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H E L P I N G Y O U T H I N K O N L I N E

Digital Forces people to Be truthFul

Native aDvertisiNg: gooD, BaD or ugly?

October 2013 / `40 / th ink ingaloud . in

ethics iN iNterNet selliNg aND aDvertisiNg

o c t 2 0 1 3 / th inking a loud! // 3

The apparent lack of regulation on Internet is something that bothers many when it comes to marketing. Of course, the

traditional medium is not similarly constrained, as e-marketing tends to be highly ephemeral. However, marketers can forget that unethical marketing is self-limiting. Consumers are not gullible and have their own levels of taste, and more harm than good can be done to sales if these limits are crossed. This issue of Thinking Aloud explores this topic which to some is vexed.

An ethics code is not new for the advertising and marketing industries, but never before has social media and online privacy been at the forefront since the proliferation of the digital medium. The explosion of new technologies is changing the marketing and advertising landscape and new media, new ideas, new challenges, new cultural opportunities are affecting the industry and impacting the way it does business. When it comes to online behavioral advertising, many believe that the industry’s own horn, citing self-regulatory solutions as the best option for compliance. In order

to gain trust, advertisers must do the right thing for consumers. Advertisers must be truthful and non-misleading in their ads. It is also important to understand the target market and not communicate offensive material.

This issue has articles from eight practitioners who have lucidly put their views across on this important topic on ethics. This is important

because digital is gaining traction and marketers are warming up to the idea of digital marketing in a big way. Today, it is no longer a question of TV or Print, but is about exploring the best possible medium to reach out to the target audience. Internet, as it appears, has become the first

choice for many, and thus it becomes important that this medium follows certain degree of ethics, more so as it reaches out to children – who are very impressionable.

As usual, I look forward to your bouquets and brickbats. After all, your feedback is what keeps us going. Happy reading!

Nilotpal Chakravarti [email protected]

code of Ethics

editorspeak

Editor-in-chiEf

dr. Subho ray

Editor

Mehul Gupta

ExEcutivE Editor

nilotpal chakravarti

owned, printed, published & edited byMehul Gupta

Published atc-36 (Basement), East of Kailash, new delhi india 110 065

Printed bynational Printers B-56, naraina industrial AreaPhase 2, new delhi 110 028

for advertising, [email protected]

the team

volume 5 issue 10

10/13

4 // th inking a loud! / o c t 2 0 1 3

this issue

EthicS onLinE

http//www.3_LETTER_WOR(L)D.com

Digital Almost Forces Companies & People To Be Truthful

Native Advertising: Good, Bad or Ugly?

In The Absence Of Regulation, Strong Ethics Code Becomes Need Of The Hour

Ethics in Internet Selling and Advertising—The Better Way Forward!

It’s A Converged Eco System

It’s More Ethical to Offer Independent Content than Sponsored Content

Ethics Affects All Aspects Of Your Business

SAvio fErnAndES

vivEK BhArGAvA

ShuBho SEnGuPtA

AMPrEEt SinGh

AShoK Kini

chAndrABhAnu PAttAjoShi

PrEEtESh chouhAn

KAriShMA PAndA

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Professionals' preferred choice for advertising

Source: Brandweek survey

The September issue of Thinking Aloud! was indeed a great read. I keenly follow the developments of the payment industry and believe that the need of the hour in India is cashless transactions, which will ensure much transparency in our lives. The writers have rightly argued that there is a great need to provide much needed support from the government. I agree that adoption of plastic money by common man is very critical. For it is the common man and his transaction needs that will drive the Payment Systems landscape in India and help us achieve our overall goal of ushering in a less cash society in India.

l K. RAMESH / Chennai

I think the most important aspect for penetration of plastic money and to move towards a cashless economy is the ease of use. Right now, online payments and purchase can be cumbersome and frustrating. The experts have rightly pointed out some of these in their articles, but what will really help is if these can be mitigated. I congratulate the editorial team for coming up with a topic which is of much relevance and importance. It is time government & RBI recognizes the importance of this industry and comes up with some guidelines and enabling policy initiatives for the promotion of this industry.

l C. PALEKAR / Mumbai

The issue on Payments was very refreshing. The new design of the magazine looks great and refreshing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the expert views and feel that for the online payment industry to grow, it would be important to restore consumer faith and belief in the system. People are still wary of online fraud, and if stakeholders can restore faith by plugging in loopholes, am sure it will be great for consumers.

l R.V. SINGH / New Delhi

The editorial team of Thinking Aloud! has been doing a really good job in choosing topic every month which are of real interest to the digital industry. The September issue on Payments was timely, and much needed. The writers have very efficiently called out the importance of this industry and how with some support, this industry could change the lives of common people. I really enjoyed reading the articles and was an eye opener for me. Congratulations!

l LATHA S / Bangalore

We thank all our readers for the feedback. We say, keep

them coming. it heartens us to hear your ideas and broadcast your thoughts.

Write to us at [email protected]

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'Tea For Me”

The office boy left us to our friendly banter. I was meeting an old business associate, also a good friend and the head honcho of a large ad agency, on my way back home... my last

agenda for the day. Today’s meeting was just to check on his plush new office, his recent shift to a swanky new premise. I was on my way home anyway, so that explained the unplanned surprise visit.

“Thanks for the pleasant surprise” he chuckled, “but I need to finish some urgent meetings that got lined up just this afternoon. We have this big budget campaign for a car launch that’s being planned for next quarter but the client wants to see all plans by tomorrow, well you know how pushy clients can get.” he shrugged. “You stick around with me and we can leave office together” he quickly added as we strutted our way to the conference room together.

He briefed me along the way on the three meetings scheduled, all with media publishers. “Rate finalisation meeting” he winked and continued, “and I will introduce you as my Chief Marketing Advisor, so you can feel at ease.” I certainly did, as I reciprocated the offer with a conniving smile.

savio FerNaNDes

o c t 2 0 1 3 / Th I nkI ng AlOud / 7

The first meeting was scheduled with a premium English News channel.

After a quick round of introductions we kicked off instantly. “I’ve seen your proposal and find the cost way too high” exhorted my friend. The channel rep smiled back with preparedness. With an unassuming demeanour he reiterated the value proposition, competitive advantage, listed out all product delivery attributes and defended the price perimeter. I waited for my turn to interject and politely quizzed him “Can you offer us some innovations? Since this is a new launch, we are very keen to create high impact. We need some never-done-before stuff on your channel.” I could sense his uneasiness now as he leaned forward and stuttered “Sure we can, but that will cost you much more.” A vain attempt to put me off-balance.

“Don’t bother about the cost, but I am expecting you to place our 30 sec commercial just immediately after the newsreader says << and now the headlines for the day… >> am sure you can do that for us.”

He was aghast! “No way, that’s impossible” he shrieked. “No channel will ever allow that to happen.”

