EDAA names TRUSTe and Evidon as Approved OBA Icon Providers

EDAA names TRUSTe and Evidon as Approved OBA Icon Providers

Brussels, 24 June 2013: – The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) has today announced the approval of two technology platform providers, TRUSTe and Evidon, to serve the “OBA Icon” on behalf of companies delivering online ads across Europe.

Today’s announcement makes the provisional agreements between EDAA and the two providers, in place since mid-2012, official. This approval is a significant development for the European Self-Regulatory Programme on Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA).

TRUSTe’s “TRUSTed Ads” solution and Evidon’s “InForm” solution mean that companies operating in Europe can be confident that they are using credible, well recognised platforms to let European consumers know when OBA is in use.

Oliver Gray, Director-General of the EDAA, said, “It is important to ensure that all OBA ads show the icon, and we are pleased that as approved and valued partners, TRUSTe and Evidon will further facilitate this across European markets.”

Providing billions of icon impressions across Europe every month, this official approval of TRUSTe and Evidon as technology platform providers will further guarantee high visibility of the OBA Icon on online ads.

The EDAA is also taking action to increase consumer awareness and understanding of the Icon and OBA more generally, with the launch of “Unzipped”, a pan-European consumer awareness campaign, last week in the UK and now in Ireland. The campaign will be rolled out in Germany next with remaining EU and EEA markets to follow shortly.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT

For more information, please contact: info@edaa.eu

T: +32 (0)2 513 7806

ABOUT EDAA

The European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (www.edaa.eu) is a non-profit organisation based in Brussels and is responsible for enacting key aspects of the self-regulatory initiative for Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA) across Europe. EDAA principally acts as the central licensing body for the OBA Icon and provides technical means for consumers to exercise transparency and control over OBA through the online consumer choice platform at www.youronlinechoices.eu. EDAA is governed by EU-level organisations which make up the value chain of OBA within Europe and acts to ensure European consistency in approach.

OBA EDUCATION ACROSS EUROPE

Primarily, the education campaign will drive awareness of the OBA icon, licensed by the EDAA and placed on online ads, to ensure consumers associate it with meaningful transparency, choice and control over online behavioural advertising.

The OBA icon is a means for consumers to identify where OBA is being practiced in a clear and contextual manner. The icon links consumers to a pan-European consumer choice platform at www.youronlinechoices.eu, which aims to inform and provide choice and control. The website has been revamped alongside the launch of the campaign.

Through the Programme, consumers will better understand online advertising, as well as the means that are available to them if they wish to file complaints. Credible consumer complaint handling mechanisms in each national market will be handled by well-established and recognised national advertising self-regulatory organisations (SROs).

The campaign, which has been designed by Mediacom Beyond Advertising, is based on a concept developed by a team of students at KH Leuven, Belgium, who were finalists in a student competition run by EACA (European Association of Communications Agencies).

ABOUT TRUSTe

TRUSTe, the leading global provider of data privacy management solutions, powers trust in the data economy by enabling businesses to safely collect and use customer data across all channels – websites, mobile apps, cloud services, and advertising.  Our cloud-based Privacy Management Platform delivers privacy assessments & certifications along with innovative technology products, including website monitoring and advertising compliance controls for desktop and mobile ads. More than 5,000 companies worldwide, including Apple, Disney, eBay, Forbes, HP and Oracle rely on TRUSTe and our globally recognized Certified Privacy Seal to build trust, drive engagement and ensure compliance.

For more information, please visit www.truste.eu.

ABOUT EVIDON

Evidon reveals the invisible web.

Its technology gives brands, publishers, networks and other businesses around the world unique insight into how the digital ecosystem really works, including unparalleled intelligence on the marketing technologies that underpin the commercial web and the power to control their impact on business.

Evidon technology includes Ghostery™, the industry-leading browser tool that reports on data collection across 26 million websites and informs the company’s business control solutions. Evidon also provides market-leading privacy controls for more than $2 billion of display media and e-commerce transactions annually that empower more than 150 million people a day to control how their information is used online.

Companies make smarter decisions, protect their businesses and consumer privacy, and grow revenue as a result.

For more information, please visit: www.evidon.com.