• by Dave Morgan , Featured Contributor, June 15, 2006

Most in the online ad industry spend very little time on the public policy front. It's not that we don't care what goes on in Washington and in our state houses, but it's just that we've been pretty busy working on building sustainable business models in a media world that's being transformed by the digital revolution. Engaging in lobbying and public policy are what mature companies in mature industries do. Mostly, they do it for defensive purposes such as keeping their market positions secure; creating regulatory roadblocks for upstart competitors; or mitigating knee-jerk legislative responses when consumers appear to be harmed.

As an industry, we've been much more focused on how to be successful upstarts in business than how to build, sustain or protect our long-term market positions through public policy. However, given the stunning defeat that online media suffered at the hands of the telecommunications industry in the House of Representatives on Net neutrality recently, it's pretty clear that we have to start taking public policy seriously.

Basically, the House passed a Bill that would give regulated telecommunications companies broad new latitude to enter the digital television and video businesses, but rejected a proposed amendment that would prevent them from turning their Internet pipes into toll roads. Many of the large telecos have already gone on record with their intentions to begin charging fees to online content and application companies for unhindered access to their subscribers. In other words, broadband companies want the ability to block or slow down the delivery of Web or search sites that they don't like or who haven't paid them "carriage" fees.

While the online industry took a strong position against this concept and lobbied hard for Net neutrality, it was to no avail. Unlike online media, the telelcos were much, much stronger. They have been lobbying Washington successfully for generations, not just months or years. Of course there are chances to fight for Net neutrality in the Senate, but the tide is certainly against us.

What about the other public policy issues--from privacy to advertising taxes to antitrust--that impact our industry and which are likely to come before Washington and state legislatures? Will we be ready the next time?

We must start preparing. We have too much at stake. However, if we want to succeed at public policy, we must prepare ourselves for an environment that is very, very different from the world of business and technology and innovation and venture capital. The world of public policy has its own rules. Before entering the online advertising world in the early 1990's, I spent a number of years as a newspaper lawyer and as a registered lobbyist for the newspaper industry. I participated in the tail end of the battle between the telecos and the media and cable industries over deregulation that ended with compromises no one was happy with, but which prevented the phone companies from subsidizing their entry into online content and advertising businesses at the expense of subscribers to everyday phone service. It was a nasty fight and it lasted for years.

How To Play The Public Policy Game

Take public policy seriously. It makes the rules for our other game--business. If you ignore public policy, you will never understand how the rules are written and how to keep the rules from being rewritten to your detriment. Without favorable public policy, everything that you hold dear in the business world could disappear. Public policy institutions created our business and protect it.

Be humble. Show respect. Leave your ego at the door. You may be masters of the universe when it comes to delivering effective advertising or real-time publishing or search, but the folks in Washington and the respective state capitals are in a league of their own when it comes to legislation and public policy. Play by their rules. These rules, by the way, do not include showing up to meet them wearing silver mesh sneakers or even our very familiar open-collar shirts. Stop by Brooks Brothers. Dress like they dress. Address them as they expect to be addressed. They and their institutions protect our way of life and our ability to innovate and make profits. Don't forget that. Don't forget to thank them.

Listen more than you talk. Don't just go to Washington to tell the folks there what they should do or what you want them to do. Ask them questions. Listen to them. Learn from them. Learn how they do business. Understand their problems and their constituent problems. Understand the rules and processes that they operate under. It's just like selling ads: The more you listen, the better you do.

Keep it simple. Technology and technology businesses tend to be complex. For most people, complexity equals confusion. In public policy, confusion kills. Keep your messages simple.

Educate. Most people in public policy love to learn new things. Information is their currency. It is their edge. Turn this into your advantage. Educate. Educate. Educate.

Hire the right people. Give them the authority that they need. Recognize that public policy requires skill sets and approaches that are quite different than innovating great technology or creating great content. Great coders make terrible public policy experts, because writing code is black and white and public policy is all about shades of grey. Understand that. When you hire the right people, listen to them. Forget your preconceived notions that liberal arts folks have no place in your businesses. Don't ask them for their SATs and GPAs. Test results may be a good way to judge engineers, but a terrible way to judge policy experts.

Don't just give money. Many folks think that the key to influencing policy is to give money to candidates and campaigns. While this can be one of the elements, it is generally one of the least effective on its own. The best way to influence public policy is from the bottom up, not the top down. Don't think that getting the ear of a House member at a fundraiser means that you're now in the public policy game. The ears of the legislative aides or committee staffers are much more important. They are the ones that actually draft and drive legislation. Give them your attention. Give them your time. Playing the fundraising circuit tends to be more about your own vanity than your own public policy interests.

Don't take a short-term view. Creating or influencing public policy is a long-term process--a very long-term process. Those in Washington were doing their jobs well before the Internet was hot, and will most likely still be there long after the next new big thing. Don't believe me? Just look at Senators Robert Byrd or Ted Kennedy or Ted Stevens. Telecos have been lobbying Washington since before those Senators were born. They have seen flash-in-the-pan businesses come and go before. They have outlasted them. If we want to win in this environment, we have to have a long-term vision and staying power.