My friend freaked. He dived in almost shielding him “Yes, we know that’s not allowed, but were just checking. Let’s now quickly close on the final cost” and with all his media buying might, steered the discussion to a favourable closure in his favour. The meeting ended after a 45 minute domination of multiple excel sheets.

The next meeting was with a leading English newspaper.

The lady walked in cloaked in armour of confidence. She knew the deal was already in her favour and seemed in absolute control. She didn’t budge from the quotation, stood her ground and battled off all salvos fired at her with ease. Tell tale signs of an ace media seller.

I listened patiently and then broke my silence “This is about a premium car launch. It’s a much awaited model. We must make it really big! We need a dhamaaka on the front page.” The lady was all ears as she took a cue and added “Yes of course, our plan for full page colour on Pg 1 itself will create a big bang.”

I shook my head in disagreement. “Not really. I see that happening almost every second day in your newspaper. We need something different here.” For the first time I could see her wince.

“We’d like to block the Front page + Back page and for added effect also do a roadblock across your entire newspaper on that day. Every right hand page will carry tyre tread marks across its pages, so it appears like a car zooming across from Front page to Back page. That should be a super first! I don’t think we’ve seen that as yet!”

“I don’t think we will see that ever!” She hollered. “Tyre marks across pages?! That’s impossible. Our editorial desk will be furious. Our readers won’t forgive us for doing that.”

My friend dived in again like an alert lifeguard to the rescue. “Hmm… editorial guidelines are strict else we could’ve done that surely.”

This was followed by a continuum of alphanumeric talk between the two. She refused to acknowledge my presence for the remainder of the meeting.

The moment she left us, my friend exclaimed, “Cool, I’ve got a good deal from both! The next meeting will be just a formality now. And don’t worry, all the innovations you mentioned can be done on digital. We have set aside some internet budgets for this launch and our digital team will start planning sometime next week. Am sure they will coerce many portals to agree on Site captures, Homepage takeovers, Page tears and more importantly also buy inventory based on Cost per lead/ test drive. Quite a few digital publishers are more than willing to do all of this, and much more.”

It was my turn to be aghast now. What followed was a series of volleys and my

friend found himself at the receiving end. I lectured him for 30 minutes before leaving for home in a huff. All along the journey home, my mind replayed the last 30 minutes. He was attentive. Yes I was a bit overbearing, but had to ensure he got the message.

He debated. He questioned. He listened patiently. He accepted. The Internet has arrived and is here to stay. As media professionals, we must learn to embrace it and give it all that it rightfully deserves.

If I had to re-construct my last 30 minute discourse in a structured format, it would clearly emerge that from a media planning & buying perspective, the three most crucial parameters for evaluation are Reach, Cost and Engagement.

Savio fernandes is Senior vice-President & Chief Sales Officer of rediff.com


REACH (AUDIENCE SIzE / TG)The internet is no longer a niche medium. India

boasts of being the third largest country of internet users globally, so that’s sizeable enough by any standard. Also, for SEC AB all adults in urban India, the reach of Internet is the same as TV. So for a premium auto brand, the internet can provide high TG penetration equivalent to that of TV. Survey reports point towards a proven fact that consumers spend significant time online researching how to evaluate / compare brands, prior to arriving at a purchase decision.

All we need is a robust measurement framework that will empower media planners to pick a media vehicle based on its true efficacy, and evaluate a plan based on audited data. ComScore and a few others are doing their share of work to facilitate this objective. With the adoption of Media optimiser tools and Web GRP analytics, advertisers can now easily track efficiencies of GRPs delivered across both broadcast as well as internet channels.

Eventually, the same media planner should use a common looking glass while planning a campaign across TV, Print, Radio and Internet. There won’t be any need for separate internet plans or set-aside digital budgets. It will soon be a single media budget

and weightage of media share will be defined by the functionality delivered by each medium.

COST (OF REACHING THAT AUDIENCE/TG)Every digital media seller is constantly stalked by a

string of three letter words! CPA, CPC, CPD, CPE, CPF have been doing the rounds… in addition to CPM and the ubiquitous CTR! These are often used freely to suit the pocket (literally) and can make or break a media negotiation. Every media publisher seeks to establish pricing sanguinity and desires to command the best price, while the media buyer will strive to buy at the cheapest point. And also wins 9 out of 10 times. All this is cleverly executed in the guise of ROI – yes, another three letter word!

At the cost of being emphatic, whether media is bought on a fixed or variable model ROI is always a given constant. Hence CPM v/s CPC will always be two sides of the same coin. It’s pitting one against the other that has made digital pricing so challenging. TV / Radio buying has a common base metric, viz, time / seconds. Print has a common base metric, viz, space / sq cms / full page / half page. But the digital ecosystem continues adding to the existing plethora of three letter words.

Digital ad pricing has been a challenge in India. To put this in perspective, the overall UK ad market size is five times that of India’s. UK online advertisers spend GBP 5.5 bn to reach a universe of 65 mn internet users. In India, we have almost twice their user base, but enjoy less than one-tenth their digital outlay. So, there’s still plenty headroom for online revenue growth.

Interestingly, quite a few internet publishers in India already have a reach that outscores several print publications, but ad revenues are not yet commensurate. Hopefully, it’s just a matter of time that we approach tipping point. Media budget allocations will then get defined by pure reach objectives.

Irrespective of the media objective, Search advertising currently offers just one currency, viz, CPC - the rate spectrum being defined by the keywords selected by the advertiser. Analytical tools based on historical log data and algorithms are provided by the publisher to help compute the cost of acquiring a customer, but the buying unit is CPC, solely. Likewise, Display advertising should also offer just a single currency, viz, CPM – the unit rates being defined by the banner size / format / placement. Logically, the buying option should be either CPC for Search or CPM for Display – period !

CPU (cost per unique) is an ideal currency, as this will ensure parity in pricing, across the spectrum. All Ad-serving platforms are capable of setting frequency cap filters to maintain optimum OTS levels for a given campaign, as well as providing Ad-server reports validating total UVs for that campaign.

all we need is a robust measurement framework that will empower media planners to pick a media vehicle based on its true efficacy, and evaluate a plan based on audited data.


ENGAGEMENT (WITH THE AUDIENCE/TG)

Quality of reach is of prime essence. Over the years, the average time spent per user on the internet has seen rapid growth. The digital medium has crossed the chasm to provide instantaneous access to users seeking to satiate their appetite for both, information and entertainment. We are fast moving to an era of empowering the consumer with ‘internet in your pocket’ and making the internet an integral part of daily life.

The peculiarity about Media as a product is that it concurrently caters to two distinct customers, the advertiser and also the reader / viewer / listener / user. Both need to co-exist and no publisher can ignore that fact! Or afford to take either of them for granted!! As publishers, we must dynamically shift the business fulcrum in our bid to strike a consistent balance between Advertiser ROI and User experience.

