Posts Tagged ‘ERSP’

Membership Has Its Privileges

Friday, February 13th, 2009

petermarinello.jpg As some of you may be aware, the National Advertising Review Council (NARC) recently announced a board expansion to include representatives from the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). These associations now join the flagship members of the NARC Board, namely: the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB).

The expansion of the board is an unprecedented step in the history of advertising self-regulation and represents the board’s first move in this direction since NARC was founded in 1971. Last year I had the good fortune of being part of a NARC Strategic Planning Committee along with ERA’s Bill McClellan, NARC President Lee Peeler, his predecessor Jim Guthrie, among others, and we were able to persuade the NARC Board of the significance of ERA’s voice in the advertising industry and its importance in being “ahead of the curve” in identifying the pivotal issues facing the industry. The NARC Board sets policies and procedures for advertising industry self-regulation, and ERA’s well deserved addition recognizes the association’s longstanding support of self-regulation and the expertise that they bring to addressing the challenges of self-regulation.

As if I haven’t used my allowed allotment of acronyms already, this may be a great time to reacquaint everyone with where the Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (ERSP) comes from and what we do. In 1971 ANA, AAAA, AAF formed an alliance with the CBBB to create an independent self-regulatory body, NARC. To ensure the credibility and impartiality of the self-regulation system, the advertising review process was set up to operate under the administrative purview of the CBBB. In 2004, the ERA and NARC partnered to form ERSP, and the recent expansion of the board to include Ms. Coons further solidifies this relationship.

ERSP’s mission is to enhance consumer confidence in electronic retailing by providing a quick and effective mechanism for resolving inquiries regarding the truthfulness and accuracy of claims in direct response advertising. ERSP inquiries originate from competitor challenges, consumer complaints and ERSP’s ongoing monitoring program. To date, companies working with ERSP have modified or discontinued nearly two hundred advertisements in an effort to foster more accurate product information to consumers. ERSP is a recognized example of how industry self-regulation can improve industry standards and the consumer experience, a benefit for all parties involved.

By expanding the NARC Board to include ERA, its members are now going to be ensured an advocate within the advertising community at large, and will be part of the discussion on the future of advertising regulation. So with the heartiest of welcomes, we applaud ERA’s appointment to the NARC Board, which means that this organization now literally has a seat at the table and its rightful place amongst the advertising industry at large.

Peter Marinello works for the National Advertising Review Council and spearheads ERSP.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Advertising, Direct Response, ERA, Government Affairs, Infomercials, Marketer, Online, Research, Retailer | No Comments »

ERA’s Julie Coons Joins NARC Board

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

julie-coons.gif WASHINGTON—On the cusp of the Electronic Retailing Association’s (ERA) self-regulation program (ERSP) completing its 200th case and a DRTV spot playing during the Super Bowl, ERA president and CEO, Julie Coons, has been named to The National Advertising Review Council’s (NARC) Board. Coons, who was brought on the board simultaneously with DMA CEO John Greco and IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg, recognizes that the perfect storm of the wary economy, the Obama administration and the broader acceptance of direct response marketing all played a significant role in the updated board appointments.

“The convergence of the decision by NARC to welcome ERA to the board and the economic conditions and the continuing evolution of this industry is incredibly synergistic. It gives us an opportunity as an industry to work more closely with the well established organizations representing the advertising community, which will definitely increase our prominence both with the government and industry players alike,” says Coons.

The Better Business Bureau, NARC and various associations are eagerly waiting to see how the recent changes in Washington will affect advertising regulation, which up this point has been widely self-regulated. “We must be vigilant to see what changes are made at the top, particularly with the FTC. We need to be vigilant in this era in which there’s clearly going to be a focus on greater business regulation, but we do have a very good track record. I am not overly worried today, but again, we must be very vigilant to ensure that these new policy makers and appointees understand the tremendous success of ERA’s self-regulation program,” says Coons. Currently, ERA’s ERSP program independently reviews direct response advertising claims and then refers cases to the FTC when its recommendations are not acted upon.

Coons is eager and excited about ERA’s newly positioned role and believes that in the end it will be a major win for the consumer who can expect a greater level of comfort in remote transactions. “This is a result of the electronic retailing industry working with NARC and pursuing a dialogue with them about the changing landscape of reaching the consumer. To their great credit, it also serves as a recognition on NARC’s part that electronic retailers are a very important marketing channel and should be appropriately represented to ensure consumers are protected against false claims,” she says. Coons sees her role as ensuring that the direct marketing industry has an equal voice within the advertising community. For more information on ERA or its government affairs initiatives, please click here.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Advertising, Direct Response, ERA, Government Affairs, Infomercials, Marketer, Retailer | 1 Comment »

Behavioral Tracking or Behavioral Stalking?

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

leah.jpg Just when I thought social websites, such as Facebook, were attempting to provide a little more security by tweaking the adjustability of the privacy settings, I began to take note of the sponsored link ads that creep along the sides of my homepage and the pages of other unsuspecting users and wonder just how confidential my profile actually is.

