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ARTICLE

Moving Toward Digital Marketing that Everyone Loves: The “Consumer-First” Philosophy

March 27, 2018 — by MediaMath    

At MediaMath, we love marketing.  We know that a lot of folks don’t, and we are committed to fixing that problem.  We believe that when marketing is done well, it serves the useful purpose of connecting products and services to the people that need or want them.  This increases the value exchange between consumers and marketers, boosts the efficiency of economic exchange and even helps create jobs and sustain communities.  We believe consumers should be able to browse a safe Internet where their data is used in transparent ways, in a manner consistent with their preferences and expectations, to further develop the vibrant digital economy and to support content creators of all sizes, be they news juggernauts or your favorite blog.

The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica story has drawn renewed attention to how consumers’ information is used and distributed. This is only the latest impetus for a broader public-private conversation on the health of the digital ecosystem and efforts by the industry to build solutions that put the consumer and his or her digital dignity first, with accountability and transparency.  To our mind, having that conversation is not just the right thing to do—it is the smart thing to do.

Because we want everyone to love marketing and feel in control of their experiences, MediaMath is doubling down on a “consumer-first” philosophy and creating a set of norms for operation.  We want to work not only with our colleagues in the industry, but also with civil society, academia and policymakers to make the marketing that consumers encounter online more relevant, less intrusive and higher-quality. To that end, MediaMath is innovating new technologies and working to improve industry self-regulatory standards and best practices in the following ways:

  • Eliminating patchwork marketing by building solutions on our own and in concert with our partners to provide marketers with a unified, pseudonymous mechanism for interacting with consumers across devices that includes strong protections for their privacy and preferences.
  • Giving consumers clearer, simpler and more meaningful transparency and control over the advertising they see.
  • Engaging with self-regulatory and trade associations, as well as civil society and academia, to strengthen the industry’s consumer privacy and user experience standards.
  • Creating a government affairs arm to proactively collaborate with lawmakers and regulators in improving the digital marketing ecosystem.

We aim to help create incentives and an information feedback loop that drives the development of marketing that people love—literally love, and are happy to have seen. We want you to work with us toward that end, communicate with us on how to do better and help us create a marketing ecosystem from which everyone receives value. We look forward to opening a dialogue with all stakeholders, including consumers and policymakers, on what more needs to be done.