Commentary

DMA Pushes Strong Data Guidelines As Info Overload Overwhelms Marketers

Advertisers and their agency partners want new data standards. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) this week at &THEN in Los Angeles began rallying the industry to develop new guidelines for retail stores.

The guidelines are specific to in-store data collection and use and add to existing principles in the DMA's Ethical Guidelines. The organization says the guidelines are in use by thousands of marketers to ensure responsible use of data.

While the DMA continues to push for consumer guidelines to protect data, the huge amount of data being produced annually per company overwhelms many marketers.

The biggest challenge retailers now face is declining in-store traffic and the ability to integrate  two sets of data, Jennifer Stearns, senior manager at Accenture Interacting Marketing Transformation, told Data and Targeting Insider. Stearns, who spoke Sunday at &THEN, said "retailers tend to drive in-store and digital separately rather than think of them holistically, but about a year ago began separating the part of the origination supporting digital sales and content to move faster."

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Becoming nimble remains important, but companies must also provide clear guidance on how they use customer data online, says the DMA. Starting next Feb. 17, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) will begin to enforce cross-device guidelines developed by the Council of Better Business Bureaus and the DMA.  

The DAA Principles provide guidance for a self-regulatory framework when collecting and using data across multiple devices.

The DAA has also issued guidance to address the growth of mobile use and multi-site data use. 

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