By Fran Maier
President
TRUSTe
Today we publicly announced the launch of TRUSTed Ads, our new advertising privacy product to provide consumers notice and choice for online behavioral advertising. In addition, we announced partnerships with AdSafe Media, DoubleVerify, and Pointroll, three major ad platform companies that will help us distribute this product.
We’ve been working closely with the coalition of advertising industry associations (4A’s, AAF, ANA, DMA and IAB), now called the Digital Advertising Alliance, and TRUSTe is well into the process to be named an Approved Provider for compliance solutions for advertisers, ad networks, and publishers. (No, Better Advertising won’t be the only one for long).
The partnerships, alliance with the advertising agency coalition, and demand for TRUSTe ad choice solutions is a direct result of our well-established leadership and expertise in privacy, our approach and technology, and the proven confidence our brand conveys to consumers.
We plan to work with our partners, clients, and advertising networks to widely distribute the solution, including the new advertising option icon into advertising placements (the icon is pictured below).
For publishers and websites, we will offer a solution similar to our pilot program that has been running since the spring. The pilot has provided a terrific opportunity to understand consumer behavior, test the underlying platform, and strengthen TRUSTe’s capabilities. Special thanks to our publisher pilot participants including Publisher’s Clearinghouse. We’ll be sharing the results of the pilot in more detail in weeks to come.
Many characterize this compliance program as solely an effort to avoid privacy and advertising regulation. From TRUSTe’s standpoint, however, this presents an opportunity for advertisers and publishers to further build trust with their consumers by offering consumers an easy way to access and make their choices
Here are some FAQ’s – more to come.
What is TRUSTed Ads?
TRUSTed Ads as is an end-to-end technology platform for advertisers, ad networks and website publishers that allows them to be compliant with the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA), which have been established by a coalition of ad industry associations (4A’s, AAF, ANA, DMA and IAB). Coalition website: www.AboutAds.info
What are the Self-Regulatory Principles for OBA?
The self-regulatory principles address privacy & notice issues associated with the practice of using cookies to track a user’s browsing history for the purposes of ad targeting.
These principles require companies engaging in OBA to give consumers notice regarding such practices through an industry-sanctioned icon within an ad or on a page containing and ad. Furthermore, companies must give consumers a mechanism to opt-out of OBA cookies.
What does our TRUSTed Ads technology do?
The TRUSTed Ads’ icon server allows for scalable icon insertion across billions of ad impressions and pageviews. We have tools to ensure that the right colored icon appears in the right part of an ad or page without interfering with content. We have built one of the largest cookie databases in the industry so that consumers can make comprehensive choices. Finally, we have done extensive user testing to ensure our UI is intuitive and that the power of the TRUSTe brand is maximized.