We Need GDPR ASAP
We Need GDPR ASAP
Havas Global Comms
October 25, 2017
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will force us marketers to practice what we preach and help us make our brands more meaningful, argues David Burrows of Havas helia.
Medium
By David Burrows
Planning Director, Havas helia
There is much rumbling and grumbling going on about the imminent arrival of GDPR in May 2018. Once the new regulation is introduced, organisations will have to demonstrate a higher standard of customer consent, or prove they have been through a thorough and well documented process of weighing up their ‘legitimate interest’ to harness data against the individual’s right to privacy.
Any breach of the new regulation could lead to a substantial fine. Already a number of organisations are beginning to say that staying compliant could prove painful, especially when the practical interpretation of the law remains frustratingly opaque. However, the new law does no more than legally enshrine principles that we should all already be following.
The permissive society
To put things into perspective, let’s go back in time to 1999. Yes, you were probably still at school then, but bear with me. Seth Godin published a book that year called ‘Permission Marketing’ in which he argued that traditional mass marketing was failing. He talked about an increasingly fragmented media world, and a rising volume of advertising messages, each trying to interrupt and gain the attention of consumers. Godin believed that as advertising became ever more intrusive to compete for our declining attention spans and assaulted us from every angle, consumers would simply become desensitized and switch off.
Medium
By David Burrows
Planning Director, Havas helia
There is much rumbling and grumbling going on about the imminent arrival of GDPR in May 2018. Once the new regulation is introduced, organisations will have to demonstrate a higher standard of customer consent, or prove they have been through a thorough and well documented process of weighing up their ‘legitimate interest’ to harness data against the individual’s right to privacy.
Any breach of the new regulation could lead to a substantial fine. Already a number of organisations are beginning to say that staying compliant could prove painful, especially when the practical interpretation of the law remains frustratingly opaque. However, the new law does no more than legally enshrine principles that we should all already be following.
The permissive society
To put things into perspective, let’s go back in time to 1999. Yes, you were probably still at school then, but bear with me. Seth Godin published a book that year called ‘Permission Marketing’ in which he argued that traditional mass marketing was failing. He talked about an increasingly fragmented media world, and a rising volume of advertising messages, each trying to interrupt and gain the attention of consumers. Godin believed that as advertising became ever more intrusive to compete for our declining attention spans and assaulted us from every angle, consumers would simply become desensitized and switch off.
One of the world’s largest global communications groups, Havas is committed to creating a meaningful difference to brands, businesses, and people.
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