Archive for March, 2010

So Google came up with an opt-out gimmick to allow visitors not to be measured by GA, huh? Ah, a browser based plug-in! Yeah, right. And why? Now?

As I read Eric’s blog post about why Google is really offering opt-out, it made me smile. As usual, he is controversial like no one can be – makes me kind of proud he’s our CEO: the guy’s got balls! – and I smiled because the underlying philosophy of Web Analytics Demystified is to allow for disagreement in order to push the market further. I don’t mind caring about different things: all three of use at Web Analytics Demystified have different backgrounds and praise the Lord for it, it’s a pleasure to be challenged and is, for me, the only way forward!
So Eric might have a point as to why Google decided to do this: a functionality that needed to be set-up and a box checked in order to broaden their impact, including governmental sites now. Possible, seems like a logical explanation.

However, just like Steve Jackson’s Kwantic commented, I also first thought that we were talking about a serious step by Google to respect European privacy legislation. Looks like I was wrong: we’re not talking about a link visitors can click on after taking a look at a companies’ privacy policy and choosing to opt-out. Nah, this is a browser based plug-in, something that actually already existed. So I have to align to the consensus of the market: nothing-new here, nothing to see, move along.

BUT I remain worried and I’ve been thinking about why I care about privacy ever since I had a discussion with a well know Google Analytics evangelist about data ownership the previous last time I was in Berlin, some months ago. Silly question! he replied.
So why do I care? Let me tell you a story.

At the turn of the century, 1900s that is, Dutch undertakers were committed to give proper burials to people of various religions. Hence, being pragmatic as they were, they decided to keep records of peoples religions: they mapped out the entire Dutch population. Guess what happened to these records in 1941 when the Germans invaded the Netherlands?
Ever wondered how, despite superb propaganda by the Dutch after WWII , so many Dutch Jews were exterminated? Anne Frank is a nice story and so is De Aanslag but fact remains that the extermination of – mainly Spanish and Portuguese – Jews in the Netherlands was highly effective thanks to Dutch pragmatism. Something that started as Don’t do Evil actually did.

For me, there are 2 things when it comes to privacy:

1. Choice: the possibility for website visitors to clearly choose not to be monitored
2. Clear data ownership: something not at all specified by Google one should note and if I missed that part, my sincere apologies and don’t hesitate to reach out!

As for the differences that prevail in Europe due to limited legal coordination, the following aspects need to be taken into account.

• The rule of law that is applied in the various countries making up the EU is different. By this I mean that the basic principles and mechanisms that make up for example French, German and English law are not the same due to historical evolution. For more information, you might want to take a peak at literature about the rule of law such as for example in the Law-Growth Nexus by Kenneth W. Dam. Hint: the last chapter about China is insightful and anybody wanting to take a stab at China should read this first!
• The EU doesn’t seem to move forward in this regard as the mechanisms underlying the way EU policy is taken up in national legislation’s works as follows: the EU sets-up a directive that needs to be translated into national legislation within a certain time frame.
  Countries are therefore forced to at least take up the EU legislation but they can go further.
  And when you take a country such as Germany, which is made up of multiple Länders, you actually add another step to the process. Decentralisation of decision-making has been at the forefront of Germany’s decision process ever since Hitler got democratically elected and even before. Unlike France or Spain, Germany’s history is not one of centralized kingdom but of multiple entities that at the time of Bismarck came together to form a coherent entity.

It’s interesting to note however that the browser plug-in pushed forward by Google related to the possibility of opting-out of measurement is actually in line with how the IAB interpreted the latest EU Telecoms Directive reform I blogged about some time ago.

“IAB Europe Vice President Kimon Zorbas suggests that consent could be given through users’ browser settings in much the same way some users already manage their cookies. That might enable users to express consent permanently, eliminating the need for pop-ups and other disruptions to user experience the directive might cause.”

But we’ll still have to see how this will be translated into national legislation and bodies such as the IAB are heavily lobbying in order to make sure that local interpretation will not harm our end their industry. As a reminder, the IAB stands for Interactive Advertising Bureau so while they do foster interest for online measurement, one has to recognize that web analytics is not their primary focus: theirs evolves around Advertising hence driving traffic to the website.

