-agreements-address/

Embattled 2015 Ad Spending Still Seen Up by 5%

Welcome to 2015, marketers! Here's a bit of encouragement for those cautiously emerging from squeezed 2014 budgets: There's spending growth ahead, albeit tempered by continued financial pressures. The New York Times reports that senior ad agency executives are saying that, despite continued rough sailing for advertising budgets in 2015, they foresee steady growth in worldwide ad spending of 4.8% to 5% compared with 2014. The forecast came at the 42nd annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, with executives attributing improved spending to factors such as gains in digital ad sales, mobile ad spending, and improving economic conditions in markets like India and the United States. But ad executives certainly didn't paint a rosy scenario for those seeking marketing dollars from embattled corporate budgets. As Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the world's largest agency holding group in revenue, summed up to the NYT, "The biggest challenge we face as an industry is convincing clients to focus on the top line rather than reducing costs," and to get them to realize that ad spending is "an investment, not a cost." For more ad executive comments, read http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/business/media/madison-avenue-sees-rough-times-ahead-tempered-by-growth.html