UNESDA Commitment on Digital Marketing Communications
General Principles for Digital Communications
Guidelines for Digital Marketing Communications
Compliance and Post Audit for Digital Marketing Communications
What’s the issue?
The emergence of digital marketing has created a huge opportunity for marketers. With online ad spend growing at 40% in 2008 and traditional consumer protection frameworks struggling to keep up with technology, digital marketing has come to be seen, often unfairly, as the ‘wild west’ of marketing. For this reason, digital marketing is increasingly attracting the attention of critics while losing consumer trust.
For many years offline advertising in Europe has been regulated by our own industry to ensure ads don’t mislead, don’t discriminate, don’t exploit, etc. This self-regulation (SR) is critical to defending our license to communicate effectively. It is proof of our shared commitment to responsible marketing whilst protecting an environment which enables innovative and effective communications.
We need to ensure that our self-regulatory measures are equally applicable and accountable within the digisphere and that our digital marketing communications is subject to the same checks and balances to ensure that we do not place messages in sites aimed at children under 12. We must also set in place independent, third party monitoring to audit our compliance in the digital arena.
These Guidelines for digital marketing communications are an integral part of our UNESDA Commitments on Responsible Marketing and EU Pledge Commitments. UNESDA recognizes that commercial digital communications on the internet play an increasingly important role in the marketing mix of our non-alcoholic beverage brands as a valuable and appropriate tool to reach out to consumers over the age of 12. These Guidelines therefore apply to all digital marketing communications media purchasing as well as all brand and corporate sites.
Like all digital based marketing activities, marketing communications on the internet represent an area that is still in an evolutionary development where new trends may occur rather rapidly. These Guidelines will therefore be reviewed continuously and, if and when necessary, adapted.
Digital marketing communications refers to the use of electronic commerce to advertise and / or market products.
For example:
- Paid Search, Display ads, Marketer-written product reviews, Online ‘public’ classified ads, SMS/MMS ads on mobile phones, Bluetooth, ‘Viral’ advertising, Outdoor video, In-game advertising, Marketer-endorsed User Generated Content (UGC), Elements of marketer owned websites, E-mail marketing, Banner ads, Interactive advertising, Search engine and blog marketing, Messenger, etc. (see glossary of terms)
Top of the pageA quick Recap
- UNESDA has a set of Commitments on Responsible Marketing aimed at not targeting directly to children under the age of 12 (audience profile over 50% of age 12 or above).
General Principles for Digital Communications
- UNESDA recognizes the growing use of the internet and digital communications amongst children. While we believe the digital space can be a wonderful way to communicate, share and learn, UNESDA members commit not to market products targeting children through the internet and other forms of digital marketing communications.
- UNESDA´s Responsible Marketing Policy abides by the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Consolidated Code on Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice, which is the global benchmark for widely supported self-regulatory codes of conduct promoting high ethical standards in marketing communications of all forms and across all channels.
- UNESDA´s commitments on digital communications cannot substitute for parental guidance and authority.
Guidelines for Digital Marketing Communications
- UNESDA members will ensure that internet sites, content and related technologies are designed for visitors over the age of 12; as such UNESDA members will ensure creative development and agency briefings are designed to predominantly appeal to children over the age of 12.
- UNESDA members will apply the minimum 50% over-12 audience threshold to all placements of marketing communications on-line and will only advertise on third party sites accordingly.
- UNESDA will leverage trusted 3rd party audited site traffic data to confirm that less than 50% of site audience is children less than 12 years of age. Content re-adaptation or additional action will be required to ensure viewer age is in line with our policies and principles.
- Age reaffirmation and/or equivalent technology will be always used if the site captures Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
- UNESDA members will apply the 50% over-12 audience profile threshold based on available technology to ensure it is in line with our digital marketing communications principles and commitments.
Compliance and Post Audit for Digital Marketing Communications
- A placement of marketing communications will be considered compliant with this guidance if it satisfies a set of independent, transparent and verifiable evaluation criteria. UNESDA members agree to adjust future placements (by cancellations, schedule adjustment or other) in cases when a post-audit review shows non-compliance with this guidance.
- UNESDA will develop and implement an audit system to monitor and report on the compliance of our digital marketing communications on an annual basis. Monitoring will be done by an independent third party and will preferably be set up in collaboration with a representative industry body.