Facebook knows my name, my sex, my educational background, my e-mail address and my face, literally. But just because I am a 21-year-old female does not mean I need to visit a website to meet a man, apparently of my dreams, or review a casino’s website with hopes to spend the wads of cash the typical college student has hidden under his or her dorm mattress. Should I take offense to the airbrushed images flashing on the screen promoting weight loss? Hmm, who knew simply taking a weight-loss supplement could make any girl centerfold worthy?

Is it ethical for a website to require such user information and then allow its users to be hounded with what advertisers deem relevant to our being based solely on keywords found scattered amongst our online identities? And it’s not just social networking websites. My e-mail accounts are being bombarded with sponsored links containing keywords evidently scouted out from my e-mails as well. Sure, we have the choice to sign up for such services, but should we not have to give consent for our online personalities to be analyzed and solicited?

I can accept search engines tracking my queries and on some level understand and appreciate the effort and help. Facebook and Gmail stalking my habits and statistics could be seen in some circles as abusing their rights to my personal information, and I don’t think I can get on board with it. I suggest a course of action be taken towards more privacy before many decide it may be time to defriend Facebook and put Gmail in the trash.

Leah Mitter is an intern with the Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Advertising, ERA, Government Affairs, Just for fun..., Marketer, Online, Research, Retailer, Social Networks | 1 Comment »

The Relevance of Traditional Marketing Strategies in Advertising’s New Frontier

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

petermarinello.jpg I was having lunch the other day with ERSP Program Analyst Bob Hilleman and our former ERSP colleague Tessa Barrera. Soon, the conversation turned to the subject of traditional television and print advertising and how these promotional vehicles (though still packing a powerful punch) will soon be considered the advertising models of the past. We discussed how new outlets such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Second Life and Twitter have arisen as new outlets for marketers to explore. Yes, marketers are realizing that as technology advances so must marketing, and these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. However, perhaps looking at why traditional marketing campaigns succeeded can help guide the jump into exploring the new media.

Think back to the advertising campaigns that you remember: M&M’s “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands”; Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” and Campbell Soup’s “Mmm…Mmm good.” All catchy taglines tied to successful advertising campaigns that appeal to the consumer’s feelings of trust, quality and security. By building a recognizable brand, the advertising worked to reinforce and create the connection with the consumers by appealing to their emotional sense of quality, fairness and connection. What makes a successful brand and a successful advertisement is that emotional connection. Consumers have to invest themselves into the subject, the character or the product.

More and more, new technology is on the rise. YouTube or Vimeo features short, digestible clips. Twitter issues one-sentence updates. Tumblr is built for short and quick blogging. The focus is on content, quick, constantly updating, but never in-depth. This speed, this bite-size focus is being heralded as the wave of the future, but it doesn’t allow for the building of a brand. It’s focused on tiny bits of information ready now, not to be stored away but to create a temporary quick fix for a need of information. It’s exciting, it’s constantly moving, it’s cutting edge. Yet, it is also, as of now, fairly impersonal. Consumers are there for the speed of changing content, not for the emotional ties to others. Tubmlr is attempting to incorporate those two aspects—building on the social connections of a Facebook, but still on the speed of a Twitter. Yet still, even with the social networking tie-in, the speed of the information has not yet been harnessed to achieve emotional connections. (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Advertising, Just for fun..., Marketer, Mobile, Social Networks, Video | 5 Comments »

The Quiznos-Subway “Battle Royale”

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

petermarinello.jpg If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s an interesting advertising dispute brewing between Quiznos and Subway sandwich shops. It seems Quiznos invited the public to submit homemade videos in a contest intended to target its rival, Subway. The contest rules stated that video submissions were meant to draw “a comparison between Quiznos and Subway with Quiznos being superior.”

One of the videos showed a Subway sandwich running to a Quiznos store to find more meat. Another showed two submarines looking like sandwiches, with the Subway submarine being destroyed because it did not have enough meat.

Subway subsequently sued Quiznos, alleging that several of the homemade videos made false claims and depicted its brand in a disparaging manner. In addition, Subway also objected to ads that Quiznos itself created, showing people on the street choosing Quiznos over Subway. The legal question here is because Quiznos did not create the submissions, so should it be held liable for user-generated content created on its behalf?

From a claim substantiation standpoint (assuming that the “more meat” claim is one of the false statements), I wouldn’t want to be the attorney representing Quiznos in this one. You see, knowledge is a dangerous thing. In my opinion, once an advertiser is made aware that claims are being disseminated in the marketplace without the prerequisite underlying support, the advertiser is responsible and must exercise a reasonable effort to remove the videos/ads from circulation. As Richard Leighton, a partner at Keller and Heckman who specializes in advertising and trademark law noted in a New York Times article: “It’s not like Quiznos said, ‘Do any interesting video you can.’ They provoked it, instigated it, so it may be that the consumers, in this case, are effectively their agents.” (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Advertising, Branding, ERA, Government Affairs, Just for fun..., Marketer, Social Networks, Video | No Comments »