The Digital medium offers greater flexibility as compared to any other medium. But we often tend to exploit this potential and in the name of innovation embark onto user intrusion. The long term business implication of this short term gain could prove to be detrimental, if it remains unchecked.

TV channels maintain a discipline on FCT formats. Print publications observe an implied rule that maintains Ad-Edit decorum. Digital publishers must respect user sentiments too. Meaningless intrusive

ad formats will result in adverse user experience and leave users irritated.

I was still irritated. The drive back home seemed longer than usual. Another long day punctuated by a hot shower, warm soup and cold salad. I switched on my Bravia and sifted through news channels as a part of the standard operational procedure of easing into slumber mode. I was zoning already and the vision blurred. The newsreader kept re-appearing between a series of multiple ad breaks.

I must have dozed off somewhere during the weather bulletin. The last I could recall hearing was a mention about a nice warm sunny forecast ! Yes I did wake up to a clear sky and my alarm buzzing at 06:30 am. I dragged my feet across to the

verandah, where my chai & newspaper faithfully waited for me every morning. I lazily settled into the armchair. My android beeped... an incoming text message.

<< Further to our discussions last eve. We r re-castg d media allocn. Spkn wit d client late last nite n briefed my team too. Digital spend wl b higher. Wl call u ard 12ish to discuss >>

I was energised. I caught a gleam of the morning SUN... felt the

overwhelming coolness of fresh AIR... and savoured the waft of Darjeeling as I sipped on the CTC TEA... all three actions in synchrony as I pondered... Some three letter words are so cerebrally refreshing :) l

Views expressed here are personal

the Digital medium offers greater flexibility as compared to any other medium. But we often tend to exploit this potential and in the name of innovation embark onto user intrusion.


Traditional channels (like newspapers & television) have operated for many years with a clear distinction between content and advertising in the perceptions of readers.

This has so been the case because of the journey that these entities have historically made. Starting as state-owned entities and transitioning to private conglom-erates, they have traditionally been seen as the most authentic and credible source of information. This po-sition of authority required a strict code of ethics that has been stretched in the recent years.

As some of these players moved into the Internet, a similar mindset and operating practice has been adopt-ed but there are a lot of inherent differences in the Digi-tal world that in a way tips the balance in favor or more ethical behavior.

Digital almost forces companies and people to be truthful, thus automatically reduces the need for en-forcing ethics.

Let me share an example that shall elaborate this point… I had created an FB profile in the early days of FB, in those days you would select defaults while filling up forms, four years back on a cold morning, I started getting calls wishing me “Happy Birthday” – the issue

was it was not my birthday… when I said so, some of them were actually annoyed that I had not put my cor-rect Birthday on FB. I had little choice but go and fill up accurate information on FB…

Let me attempt to elaborate on some of the key thoughts why ethics on Internet advertising may not be as relevant as it is in the traditional world.

EVERYONE IS A PUBLISHERInternet has leveled the playing field between pub-

lishers and consumers of content and information. This has revolutionized the industry and broken the control that publishing houses have had on content and what gets printed. Self-publishing success stories are start-ing to emerge in the western world and it won’t be long before we see examples in India

More often than not, I hear of breaking news and happenings from people that I follow on Twitter or Subscribe on Facebook and these could be my friends or other folks and not necessarily “authentic” sources of information.

At a different level, we see bloggers in different ar-eas of life and business who have found their voice in the Digital medium. Take the example of @fakingnews - a very popular twitter handle that offered tongue-in-cheek views on breaking news, which was recently ac-quired by Firstpost.com to augment their offerings.

In reality, there is no more a single or one real source of information. Consumers are searching for the most authentic source of information and in most cases, are able to arrive at their own conclusions based on alter-nate sources that offer more credible and perhaps alter-native and critique views on the topic.

INFINITE SEARCHABLE MEMORYContinuing from the previous point, one need to

point out that all “official” and “nothing-official-about-it” news is available forever in the Digital world.

This is not so in the conventional world. It is rela-tively easy for me to print or say something because it is not easily “hyper-linkable” in the traditional mediums.

In the Digital world, anyone can question the au-thenticity of the information being provided by navi-

Digital almost Forces compaNies & people to Be truthFul

vivek Bhargava

imagine this advertisement as a social media post :-)


gating to the nearest search engine and checking all the information that has ever been published on that topic. Now, that kind of power is not available in the tradi-tional world, which is why there is perhaps a need for a strict code of ethics.

WISDOM OF THE CROWDPerhaps the most interesting aspect of the Digi-

tal world is a more recent but interesting influence of Social Media on how people access and consume con-tent. Comments on Social Media allow me to express my views on any subject. This allows me to understand various perspectives from relative strangers and arrive at my own conclusions.

Review sites like Trip Advsior and Mouth Shut have gained credibility not by their own wisdom but creating a platform that allows people to access the Wisdom of the crowd. Even popular talent shows like Saregama or Super Singer harness the wisdom of the crowd by using a mobile voting mechanism.

In the conventional world, this social aspect is ab-sent and it was essentially a one-to-one conversation happening between the publisher/brand and the con-sumer. This meant that there needed to be rules and laws that ensured that this relationship was not skewed in favor of the publisher.

PAID, OWNED & EARNED MEDIAIn the traditional channels, there was only Paid Me-

dia. If one needed to get more information out to con-sumers, one had to pay more. With the space or airtime being constrained (think front page column centimeter rates or prime time during IPL matches), advertising or creative was seen as the only way to interrupt and grab attention to deliver the message.

In Digital besides paid, one also has the owned and earned media and experience shows that the last one is the most difficult to obtain.

The differentiator is not advertising but the qual-ity of content being provided to the consumer. Be it a publisher or a brand, if one does not have engaging and interesting content to offer on a daily basis, then the chances of consumers being engaged are remote. In such a scenario, there is a very clear line between adver-tising and content. If the content is seen as promoting a single line of interest or being partisan or with holding back information, it will be quickly labeled as that and consumers will move away from such content and con-tent sources. One is therefore forced to walk the talk.

COMPARISONS, AUCTIONS & REVERSE AUCTIONS

Digital technologies helped start a new genre of business models offering price comparisons, auctions & reverse auctions. One can argue that the entire travel & insurance business has been revolutionized by these innovations. Each of these has evolved due to the power of technology and they have provided more power to

the consumer in helping them make more informed choices.

Such a possibility was not available in the traditional worlds and in this case, regulation and rules were nec-essary to ensure ethical business practices in the areas of advertising and marketing.

WHERE ETHICS IN INTERNET ADVERTIS-INGIS RELEVANT

As internet advertising gains in sophistication, it is becoming a marketers dream but a consumer’s night-mare. Tools such as remarketing, psychographic pro-filing, behavioral targeting is invading personal spaces of consumers. Digital Marketers have to use their judg-ment on how consumer information is leveraged to make advertising more relevant to consumers rather than detrimental to their interest.