• Last but not least, enforcement of the rule of law varies per country. Having lived, worked and sold the company I co-founded with my husband in Belgium, I certainly now better understand why some of our acquaintances advised us against setting-up shop in what they call the “Banana Republic of Belgium”. How law is being enforced depends upon the efficiency of the judiciary system which, to be quite honest, has huge deficiencies in certain European countries compared to others, such as Germany.
  SO it’s not only about the fact that Germany uses a legal vocabulary to define what is allowed and what is not: they can also act upon it.
  And it’s ONLY when money talks that things evolve, we all know that Thanks to eTracker for pointing that out at eMetrics Marketing Optimization summit in Munich!

So what does this mean for now? will you ask me. Nada as enforcement is for the moment not yet a reality.
Could it become in the near future? This depends upon how local legislation will interpret the ePrivacy Directive so more to come this summer.
For the time being therefore, please let us stop panicking.

And I’m sure the WAA’s members welcome the IAB’s initiative about educating the broader public on the benefits of really Understanding Online Advertising. The WAA welcomes collaboration with the IAB on this front as well, volunteering available resources through existing initiatives.

This is my take on this entire debate for the moment following the Privacy debate at the eMetrics Marketing Optimization summit in Germany. Please don’t hesitate to comment and share your thoughts.

Spring, Lisbon, Portugal, Hotel Palacio: a place anyone would be happy to call home and a summit about Online Measurement. Bliss and excitement about what this event could hold.

And it was an eye opener! A world I’d heard of, had been in touch with through the many years of involvement with what was here called Site Centric measurement but where “those guys” had always been the ones sitting on the other side of the building. A consistent trait in the many projects I’ve seen all over Europe!
Haven’t we all struggled with getting those traffic acquisition tags right in order to make sure that conversions could be attributed to the right campaign? Ok, I’m simplifying but suddenly I found myself surrounded by those who speak the lingo of audience measurement while calling web analytics, site centric measurement

And as Nancy Hill from the American Association of Advertising Agencies so eloquently pointed out in her keynote session for the Latin American part of the summit: don’t we all walk into a meeting room, convinced we have the right answers? Avoid turning your back on another world you might not have dealt with before and listen. Once the position of the camera shifts, a bigger picture emerges where collaboration and consensus is possible.
And that is what I felt was the inherent philosophy of I-Com: getting professionals from all over the online media measurement space and the globe to listen to one another, explaining their points of views in order to find ways to collaborate.

My attendance was due to involvement in the Web Analytics Association, as Globalization Chair and it was good to meet up with other associations in order to open doors to collaboration as well as catch up with existing members.
More specifically, the WAA calls on industry for commentary on Social Media Standards Definition and the I-Com summit was an ideal platform to do so!
I also think that it’s actually partially thanks to Social Media and possible it’s influence on brand perception that is fostering collaboration between the different entities at play in the online media measurement space. But I’ll leave Social Media to John as he’s been prolific about the subject

As mentioned, I was amazed and discovered a world I hadn’t known enough about, I confess. Being focused on what happens on the website itself, direct response kind of mentality, limits your vision about everything that comes before anybody actually visits a website. And there is a wealth of information before that BUT we don’t speak the same lingo!
Typical examples are Mike Hess’ excellent take upon Engagement. Listening to what Engagement means to Carat’s EVP Research, Marketing Science, Consumer Insights made me think we were far from having exhausted the subject!
John Donahue’s OmnicomMediaGroup headed a panel about Measurement mash-ups which made me wonder about the difference between data integration and mash-ups as I had witnessed Joe Megibow’s excellent take on the subject through his examples at Expedia. I was however reassured to see integrations between Omniture, Foresee & TeaLeaf: this final session finally linked back to my so familiar world after a round trip of 2 days where I got to see a bigger picture.

Last but not least, we did talk somewhat about site centric measurement, together with amongst other Omniture and Nedstat. Richard Foan from ABC UK, who pointed toward the fact that foundations for Online Media Measurement did certainly exist, headed our panel. But as we continue building our house, we need to make sure we all agree upon how we should finish building it aka define a common lingo! Hopefully we will continue to quote Aristotle as well

Top measurement issues raised during day 1 break out sessions can be found here: http://i-com.typepad.com/icomconfblog/2010/03/top-measurement-issues-raised-during-day-1-breakout-sessions.html. More to come on the I-Com blog so watch this space!

And a special thank you to Andreas Cohen for setting up this wonderful event, Chinese food will never taste the same!