• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, August 11, 2015

In almost any in-depth conversation about the Internet of Things with marketers, the issues of data and privacy come up.

This was a recurring theme at the recent MediaPost IoT: Shopping conference, right from the opening panel, led by Joe Mandese, MediaPost editor-in-chief.

“We have to figure out what information we can collect and what to do with it,” said Matt DePratter, vice president, digital shopper marketing, at Catapult. “There’s the consumer side of it and the brand side, which is different. It’s really about what kind of experience and what kind of communication can I connect with an actual shopper when they’re doing something.”

The speakers all suggested that the focus should be on the consumer.

“The promise of big data and of automation and machine learning is that there is a real consumer benefit,” said Tom Goodwin, SVP strategy at Havas Media. “As an industry, we kind of freak out because we presume there’s a whole generation of people who are going to have massive privacy concerns.

“Rather than think of what can I do that won’t freak people out, we should think of what can I do that will give people an amazing value and what can I do to explain to people why I’m using this data and what the benefit is.”

Another recurring theme of the discussion revolved around the bond between consumer and brand.

“It’s about trust,” said David Eastman, managing partner of MCD Partners. “Trust is something that takes quite a long time to build, particular with a consumer with a brand, and it’s very easily lost.”

“It gets back to permission as well,” said Ethan Goodman, vice president, digital and innovation at The Mars Agency. “I’m not going to give a brand permission to message and market to me unless I trust them and that the value or content they’re delivering back is hyper-relevant to me.”

The speakers recognized that these are the early days of the Internet of Things and that in many cases, agencies are leading the charge, acknowledging the associated responsibility.

“All it takes is one of us to screw it up,” said Douglas Rozen, chief innovation officer at Meredith Xcelerated Marketing.