The Digital space has given more power to the con-sumer – the power to discern, the power to choose, the power to speak and the power to decide.

With increasing Internet penetration and adoption of digital technologies, one will see an increasing activ-ism and participation of the consumer in setting the agenda to ensure that publishers and brands are play-ing a fair game. l


vivek Bhargava is founder & Managing director of communicate2

unfortunately through social media they do…


native advertising is the new darling of online advertising.

Native advertising generally runs right in the midst of the content stream and resembles it, generally with a (very mild) reminder that it is

sponsored content (advertising ) to differentiate it.

Advertisers see this as a much better way to showcase their digital messages than traditional banner ads – or contextual text ads for that matter.

LinkedIn has jumped on the bandwagon a few days back, Facebook, Twitter, Google, BuzzFeed and even The New York Times has been there, done that.

Native aDvertisiNg: gooD, BaD or ugly?

shuBho seNgupta


In fact Twitter’s main ad product is native advertising — sponsored tweets, there could be no better example in social media at least.

There are very few native advertising companies/networks in India (I know only one, based in Mumbai), but I understand there soon will be – ad agencies creating ‘native’ content, selling it to publishers. These small agencies took on in a big way in the West, sometime last year.

Here’s an illustration of how it works, where:

My opinion on this is - this is great, as long as it’s always transparently identified and labeled as marketer content.

We all know how effective banner ads are, in the current landscape. There have been enough and more discussions on this, including the increasing push from brands to be seen as publishers, not just advertisers.

However, a word of caution.There are voices within the industry that say this new

form of marketing is ‘a very slippery slope and could kill journalism if publishers aren’t careful.’

On the right is a native advertising exercise that went horribly wrong, early this year.

The Church of Scientology – yes, the cult popularized by Tom Cruise – took out a ‘native ad’ in The Atlantic (online). A few hours later, a bomb exploded on The Atlantic and on social media: it’s a controversial ‘church’ (will not go into reasons), and most readers did not like it.

What’s worse was negative comments were deleted at the website, making readers angrier.

Finally, the president of the publication stepped in, with ‘We failed. We published content that we didn’t work with our advertiser on.’

Therein lies the rub – and the solution.A publisher – and the brand – cannot treat native

media like a banner. The publishers need to do their homework, which includes investing in technology that makes sure native ads don’t behave like (say) site takeover banners.

‘Journalists need to sit down and talk to engineers,’ as Arthur Sulzberger, the owner and publisher of The New York Times, puts it.

There is another aspect, perhaps a more important one.

With ‘paid media’ already under public scrutiny (some would say attack) in the run-up to Elections 2014, sometimes unfairly so, media houses need to be extra careful about credibility. After all, a visitor comes to a website to consume great content, not great ads. That’s how a publisher gets organic traffic, loyalty, whatever you call it, in the long run.

With political parties set to spend big bucks online (including social media), the last thing they should aim at is polarizing readers. There are already pointed fingers (again, sometimes unfairly), the last thing large publishers need is a social media explosion that will last months.

David Ogilvy said in 1956, ‘It has been found that

the less an advertisement looks like an advertisement, and the more it looks like an editorial, the more readers stop, look and read. Therefore, study the graphics used by editors and imitate them. Study the graphics used in advertisements, and avoid them.’

He could have been talking about native ad net-works. l


Shubho Sengupta is a brand consultant in the digital space. he has both traditional and digital experience, and has worked for both agencies and clients. his key interest is connecting the right consumers with the right content, at the right time.

© brandmediastrategy.com


In a dynamic industry like internet advertising, we often hear amusing anecdotes. Recently, a colleague mentioned about one such incident which set me wondering on the idea of ethics in internet selling. When this colleague sought post-campaign feedback

on a click-based campaign from a media agency, the planner mentioned that while the campaign delivery was fine, the CTRs appeared to be very low. Not that this mattered, since the agreed metric for payout had been Cost Per Click. Yet it came to highlight, a major factor undermining the potential of Online Advertising – ease of measuring performance, can often twist a good advertising tale on its head.

Readers may have faced many such moments in our interactions with clients and agencies. In an industry which has grown exponentially in the last one decade to take a six percent share of ad-spends in the country, there are bound to be increased expectations every time we head back to a client for the next pitch. Demands of a better ROI can unsettle any emerging medium, often pushing field sales in an area of uncertainty bordering on ethics and high expectations. Often, digital media

sales revolve around an alphabet soup, which could readily fit into a media planner’s dashboard with - CPS, CPA, CPD and CPI among many others.

So, how do we ensure that this myriad growth is a sustainable one, if we continue to chase the hen that lays golden eggs? As stakeholders, we need to work together to ensure that we let the baby take steps, to enable the long run. In the absence of regulation, a strong ethics code becomes the need of the hour.

ETHICAL GROWTHA good medium should be able to deliver an audience relevant to brands. Today, digital is the touchpoint for youth and media-dark audiences who do not have the time or bandwidth to practice what traditionalists seek through an appointment read – they don’t read papers in the morning as it should be or watch TV at a pre-defined hour or time. If this is the case, isn’t that a story of a great medium in the making, to reach out to people who consume information for use, but not via a traditional platform?

Can digital marketing, known to offer precise targeting to a brand audience continue to position itself primarily on performance? I believe, to compete with the likes of TV and Print we need to position a precise-targeted audience story more than the performance story to make the medium matter.

As Internet Sellers, we often get into the rut of chas-ing payout jargons than bolstering the fact that, a good digital campaign always consists of spreading the cam-

Ampreet Singh is cEo of networkplay

in thE ABSEncE of rEGuLAtion, StronG EthicS codE BEcoMES nEEd of thE hour ampreet siNgh


paign across various dimensions of digital marketing - search, display, social and video. This cannot happen if we chase too many on the net with too few ad dollars. If we look at the time spent on each of the mediums, it would turn out clearly that ad dollars do not follow the increasing time being spent on digital media by the user. A good digital campaign should strive to make inroads to reach an informed and ac-tive media consuming audience segment than others. However, when it comes to selling we have to resort to a pre-ready mix of jargon-filled selling techniques to make it to the media plan, which is often burdened by the expectations of an ROI driven medium.

Oversupply of display ad-vertising inventory today, cre-ates a pressure to accommo-date campaigns which may not be relevant, often pandering to unreasonable client and agency demands. As an ad network, we have had to tread a fine line real-izing that we are equally answer-able to marketers, who choose to work with us and publishing partners who serve ads on their websites.

I have tried to list out some of the major issues which confront ethical growth of this medium.

VIEWABLE IMPRESSIONSWith unlimited display ad inventory, the focus on

agreeing to ethically viewed ‘impressions standard’ is gaining high ground across the world. As average click-throughs nosedive in India, we may have to start looking at a Cost Per Viewable Impressions model in the future. The recent IAB’s proposed standard of an ad being served for at least 50% on-screen for one second or longer, can be a good starting point to work on for publishers and advertisers.

