Exposure and Disclosure

“If it’s just ‘Hey kids, vote for your favorite: apple slices or carrot pieces’ and there’s no other data gathered,” Goldstein says, it will not trigger COPA.  “But if you start collecting names, emails, and addresses, it’s absolutely covered by COPA.  A couple of states have held that even collecting a zip code is personal information.”

Final Words

While the worldwide web has vast potential, it does, as Pepperl asserts, leave one exposed.  Almy concurs, adding that “being present digitally is fairly permanent.  You print a brochure, you spend the money for creative, that works for a while and then it goes away”—not so with today’s media—cue Abercrombie & Fitch. 

Regardless, the general consensus is that the risks are well worth the benefits.  Oelhafen says the “net” benefit is a constructive dialogue with your customers.  They can either “talk about you behind your back, or you can be willing to have public conversations with them.” 

Pepperl agrees, stating “the downside isn’t much of a downside—you’re better off with information so you’re armed and dangerous.”

The bottom line is to consult both legal and marketing experts, have policies and legal terms in place, and a plan to deal with negativity or any and all curveballs that will, inevitably, be thrown your way.  “To the experts, worrying about what might go wrong isn’t necessarily the main issue,” Almy notes.  More important is discovering how digital media can increase produce consumption; mining these opportunities, Almy says, “is a better use of our time.”