If the recent media hype is to be believed, from March 1st 2011 the world of online advertising will change forever. Our advice, however, it to take this slightly over-dramatic statement with a pinch of salt though, as it shouldn’t actually be changing too much at all!
The CAP (Committee of Advertising Practice) is enforcing legislature changes which will mean that any party advertising online will have to take full responsibility for that which they are saying. Any claims, statements or boasts which feature in an online environment now need to be substantiated, or at least be able to be validated. These rules specifically apply to web pages, emails or any other form of advertising in the digital arena for which the advertiser has paid, and thus has control.
The requirements which advertisers are now being encouraged (at least in the initial six months grace period) to follow are in fact nothing new. They are standards by which all offline advertising has had to adhere for years, and are being purely transposed across to online material. The majority of reputable marketers would previously have ensured that all of their marketing material had an element of consistency in any case, so most will already be acting in exactly this way. Those who are scrambling around to make the changes to meet the criteria changes are likely to be those who simply spotted the previous loophole. Unfortunately for them the game is up!
Obviously, best practice dictates that all marketing claims should be honest, factually accurate and verifiable, so most advertisers shouldn’t be making too many changes at all. Those who do have to make changes – you have six months before the CAP turn into a TOB (tonne of bricks)!
Alex Prout, Senior Digital Planner/Buyer
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