According to a 2012 Comscore Report, 32% of the display ads were never seen by their intended audiences. Recently, Google began following the standard on GDN and Double Click. Viewable Impressions have been known to create digital scarcity, hence setting the tone to regulate the supply of digital advertising. Using some of the IAB Rising Stars ad units, can improve CTRs while ensuring artificial scarcity of inventory.

RESPONSIBLE NATIVE ADVERTISINGAdvertisers are proactively headed towards owned

media initiatives in times to come; and native advertising is becoming a reality and challenge. Publishers began tapping this need by offering sponsored content or

native advertising for brands. But as in Print and TV, an unregulated environment can be toxic for all stakeholders. In the US, one of the most respected online websites, The Atlantic, ended up issuing an apology for having misguided the reader by publishing a paean to Scientology under sponsored content. In their apology,

they openly agreed that this was a difficult territory, for which current management may not have been prepared, and new forms of digital advertising meant revisiting policies governing ethical decisions which publishers needed to make.

From an advertiser’s perspective it can be an engaging way to story-tell its way the salience of brands; from a publisher’s perspective it emerges as an ethical issue challenging quality journalism. A code of ethics should emerge, as it has in Print and TV to set out clear guidelines which will be beneficial not just to the brand but the end consumer. Early this year, the US Federal Trade Commission had initiated a workshop to address this ethical issue, to enable end consumers to take cognizance of the fact that sponsored content is a mode of advertising.

RICH MEDIA IS NOT THE ONE-STOP SOLUTION

For long, rich media advertising has been proclaimed to be engaging. However, if rich media innovation remains interruptive, irritating and resource-intensive to the end user, it is unlikely that the brand or the publisher running the ads will benefit from the interruptive behaviour of the ad. Research studies, as early as 2004 had indicated pop-ups to be one of the most annoying forms of banner advertising with 95% of surveyed users responding negative/very negative. Since then, ads packaged as innovative rich media banner ads,

in the absence of any privacy policy, brands can get in the trap of collaborating, on the abuse of user privacy, to advertise to him. a self-correcting – ‘avoid killing the golden goose’ scenario would be to frequency-cap retargeting campaigns to the user.


have continued to interrupt and not engage audiences. Internationally, rich media ads are seeing a period of regulation with emergence of industry standards like IAB SafeFrame, which make the experience a win-win for advertisers, publishers and end users. Closer home, we offer a type-in advertising format – Captcha which is an engaging experience offering 111% more brand recall than a normal non-interactive static advertisement.

RESPECTING USER PRIVACYCookie Laws have strengthened across the world as

Internet Privacy becomes an important issue at user forums. Accordingly, the EU Cookie Law now establishes the opt-in regime where web publishers mandatorily seek an implied consent from web users before serving them web cookies. In India, sadly, there is hardly any regulation which deals with a user’s online privacy. This makes him susceptible to cookies from websites. In the absence of any privacy policy, brands can get in the trap of collaborating, on the abuse of user privacy, to advertise to him. A self-correcting – ‘avoid killing the golden goose’ scenario would be to frequency-cap retargeting campaigns to the user.

While trusted publishers do seek an implicit consent before serving them cookies, the majority may preemptively respect user privacy through self-

corrective methods. In the case of online retailers at large, any search for a Nike shoe, may end up in endless targeting of Nike shoe offer ads to the user, which may be misleading since the ad appears to be Nike but is often belonging to an ecommerce retailer.

MAKING MEASUREMENT MAKE SENSETaking off, from the title of a guiding principle put

forth by IAB, the most important issue for advertisers, agencies and publishers today is to arrive at the right measurement model for their campaign. This is always a grey area. Publishers would want to dictate pricing models to ensure their interests. However in the context of the issues above, an appropriate pricing and measurement model should take care to deliver a good ROI for the advertiser, while ensuring that the price of targeting the right audience has been taken care of.

Digital today, has become the omnipresent second screen. It can be a great aid to measure responses to communication exposed from a TV Screen or a print ad through Augmented Reality. Native display pricing and existing measurement models rarely would make sense in a connected multi-platform world and Internet. So it is time that we worked to make measurement comprehendible. l



The rise of the Web and digital mediums is one of the most revolutionizing events in the world’s history. Internet today is all pervasive—from keeping you updated on the latest national and international events

to giving you the inside scoop on major political matters to even keeping you abreast with the new developments in your industry, it has slowly but steadily moved on to become the one-stop destination for all sorts of information. And then there are the digital learning sessions, e-commerce, online review sites, consumer forums, and virtual shopping zones—there is nothing that the Web does not have an answer for!

Internet is indeed powerful and if I may borrow the famous quote from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility”. So what then is the responsibility of the Internet marketers, online businesses, digital strategists and the other inhabitants of the online space? Media, whether it is the newspapers, magazines, radio or the TV news channels, has always maintained a clear distinction between information and advertisements. And the same stands true for the digital media too.

THE RULES ARE THAT “THERE ARE NO RULES”

While the online medium is well established, the concept of advertising and selling on the net is still at a nascent stage. However, given the reach and “impact” of the Internet, it becomes critical to have the ethics and regulations put in place. And when we talk about ethics in selling, the following are the top contenders (or offenders?):

1.) The Advertisements: Advertisements are definitely an important source of information for consumers, and therefore it is expected that brands indulge in honest and ethical advertising. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The display ads used by Orbitz (way back in 2002) got them a lot of flak, as these ads would direct a user to another site merely when the cursor was moved over them. Similarly, the concept of contextual link

ads, wherein hyperlinks are concealed within editorial content are also considered unethical. The issue here is not just of ethics but also of user experience.

2.) Pop-ups and “misleading” dialog boxes: The concept of popup ads was introduced to minimize the obstruction that a viewer faces. However, businesses tend to go overboard with the use of these ads, leading to a user inadvertently clicking on it. Similarly, dialog boxes that look like warning text from the computer also mislead users. The in-app ads on mobiles are another example of accidental click-throughs. While this can make some quick bucks for the advertiser, it is not a good experience for the site visitors.

3.) Search Engine Optimization (SEO): All digital marketers and publishers recognize the power of SEO, and use it as a single best tactic to organically drive visitors to their site. While search engines are quite strict with their evaluation metrics and keep rolling out updates that curb such malpractices, some webmasters use black hat tricks to unethically raise their search rankings. The ban on the BMW website is one of the worst penalties faced by any business till date. Caught using doorway pages stuffed with keywords, the site was completely removed from Google index. It is imperative that Internet marketers act more responsibly and in the best interest of the visitors at all points.

