The CAP Code and Digital Marketing How the new regulation will affect marketers

From the 1st March, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will have new powers to regulate the way brands market online.

In addition to it’s existing regulatory powers covering Paid Search, and Display Ads, the new guidelines mean other forms of online marketing, including company websites, will fall under their remit.

The ClickThrough View

The Facts As of March 1st 2011, the ASA will respond to complaints about online

marketing messages across a wider range of platforms. This includes not only company websites, but also third-party sites under

a company’s control, including corporate Twitter and Facebook pages.

What is changing?

The ASA already covers some ‘new media’ aspects within their remit, including SMS, viral adverts, banner ads and in game ads. However, the growth in social media has meant that brands were able to avoid paid advertising all together. This, plus the rise of web-spam in organic search results, has prompted the ASA to seek to regulate anything online that can be considered an ‘invitation to purchase’ which is defined as a ‘commercial communication which indicates characteristics of a product and the price’.

What it means for Marketers

In the past, some marketers outside particularly heavily regulated sectors (e.g. Finance, health) have left worries concerning regulation to their ad agencies and media owners, who know and apply the code relevant to their area of the media/sector. Now, marketers need to be aware of how the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Codes apply to their website and social media profiles – details of which can be found at bit.ly/capcode.

What are the Main Aspects of the Code

The CAP Code is a 125-page document with specific sections related to Distance Selling, Sales Promotions and Database Practice. However, there are some general rules that marketers should consider on the websites and social profiles under their control:

Communications must not materially mislead. This includes hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner. This is good practice anyway and it reduces instances of customer complaints or worse, chargebacks.

Prices shown should not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. Prices should also relate to the product featured in the marketing communication and include non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges. Again, clarity on pricing reduces consumer dissatisfaction.

Before publishing claims on your site, you must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that could be considered as ‘objective’. Hold all relevant data alongside your campaign materials for ease.

The ASA will also view the use of user generated content as within remit if the website owner incorporates it in their own marketing communications.

• This change gives consumers a new line of protection, and in the context of the 2,500 complaints regarding web content made to the ASA in 2010 (which could not be acted upon) they help to protect the integrity of the digital marketing industry in the eyes of the public.

• Marketers should be aware that it is likely that certain parts of their site, for example areas that don’t relate to the sale of products, will not fall under the remit of the code.

• The sanctions available to the ASA have also changed. They can now remove paid ads linking to non complying pages, name and shame on their website, enforce pre-vetting of ad copy and even run paid search campaigns highlighting non-complying advertisers!

• To adapt to the change in remit, the ASA is aiming to handle more complaints informally, and is also increasing staffing. However, the ASA remains a reactive enforcer, relying on a complaint to trigger action.

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“The opening up of the ASA’s online remit is a further sign of the coming-of-age of digital marketing. Learning the code does take time, but by following these rules marketers can ensure that they avoid falling foul of the code”.

John Newton, Digital Marketing Director, ClickThrough Marketing