More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Similar to How Big Brands Handle FTC Demands
Similar to How Big Brands Handle FTC Demands (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
How Big Brands Handle FTC Demands
- 1. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 How Big Brands Handle FTC Demands Julia Pavone
- 2. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Outline • FTC Definitions & Guidelines • Types of Compliance Risks – Examples – BrandVerity Study • Costs of Non-Compliance • Real World Examples • Proactively Taking Control
- 3. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Learn to think like the FTC • Affiliates/Partners are seen as part of a brand’s marketing channel • If an affiliate/partner makes claims or discusses an attribute and receives compensation, need to follow guidelines
- 4. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 FTC Guidelines An advertisement or promotional message shouldn’t suggest or imply to consumers that it is anything other than an ad
- 5. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Disclosures Disclosures must be clearly and conspicuously stated for any sponsored content
- 6. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Lord & Taylor Exhibit A Page 5 of 5
- 7. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Cole Haan – #wanderingsole
- 8. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 BrandVerity Study • Failure is the Norm – 80% did not include a disclosure • Better Together – 79% of posts created through advertiser and affiliate collaboration included some form of disclosure • All Disclosures Not Created Equal – Only 21% of disclosures were adequate Download Today: bit.ly/FTCstudy
- 9. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Costs of Non-Compliance • Public Reprimands – For Brands: Loss of customers – For Publishers: Loss of business • FTC Reprimands – Court Ordered Monitoring – Fines
- 10. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 HOW BIG BRANDS ARE STAYING PROACTIVE
- 11. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Example: Large Agency – Online Retail • Actions Taken: Extreme Proactivity – Require all affiliate pages to have a proper disclosure on their pages stating there are paid links – Not allowing any affiliates into program without disclosure present • Benefit – Starting their program out with a requirement, rather than having to go back later and educate/enforce
- 12. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Example: Credit Card Issuer • Actions Taken: Unique Disclosure – Each time an affiliate has their card, they have a unique brand specific advertiser disclosure • Benefit – Easy to show that they are being proactive – Helpful in monitoring since you can look for specific text
- 13. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Example: Large Bank • Actions Taken: Control Traffic Flow – All referral links leaving publisher site only come from 1 page – All links for a specific card in any article on a page must only link back to one page on the site that will link back to the bank • Benefit – Able to ensure that every customer sees the disclosure, TOS, etc. if all traffic goes through one page
- 14. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?
- 15. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Tips For A Compliant Program Teach Create a Process Enforce
- 16. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Tips For A Compliant Program 1. Teach – Yourself – Colleagues – Partners Teach Create a Process Enforce
- 17. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Tips For A Compliant Program 2. Create a process – Review each affiliate site – Capture screenshots – Record remediation actions – Compile report Create a process EnforceTeach
- 18. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Tips For A Compliant Program 3. Enforce – When an issue is found, contact the affiliate and take action – Keep a record of the issues to show you have a process for taking action Enforce Teach Create a process
- 19. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Summary • Affiliates/Partners are seen as part of your marketing program • Any endorsements by affiliates/partners need to have a disclosure if being compensated • Learn the FTC guidelines for your industry • Teach others what those guidelines are • Develop a compliance process • Enforce the your rules
- 20. COPYRIGHT BRANDVERITY, 2016 Q & A www.BrandVerity.com
Editor's Notes
- pause in between bullets Examples of "Success" "Actions" brands are taking to be compliant Associated costs of risks
- Ambiguity Learn to think like the FTC Referencing something on the slide
- Included affiliate links embedded in blog posts Classic truth in advertising principle – anything that provides value from the brand to publisher makes it a promoted message – Cash payments, Free products Store credit, Discounts, Free services, Special access, Favors of any kind
- ----- Meeting Notes (1/4/17 10:44) ----- pull preston's citations
- (not link, etc.) Clear – significant minority of reasonable consumers – not everyone knows what affiliate marketing/links mean, must be able to understand them, simple straightforward Conspicuous – no scrolling, should not be able to click a link prior to seeing disclosure, proximity, stand out against background, can use one disclosure for a few links – must be clear http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f24b6ea0-907f-47ac-9ccb-9f70c353c167
- You probably think you are fine – are you? What do others look like? ----- Meeting Notes (1/4/17 10:59) ----- Think like the FTC - reviewed bloggers
- 100 blogs when commercial relationships existed – applied framework of evaluation 79% - Direct vs indirect affiliates, non-collaboration was a leak where bloggers were able to drive traffic without being explicit partners, one-step too far, no influence, FTC position
- Court ordered – opening your books to FTC As a publisher – removed from program – may no longer have access
- Including one of top 2 leading sports brands
- Top 3 Credit Card Issuer
- Leading national bank with over 2 trillion dollars in total assets Standardizing UX
- Affiliates – understanding they don’t have the legal resources, might not be aware, rewards good publishers instead of taxing, empowers them to be compliant for other brands as well ----- Meeting Notes (1/4/17 13:35) ----- All this information is free and publicly available
- Taxing because they have to send it in every month – great example to show you what process the FTC is looking for One off problems will not trigger the FTC, consistent non-compliance will Removed “Court order of Legacy Learning Systems” since it wasn’t part of the “process” steps
- Highlight – keeping record is difficult without technology – screenshots, email recording, evidence that the communication triggered a change
- Over last few months conducting study – published that this morning