4.) Content as bait: Review sites, online forums and generic content based sites are meant to be a gateway

EthicS in intErnEt SELLinG And AdvErtiSinG— thE BEttEr WAy forWArd!ashok kiNi

Ashok Kini is digital Marketing head at Langoor digital Pvt. Ltd


for consumers to gain more knowledge about a product, service or brand. However, publishers use the sponsored content concept and even paid reviews to manipulate user opinions. If the content is “salesy”, biased or strongly opinionated, it should be categorized as an advertisement—in this case, the rules of digital media are same as that for TV or print. Businesses are now also leveraging the power of social networking platforms and using them as grounds for “viral” advertising.

There is a lot that can be labeled as unethical and misleading in the business of Internet selling and advertising. And even with the constant pull and push from the regulatory authorities, advertisers keep finding new ways to con the crawlers and visitors.

TAMING THE UNETHICAL PRACTICEThe new technologies and advanced digital techniques

are constantly transforming the advertising and online sales landscape. Today’s consumer is digitally connected to a variety of Web-based and mobile platforms. There are a large number of Web associations and regulatory authorities such as The Institute of Advertising Ethics (IAE), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), etc. that have laid out clear terms for Web marketers and online businesses to ensure the online space stays clean and trustworthy.

The Institute of Advertising Ethics (IAE) lists some concise and pertinent rules that advertisers must follow when selling or marketing on the net. Some of these are:

• All forms of advertising material must share the common goal of maintaining truth and should be a means to serve the public

• They should maintain a clear distinction between corporate communications, press releases, sales collateral and advertisements

• A publisher must disclose every condition upfront and clearly, as the asterisks (*) and fine print at the end of the document can sometimes go unnoticed by the consumer

• If there are cookies being used to track and detect a user’s settings, personal record and online activity, then this must be clearly stated before the user begins browsing your site

• The placement of ads should in no way obstruct the user view, neither should they be disguised as editorial content

• Finally, whether you are selling on the online platforms or offline, advertisers must abide by the federal, state and local advertising laws.

However, these are just guidelines and parameters

to make the business of Internet selling more upright. But there is a clear lack of standardization! Publishers/advertisers find quick workarounds to all rules, so much so that practices like page-takeovers, push down formats, etc. have been accepted as standard norms, even though the user experience in such cases is compromised.

WHY SHOULD AN INTERNET MARKETER CARE?

The debate on ethics in advertising primarily revolves around one question: should brands focus on providing a better user experience at the cost of profits? While there is no quick fix available to this problem, we can surely work together to put some basic standards in place. Advertisers must understand that intruding a user’s privacy for the success of their upsell and cross-sell initiatives will not bring them long term results.

As a digital marketer as well as an active online user, I know that unethical advertisements or paid content or even the black hat SEO tricks can only give your traffic an initial boost, but such traffic does not convert. As

they say “you can’t win’em all”! This also affects your brand image, since a consumer who dislikes your ad or the way you present it, will extend that dislike to your brand as well. Not only random visitors, but news and media sites too are being increasingly selective about the quality and messaging of sponsored content that they display on their site, since brand image is of paramount importance today.

In the world of wireless connectivity, virtual shopping malls and real-time communication, it is clear that Internet will be touching more lives than ever before. And as the number of online businesses grow, the difference between “good” and “bad” will be difficult to judge.

It is high time that a standard code of ethics for Internet selling and advertising is implemented globally, and compliance to these rules should be made mandatory. Adherence

to these standards must earn brownie points for an advertiser, encouraging others to follow suit! In the long run you need a loyal customer base, one that keeps coming back to your site for the service/products and above all the “experience” that you offer.

Agreed that advertisements are a major source of revenue for the search engines and we should not stop Internet advertising that drives online sales… but the monetary benefits can never an adequate justification for deceptive advertising. l


it is high time that a standard code of ethics for internet selling and advertising is implemented globally, and compliance to these rules should be made mandatory. adherence to these standards must earn brownie points for an advertiser, encouraging others to follow suit!


Audience experiences, since time immemorial, have been a bane for media sellers when a large million-dollar deal lurks and then it’s a tug of war between the monetization department and the content

creators. There has been mud slinging matches in morning meetings to defend the sanctity of the editorial much as the content creator would also want the money to be earned.

In my 16 years of selling media, I have almost always been accused by my own team members as someone favoring the producers/ editors / content creators way more than a sales deal. There is and was a certain truth to it, I admit it, but as we move into a complex Internet world these questions are increasingly becoming harder to answer. Technology enables user intelligence to be bred in through the algorithms and pop comes a window while a piece of content is being deeply consumed. Viola, that’s a targeted audience reach!

It dates back in time not so long ago when advertisers paid endlessly for road blocks and jackets on the front pages of leading print publications to break the clutter and day long airtime blockage on television. Intelligently, leading print media houses and television companies responded fast into “advertiser funded program” solutions and content integrated environments in order to give it an audience advantage and yet not compromise on their dollar earning. Well, even that has become monotonous even at a price today.

With the advent of the digital landscape, seamless device experiences, advent of the programmatic era, distinction between premium and non-premium inventory on digital, technology will almost incredibly impress the ad real estate and the audience experience, both at the same time. We will slowly move into a balance era lending into self-serving platforms directly talking to the display and search needs of the advertiser with dynamic creative renditions and relevant placements. We will let the algorithm determine a fine balance basis the demand and the supply needs in the market place. The active human intervention will cease.

At this juncture it will be tad bit difficult to answer

chandrabhanu Pattajoshi is Business head at PrecisionMatch

it’s a coNvergeD eco systemchaNDraBhaNu pattajoshi


what’s the right balance from a user stand point and a publisher need, at the same time it is important to appreciate and acknowledge, within the ambit of audience and consumption of content, the advertiser will stand to lose if the audience is non contextual and the relevance weakens. That could spell trouble for technology but we don’t see that just yet.

The erstwhile manual control mechanism will cease to be the power behind the wheel and there will be less advertiser arrogance as we move in to a programmatic world. The intelligence will be baked in and audiences will be more important in the context of premium and non-premium. The Real time bided models will enable equal advertiser stakeholders within the given environment. It will prevent and

prohibit the environment from being “intervened” to a “win by bid” market place. Faction lines will blur into a single environment!

Digital life will take over from Print/Radio/TV and the real estate will trade off through trading desks and the era of bloggers and individual contributors will reign for the next decade. Content and branded content have already taken a new turn and audiences will be important, no brand will own content. Content ownership will lie with audiences. Content will be more user generated and original creations will take the route of blogosphere to meet distribution needs. I can’t see that being prevented. Media brand owners will need to brace themselves, sooner than later.

The next few years will see the lines of control blurring between the content creators and the real estate of the ad owners. Native formats are the first step to move into a seamless blur on this. The environment will be increasingly contested and media traders will be divided to bid premium for a premium environment or buy the long tail of the content environment at a bid value with efficiency through programmatic.

We are also seeing the branded content system proliferating into video and social, which in itself is rendering into a brand gratification model. The explosion of the branded content space will change the advertising nuances of engagement with the readers. It is giving birth to newer ways of building traction with audiences and content experiences without intrusion. Fan pages, brand pages and user conversations have assumed newer renditions to content experiences with the sublime under lay of the brand.

