DAAC Summit 2024: A Look Back at an Insightful Day of Learning and Networking
On October 8, 2024, the Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC) hosted its annual Summit at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in downtown Toronto, welcoming a diverse group of industry professionals, privacy experts, and regulators. The Summit provided a valuable platform for attendees to exchange knowledge, discuss challenges, and explore the latest digital advertising and privacy developments.
Julie Ford, Executive Director of the DAAC, opened the day with a warm welcome and a quick review of the agenda, setting the stage while encouraging non-participants to get involved with the DAAC’s self-regulatory programs. She emphasized that we are all stronger when we work together.
The first presentation, led by Lou Mastria, President & CEO of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), focused on how the DAA’s consumer choice tools have evolved to address new technologies and emerging advertising trends. Mastria highlighted the DAA’s recent testing of WebChoices 2.0, an upgrade to our WebChoices tool to support cookies and other identifiers across almost all popular browsers, and the Protect My Choices 2.0 browser extension. Third-party ad tech providers interested in testing these tools should contact the DAA or DAAC as soon as possible (info@daac.ca). He also shared recent research showing that 79% of consumers recognize the AdChoices icon, 85% find it easy to understand, and 78% find it useful. Most importantly, 72% of consumers indicated that using the icon on an ad increases trust in the advertiser. Mastria also highlighted the new connected TV implementation guidance recently released by the DAA to help companies understand how to render the icon in this new medium. Finally, Mastria reminded the audience that the DAA (and DAAC) Principles have always been tech-agnostic & independently enforced, with participants proactively agreeing to abide by rules created by and for our industry.
This was followed by Shelley Samel, Chief Legal Officer at Ad Standards, who emphasized the importance of accountability in maintaining compliance with the AdChoices program. Her session reinforced the need for AdChoices program participants to return their self-attestation forms to Ad Standards in a timely manner.
A highlight of the Summit was the panel discussion facilitated by Google titled The Power of Targeted Ads for SMEs. Moderated by Darryl Julott from Digital Main Street, the panel featured perspectives from small business owners Juliana and Luis Velasquez (Familia Fine Foods) and digital advertising consultant David Nagy (eCommerce Canada). The session underscored how small and medium enterprises can leverage targeted advertising to reach niche audiences, optimize marketing spend, and drive business growth. One of the most significant benefits of targeted advertising is the ability for small businesses to expand their reach beyond their brick-and-mortar locations cost-effectively. Without the benefits of ad tech, small businesses would have a much smaller pool of potential customers.
Attendees then dived into strategies for effective consent management during a presentation by Jean-Baptiste Garcin and Jean-Christophe Mauss from Didomi. They indicated that the overall consent rate benchmark in Canada is 80%. Their general advice for adopting a consent management provider (CMP) was to ensure you can personalize your privacy interface to match your brand guidelines, as it is the first thing your users will see. The platform should meet the current privacy regulations you need to cover alongside having the bandwidth to on-board the new ones. Having access to a support team for technical support, legal watch, and consulting can also be handy as your in-house privacy maturity and needs increase. Also, ensure that your CMP can integrate with industry programs like IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) and AdChoices.
One of the most engaging and eye-opening presentations came from Abigail Dubiniecki, an Ottawa-based privacy lawyer, on Sensitive Data in Health Apps, Period Trackers & FemTech. Dubiniecki addressed the unique risks associated with handling sensitive health data, particularly for products catering to women’s health. Her presentation called for more ethical and responsible handling of such data and called for ad tech to reconsider getting involved with these types of apps due to the many risks associated with intimate personal information.
The afternoon concluded with a deep dive session into Canadian privacy legislative reform and interest-based advertising, presented by Adam Kardash from Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. Kardash summarized the current requirements outlined by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) for interest-based advertising and noted that the AdChoices program exists because of these guidelines. He also said Bill C-27, an omnibus bill that includes the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA) proposed to replace PIPEDA, is in a precarious position due to politicians stonewalling the proceedings. If passed, however, the CPPA would allow for OPC-approved codes of practice, which the AdChoices program would be in a prime position to apply for. Most of the time was spent considering the impacts of Quebec’s Law 25 and how Quebec’s privacy regulator, the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (CAI), may interpret appropriate actions for interest-based advertising. This led to a lively Q&A session to close the event.
Overall, the DAAC Summit 2024 successfully brought together leaders and practitioners to explore the intersection of digital advertising and privacy, offering rich content, engaging discussions, and networking opportunities.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all our speakers, panelists, and sponsors Google and Didomi for making the event a success. We look forward to continuing these important conversations with all of you.
