NAI in 2016: A Look Ahead

Wow! Is it already February? It’s hard to believe that the holidays, CES, and a major DC blizzard are now in the rear view mirror! Here at NAI, we are busy on many fronts. We are invigorated by the start of a new year and are excited for the challenges and opportunities that 2016 will bring for NAI and our industry. I start this year confident that NAI continues to be a standard bearer for robust and responsible self-regulation. We are doing incredibly important work here, and I am more impressed than ever with the smart and dedicated staff members that make up the NAI team. They really are the best in the industry.

So, let’s get started! I am excited to share with you some updates from NAI headquarters and some of our plans for 2016.

Join Us on April 13 in San Francisco for the 2016 NAI Member Summit

In case you haven’t heard, NAI is headed west! We are thrilled to host our annual meeting, the NAI Summit, in San Francisco – the heart of digital technology and innovation. We have an amazing agenda planned, and are delighted that many top experts will be participating in high energy, interactive panels that will address the hottest issues for our industry. You won’t want to miss it! The Summit will be held on April 13 in San Francisco at The Village. This is a beautiful venue and there is plenty of space, so invite your colleagues and co-workers; they will not be disappointed. In fact, a registration discount is available for multiple attendees from the same company. To register, visit our Summit Registration Page. Stay tuned to the Summit event information page for the agenda and other details and follow us on social media using #NAISummit. For general inquiries regarding the Summit please contact William Lee at william@networkadvertising.org or 202-654-7072.

Sponsorship opportunities for the Summit are still available. Sponsoring the NAI Summit is a unique and valuable opportunity to demonstrate your support for NAI and to highlight your commitment to advancing new and innovative standards for privacy programs. We have a number of exciting sponsorship opportunities at every level, including some new avenues to promote your brand. All Summit sponsors will receive complimentary registration for at least one attendee, as well as other attendance and promotional benefits. Please contact Caitlin Andrews at caitlin.andrews@policyres.com or 202-828-7637 if you are interested in sponsorship opportunities.

Membership

We are starting 2016 with unprecedented diversity in NAI’s membership. Social media companies, demand and supply side platforms, data management platforms, mobile companies, and ad exchanges are all joining traditional media companies and ad networks as members of NAI. NAI was proud to welcome 13 new members in 2015; nearly triple the number of new members in 2014. This growth reflects not only the organic advancement of our industry, but also an important trend toward broader adoption of serious and responsible privacy practices. Our new members include cross-device companies like Drawbridge and BlueCava, mobile companies like Kargo and Yieldmo, and social media providers like LinkedIn, among many others. You’ll hear from some of our members – new and long-standing – in future blog posts.

We welcome the growing diversity of our membership – the entire digital advertising industry benefits when companies across the digital advertising ecosystem hold themselves to high standards of strong self-regulation and commit to responsible data collection, use, and management practices. NAI member companies acknowledge that transparency, choice, notice, and control are vital to our industry’s growth and to the continued evolution and innovation that have long marked digital advertising. While our members may have very different business models, they all share common values around privacy-friendly collection and use of consumer data for targeted advertising.

Policy Priorities

NAI was proud to serve as an industry voice in the Federal Trade Commission’s workshop on Cross Device Tracking in late 2015. If you haven’t seen your NAI team in action, you can find recaps of the panels we participated in here. Since the workshop, we have continued working with our members to transition their privacy programs as the digital landscape evolves to a multi-device, multi-platform experience.

As we look at our 2016 policy priorities, NAI will focus on the growing number of issues related to mobile technologies, including cross device tracking, geo-precise targeting, and the enforcement of the NAI Mobile Application Code.

We will also continue to ensure that our Code is meeting the challenges presented by new and emerging technologies. The recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas gave us a peek into the future. On display at the show were products that represent amazing advancements in connected devices (especially in the home), innovations for advertising products designed for addressable TVs, and enormous strides in the use of location-based marketing. All of these new technologies have implications for our members. We are working on a daily basis to make certain that the Code continues to help our industry meet challenges and opportunities.

2016 Compliance Report

Our compliance staff is working diligently on the 2016 NAI Compliance Report. The annual report, based on findings from the NAI staff’s comprehensive monitoring processes of our members during the 2015 compliance period, analyzes NAI member companies’ success in meeting their obligations under the provisions of the Code and demonstrating of their commitment to consumer privacy and industry best practices. We expect to publish the report in March.

As you can see, we have a great deal to accomplish in 2016! While technology continues to evolve and change, what won’t change is NAI’s best-in-class technological expertise and commitment to sound and responsible data use and collection practices. We are looking forward to working with you — and for you — throughout the year, and to showcasing the incredible value of NAI membership. We will continue to advocate for our member companies before policymakers at the FTC and Congress, and will consistently demonstrate how the NAI Code is the best method of effective, enforceable self-regulation for the digital advertising industry today.

Keep checking our blog for updates and announcements.