The onset of technology is out to change the way we intercept and engage with content that is thrown at us. Users and consumers of content will move to embrace technology and there will be more Jeff Bezos(s) taking over Washington Post(s) of the world for $250 million or less after a 66 year old legacy. The user today is increasingly getting more media brand agnostic and the availability of content with digital distribution will create changes to an entire industry after a 400 year old legacy.

Consumers will have options to order for clean content on rented cloud systems and pay premium for it in smaller packs than consuming just freely available content laden with intrusive advertising. Content creators and advertisers will not use the consumers just to disperse communications of their brand, they will solve user problems and fill the gaps…e.g. Travel OTAs will place their booking engines wherever their Audience type flows on the internet and on a click you will book your travel tickets. Along side the consumer will receive all information on holiday destinations, hotels, things to do etc. Media companies are already trading in e commerce with brands based on audience needs. Lines have blurred already.

We are looking to fast pace the future at a speed unimaginable today, moving to secure audiences best suited to the environment of the future and media owners feel the need strongly to call out the collaborations between themselves, ad owners and consumers. It’s a programmatic merger that’s already happening.

Brands have merged with Maps and Games, Media brand owners are trading in e-commerce, ad owners are creating branded content for audience needs and placing them across video platforms for consumption and information dissemination, content pieces are available in apps and games, hardware is integrating consumers through the cloud systems and thereby big data.

I don’t see this as a divided eco system, it’s a converged ecosystem! l


Digital life will take over from print/radio/tv and the real estate will trade off through trading desks and the era of bloggers and individual contributors will reign for the next decade. content and branded content have already taken a new turn and audiences will be important, no brand will own content.


A lot of traders yearn to advertise online but refrain from coming out of the familiar zone of print media and explore the online platform. For these traders, it is challenging to understand odd terms like optimization, widget, rails, flash, analytics, impressions, views, hits

and tags. The traditional way of advertisement, i.e. print is an easy way out for them. Advertisers understand the benefits of print because they’ve used it and it has worked. Abbreviations like URL, SMO and SEO are no less then secret codes for them. Print is a stable medium for them; they can hold the newspapers and touch their ad and archive it for posterity. However with times, these traders have now realized that by not moving towards the unfamiliar territory they feel the online platform is, they have kept themselves locked in with limited choices. A survey by Brandweek stated that amongst professionals making advertising decisions, 92% chose Internet, 88% print, 46% Radio, 46% TV and 39% Cell Phone ads. The consumers as well, today consider internet as the most essential requirement and therefore 10-15% of an advertising budget should be allocated for online ads. These ads should be story boarded like a movie and should communicate the customer’s message.

Online and electronic media are fast becoming the most flexible

Preetesh chouhan is vice President APAc - vdopia inc

it’S MorE EthicAL to offEr indEPEndEnt contEnt thAn SPonSorEd contEntpreetesh chouhaN


and dynamic advertising methods of all. Many people now use the internet instead of directories, newspa-pers and the telephone, etc. The internet is therefore a crucial and potentially very effective vehicle for adver-tising and marketing. Part of the online revolution, the popularity and reach of social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter also offer very inexpensive but potentially very time-consuming ways to promote the business and offerings, together with establishing brand, reputation, credibility, audience and following, etc. On-line video sites & platforms for example using Youtube ,Vimeo or Vdopia etc. offer hugely diverse and exciting opportunities to represent your business and offerings, via many different strategies, from educational and in-structional, to presentational and any kind of dramatic staging or context that you might imagine and can afford to produce.

Electronic and online advertising media notably es-tablishing the advertiser’s website(s) and online servic-es/product availability can be expensive and challenging to initiate and implement in the beginning, but costs tend to be low thereafter, and can be extremely cost-ef-fective if sensibly researched and implemented.

Email is an extremely inexpensive method of commu-nicating short or quite large messages to potential cus-tomers; although it needs careful design, organization and implementation, because the email medium is very widely abused and involves risks and implications that can be counter-productive if poorly managed. The same applies to texting, via mobile/cellular telephone systems.

As the internet extends progressively to mobile phones; smartphones and tablets, etc. the opportunity and necessity to make use of online and web-related marketing methods become increasingly important and useful. Modern and emerging digital and web-related advertising marketing methods offer audience reach, precision of targeting, level of fine-tuning and control, measurement and analysis, and cost-effectiveness that conventional advertising media simply cannot match.

Online media technologies now offer highly sophis-ticated flexibility for the production and accessibility of sales and marketing materials - brochures, product specifications, etc. In response to the online revolu-tion, conventional printed sales and marketing materi-als of all types, right from newspapers and magazines, to brochures and business cards are becoming largely obsolete, as customers look to the internet via phones, pcs, laptops, PDA’s and in the future TV too for quick, up-to-the-minute information about products, services and suppliers of all sorts.

Customer reviews - online - of products and services and providers and sellers, etc., are now a crucial aspect of the marketing, selling, buying, and customer service process. Internet advertising has advanced fantastically beyond the early days of simple trade listings, internet directories, and ‘pay-per-click’ advertising offered by the

major search engines. Such sophisticated methods are now easily available, very viable, and extremely relevant for very small ‘local’ businesses, and are all examples of this fundamental shift in marketing.

However, it is mandatory for the advertisers to know that clicks do not measure up to the cumulative impact. 80% of display clicks come from only 16% of internet us-ers and those who viewed but did not click drove the ma-jority of sales. Taking the internet selling and advertising to the next level is the Video advertising. Online Video advertising is the next big thing in the online marketing space. The basic of selling online is to identify if the cam-paign is about branding or call to action. It is now obliga-tory to understand the distinction between content and advertising in the perceptions of readers and content generators. Digital entities not only have clear standards about these dis-tinctions, but they also enforce a clear delineation between their sales departments and their news departments so that their sales efforts cannot influence (bias) their news reporting. The web is where the general public is being sorted into smaller subgroups. It is easier for organizations to deceive these micro-publics into believing that commercial mes-sages come from independent unbiased sources.

Making an allowance for this online trend, there are certain minimum standards of ethics for internet sellers and advertisers. The viewers should immediately understand that the content posted is an advertisement. It is more ethical to offer independent content than sponsored content. Besides, it should also offer both independent and sponsored content rather than offer sponsored content alone. It is more ethical to offer spon-sored content and independent content if the financial benefits of the sponsored content are required to enable the production of the independent content. The con-tent should be such that the viewers should be able to instantly distinguish between the information which is sponsored and that which is independent. Almost eve-ryone who views sponsored content of web pages, white papers, articles, awards, best-of lists, videos etc, should understand immediately that the information is being presented to sell or persuade the readers or viewers. The development of independent content should not be influenced by sponsoring entities and last but not the least the authors must clearly acknowledge any rela-tionships that may bias their work. l


the basic of selling online is to identify if the campaign is about branding or call to action. it is now obligatory to understand the distinction between content and advertising in the perceptions of readers and content generators


Online advertising is a large business and is growing rapidly. In 2011, Internet advertising revenues in the United States surpassed those of cable television and nearly exceeded those of broadcast

television. In 2012, Internet advertising revenues in the United States totaled $36.57 billion, a 15.2% increase over the $31.74 billion in revenues in 2011. Online advertising is widely used across virtually all industry sectors. Despite its popularity, many common online advertising practices are controversial and increasingly subject to regulation.

