Safecount's mission is to set standards for usage
By Lorraine Sanders
A Jupiter Research report in March found that 39 percent of consumers delete cookies at least once a month, and the effect was to set off alarms in the internet marketplace among both advertisers and those who operate ad-supported web sites। While the findings of the study are hotly debated--is it really as high as 39 percent?--there's no debate on the negative consequences if cookies are indeed endangered, cookies being a key advantage of the internet in terms of providing advertisers critical information on who sees their messages. Cory Treffiletti, managing director of Carat Interactive, and Nick Nyhan, president of research company Dynamic Logic, recently launched Safecount to address the growing concern of cookie deletion and the spyware and spam operators who are behind consumers' fear of cookies. Unless the industry develops standards for legitimate cookie usage, Treffiletti fears consumers will continue to delete them, and digital media will lose a powerful digital measurement tool. Media Life talks to Treffiletti about Safecount, its goals, and the controversy over cookies.
Who is behind Safecount?
Safecount is being launched by myself and Nick Nyhan। The initial idea came up in response to the various reports of users deleting cookies on their systems. Though these reports may be overstating the numbers, the issue is real and could become more significant if left to its own devices.
We developed the idea of putting together a forum for addressing digital counting and measurement methodologies and floated the idea out to a number of industry leaders, representing all of the major agencies and publishers, to see if there would be support. The response was unanimous and was officially launched at AdTech.
The entire industry will need to be behind Safecount in order for it to be effective, and our immediate goal is nothing less.
What are Safecount's top priorities?
Our first priority is to help aggregate the information related to cookie deletion and how it affects consumers and advertisers. Once we have aggregated the information, we will put together a coalition to help develop some recommendations for standards and parameters to be placed on the usage of cookies, or whatever other tool the industry deems to be acceptable, that will also be safe for consumers. We want to put in place a set of definitions, restrictions and parameters that will allow advertisers to effectively manage their inventory and target their consumer with relevant messaging while maintaining a safe and secure environment for the कोन्सुमेर।As we all know, the consumer is the central focus of today's advertising, and their control needs to be recognized. You cannot do things to harm the implicit trust in the consumer/advertiser relationship.
It is also important to note that this is not an issue that is endemic to the internet. As all media becomes digital and all media shifts to a model of accountability, this issue will broaden.
Our ultimate goal is to help establish a precedent that can be applied to other forms of media and still be beneficial to the consumer and the advertisers.
What are the specific digital media trends or industry practices that led you to found Safecount? What's going on in digital media that makes Safecount especially important right now, in spring 2005?
Spyware and spam are the primary elements that are creating an environment where consumers feel it is necessary to protect themselves.
There are a number of stripping technologies and other technologies that enter your system and delete any executable file or other file that was not placed there by the user.
Unfortunately, this includes cookies। If users start to delete their cookies on a large scale, not only will advertisers be unable to target them with messages that will be relevant, but they will have to increase the total number of ads that are on a page to ensure they are casting a wide enough net to reach their core target.
This will increase clutter and either result in a less enjoyable surfing experience or a shift to paid content where the user pays for the rights to see content without ads.
The other downfall of cookie deletion is that sites cannot monitor repeat visitors and will not tailor the experience. Amazon One-Click would no longer work and you would be forced to re-enter your information every time you make a purchase or sign up for information.
How are current digital media measurement, counting and tracking methods flawed?
The actual methods are not flawed but they are exploited by some companies. The methods themselves are working fine, but when the companies extract personally identifiable information, or are not compliant with industry standards and norms, then these issues arise.
There are, unfortunately, a very vocal minority of companies that are exploiting the consumer and making it hard for all those companies who are doing things well.
Why do digital media advertisers, researchers and consumers need Safecount?
They need some forum for aggregating a positive viewpoint and for raising awareness around the topic in a positive light. If left to their own, the media will focus on the fear of the consumer rather than the benefits of the tools.
Safecount, or any other organization, should be able to provide that forum and that opportunity to set standards.
What's the response to Safecount been like so far? How many people have signed the online petition?
The response has been fantastic. There has been a lot of coverage in the press and a few hundred people have come to the site and signed up. We are looking forward to many more people getting involved and wanting to help.
How will Safecount benefit digital media buyers and planners? Or better, how would Safecount's efforts impact a media buyer or planner's role in marketing digital media?
They probably won't affect a media buyer or planner on a regular day-to-day basis. They will affect the performance of the campaigns they are putting forth. They should help keep the measures in place that allow the campaigns to be effective and provide a strong ROI.
They will also affect the consumer by ensuring a positive experience with the web, and potentially with other forms of digital media.
You have an idea called the GoodList. Can you explain what that is and how it might benefit both consumers and advertisers?
The idea here will be to help put together a list of companies that meet the criteria that will be established by the industry, to help put together a list of the companies that are employing methods of safe counting and safe measurement.
This will only be established if the coalition of industry leaders comes to agreement that this is a good idea. If they think another method of addressing this topic would be more fruitful, then we will go in that direction.
What are consumers' major misconceptions about online advertising and, specifically, cookies?
We are going to try and do some research to discover this, but the hypothesis is that many consumers think online advertising is intrusive or that we are using their information to target them specifically. The rest of the consumer audience probably doesn't notice it. It's just like any other form of advertising. The audience is becoming immunized to our messaging due to clutter, and they are becoming more effective at tuning it out. The only way to break through that clutter is become relevant to them. If advertising provides relevant information to the consumer, then it is effective. It's no different for the internet than it is for TV.
It seems like consumers and advertisers are coming from two inherently different points of view. Consumers want an uncluttered online experience that doesn't invade their privacy, but advertisers need to collect information from consumers in order to deliver targeted ads without creating clutter. You're proposing a middle ground that benefits both groups. Can you describe what this middle ground might look like?
That middle ground is simple. It's where many companies are today. We are allowed to gather some basic information, none of which is personally identifiable, and we use it to provide the user with a targeted experience based on what they would like to see. The question is a funny one because in order to have an uncluttered experience, we need to know what they like, and therefore we need to obtain some information. When you go to the supermarket, the market only sells the products that its customers are buying, and they get rid of the things you don't want. It's the same online. We want to show the content that you want to see and get rid of the stuff you don't like. There is a strong amount of privacy in that relationship, and the ethical, compliant advertisers already know that. he consumer has all the strength here. If they don't like what an advertiser or a publisher is doing with their information, they tell the world and that company pays the price.
Are there any legitimate uses for spyware and spam? If so, what are they?
There certainly are, but I would not care to comment on that. That is part of what the coalition will need to address.
Print magazines undergo Audit Bureau of Circulations audits and have advertising pages and revenues reported through the Publisher's Information Bureau. Does Safecount.org intend to eventually become a similar industry body among digital media?
Eventually we hope to set a precedent, but for now we need to focus on what we can handle.
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