Applying good ethical standards to the online world is a direct reflection of your business online. Ethics affects all aspects of your business. It affects first and foremost your company’s brand image and subsequent-ly how sales, marketing, and advertising principles are applied to the task of making your company profitable for the long haul. Ethics affects your employees, and how they represent your company online, on the phone, in person, and all types of customer service and cus-tomer relations when dealing with buyers, engineers, sales leads, and potential customers in both the busi-ness of B2B and B2C.

I’m here to talk about ethics in Internet advertising & selling

Let’s start with Truth in Advertising. Telling the truth seems like a pretty basic ethical standard. But as any Philosophy major can tell you, there’s Truth ... and

then there’s Truth. How much of the truth we owe to others is an ethical question. In practice, the answer de-pends on who they are and what’s at stake.

Unfortunately, on the web---where the general pub-lic is being sorted into smaller and smaller subgroups---it is easier for organizations to deceive these micro-publics into believing that commercial messages come from independent unbiased sources.

I recommend the following minimum standards of ethics for internet sellers and advertisers:

• Almost everyone who views your advertising should understand immediately that it is an advertisement.

• It is more ethical to offer independent content than sponsored content.

• It is more ethical to offer both independent and sponsored content than it is to offer sponsored content alone.

• It is more ethical to offer sponsored content and in-dependent content if the financial benefits of the spon-sored content are required to enable the production of the independent content.

• Readers/viewers must be able to immediately rec-ognize which information is sponsored and which in-formation is independent.

• Almost everyone who views sponsored content (web pages, white papers, articles, awards, best-of lists, etc.) should understand immediately that the informa-tion is being presented to sell or persuade the readers or viewers.

• The development of independent content should not be influenced by sponsoring entities.

• Authors must clearly acknowledge any relation-ships that may bias their work.

BUSINESS ETHICSThe Internet is a growing and a continually evolving

creature that will live on in perpetuity. As such, it would be wise to ponder the various e business legal and In-ternet marketing ethical issues of both B2B and B2C business practices online. Whatever is written and pub-

ethics aFFects all aspects oF your BusiNess

l.D. sharma

L.d. Sharma is one of the founder promoters, a Board member and chief International Officer – APAC for oMG (online Media Group). he is also the founder of Shoogloo Group and trootrac and is on the board of various companies in uK and india.


lished online today will likely be there tomorrow and possibly be recoverable forever. Imagine the billions upon billions of text information in web pages, publica-tions, and books that are and will be stored for a long time to come. There is even a site where you can go way back in time to check out archives of other websites and view pages that were created at the beginning of their infancy. Additionally, old videos, films, movies, and au-dio in various applications formats are also viewable.

With text messaging, wireless web mail, picture up-loading, video recordings, and even video conferencing from cell phones and other personal communication devices with built in microphones and cameras, the Internet will be affecting more lives than ever before. Security and privacy concerns, along with e-business regulatory issues will become more prevalent. It will become more difficult to figure out who you can trust online, which websites are safe to visit, along with all the unethical, illegal, Internet marketing schemes, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and online advertising frauds and all types of ebusiness email scams to contend with.

ETHICAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR IMPLEMENTING E-COMMERCE

There are many legal and web site regulatory is-sues involved when it comes to e-Business websites. Electronic copyright, e-commerce, credit/cash poli-

cies, international trade, tariffs, privacy, digital media offers, and security are just a few of the items to be considered.

Beware of phone “survey” scams, “Charity” Appeals for chain mail, send money, online security, and spam.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Watch out for this particu-lar crime of sites that copy your website text (legal issues) or name while trying to pawn off some other item they are selling (as though you are endorsing it – NOT).

WEBSITE ISSUES• Cloaking• Redirects to other pages with completely different information than what was shown in the search results.• Search engine spam• Hidden keywords• Hidden text• Link buying schemes

ethics affects your employees, and how they represent your company online, on the phone, in person, and all types of customer service and customer relations when dealing with buyers, engineers, sales leads, and potential customers in both the business of B2B and B2c.


• Advertising, Local Search, and Keywords ScamsUnethical spyware and adware companies are pro-

moting themselves as: “get to the top of Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Bing Search guaranteed for your key-words.” These companies are using the term “Search Engine Data Merging.” Spyware and adware is installed on some users computers then they sell keywords to

professionals for thousands of dollars a year. This is a huge money making scam.

The company has used various names: Search Elevators, Link Positions, Window Billboards Network, Winspeed Network, Real Positions Net-work, Keywords Guru, and even a search engine labelled RedZee Search.

Other unethical schemes have duped a certain public segment (especially when economic times are difficult), national business owners, local small business owners, and professional services people get caught up in all types of sales pitches, to go around sound sales, marketing, and advertising principles of getting their website found online, and try promised shortcuts that simply don’t produce. The outcome of this is that owners are out of pocket a ton of money, and nothing to show for it.

IDENTITY THEFT AND INTERNET FRAUDIdentity theft is a major problem of which I have

personal experience with. That’s a different story and continues on. Beware, that this issue is related to online B2C ethical business issues and legal issues.

DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION ISSUES AND SCAMS

Domain name registration is another area online where ethics have been thrown out. Certainly there are some gray areas for someone to be registering a domain name that is close to some other corporate identity’s name. But, many of these individuals and corporations that register domain names in the same country and other countries that are near to, or similar to the spell-ings of others, are registering the names to infringe upon the trademarks and brands of other corporations and organizations.

DOMAIN NAME DISPUTESBriefly, I’d like to point out that use of a name can

be legal for many parties whether they have a trade-mark or not. Two or more parties may have the same trademark in different jurisdictions, may have the same trademark in the same jurisdiction but in different in-dustries, or may legally use a name without owning a

trademark to it. It is not necessary to own a trademark, to use a particular name.

This being the case, domain name registration on a first-come, first-serve basis is the most logical. If two (or more) parties have the right to use a name (even if one has a trademark and the other doesn’t), neither party should be given preference in using a domain name with that name.(Reference)

Truly Ethical living, with a capital E, requires more than honesty, fairness, decency, and even right action. It requires owning 100% of the responsibility for any consequences of what we do, intended or not. l


truly ethical living, with a capital e, requires more than honesty, fairness, decency, and even right action. it requires owning 100% of the responsibility for any consequences of what we do, intended or not.

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