Interview with Bob Coles

April 2003

Terry McQuay, Nymity's President, recently met with Bob Coles, Vice President of Cornerstone , and asked him a few questions regarding PIPEDA's impact on direct marketing. Cornerstone is a leader in providing information based marketing products and services that help their clients find new customers and communicate with existing ones. Mr. Coles is a privacy advocate in the marketing community and a member of the Canadian Marketing Association Ethics committee.

Nymity:   Generally, how does the marketing community regard PIPEDA? Do they see it as a business restriction?

Coles : Initially, I think that many business leaders and managers were concerned about the impact PIPEDA might have on their business. However, at this point in time I think most businesses, certainly the ones we deal with, have come to understand PIPEDA's impact on their business and have adjusted well to any changes that were implemented to ensure compliancy.

Nyimity:  As Cornerstone provides direct marketing services, how has PIPEDA impacted your business?

Coles: When PIPEDA was first introduced we saw it as an opportunity to take a leadership position within our industry. In the list business we understood the need to determine if owners of commercially available lists were compliant with PIPEDA or not. So, we went out to the list owner community with a questionnaire, asking them the following questions:

1. do you have consumer records on your database?
2. if yes,then do you offer a Name Removal Option to your customers?
3. if offering Name Removal Options, are you making the Name Removal Option available to your customers BEFORE you release names to a 3rd party?
4. please provide us with a sample of your Name Removal Option for our records.

We collected this information from over a 1000 sources (it took months and hundreds of follow-up calls), determined if we could continue to do business with these lists (in well over a hundred cases we determined that we could no longer work with specific list owners as it was our opinion that they were not compliant with PIPEDA) and then stored the results in our list database. It was at this point that we were in a stronger competitive position vis a vis our competitors as we were the first list company to establish PIPEDA compliance status with the commercially available lists in Canada. Our clients recognized the importance of this initiative and came to rely on us for guidance with respect to securing compliant prospect lists.

Nymity:  What have the major changes been for your clients that have consumer based direct marketing campaigns?

Coles: In some cases our clients have had fewer lists from which to choose. In most cases there has been minimal impact to our clients.

Nymity:  Do see PIPEDA having an impact on your clients business to business communications?

Coles : For the most part, no.

Nymity: Have your clients seen changes in consumer behavior regarding protection of their personal privacy?

Coles : I think there is greater awareness with respect to privacy on the part of the consumer.

Nymity: What major changes have your clients made in their direct marketing policies

Coles: For those clients who make their customer lists available to third parties, they have had to ensure that their Name Removal Options are easy to see, easy to understand and easy to execute. I think PIPEDA has also forced our clients to review their data security policies and procedures to ensure compliance.

Nymity:  What recommendations do you have for marketing departments who are looking to comply with PIPEDA?

Coles: I think it's a little late for any organization to be looking at compliance at this late date however, if that is the case then I would suggest they do their homework, understand how PIPEDA impacts their business, implement changes to their business if necessary and then make sure they abide by it. If they need help they should contact experienced professionals who understand the law and can help them implement the changes within the organization to ensure compliance. This could involve legal counsel and or CMA consultation for companies who are members.

Nymity: In closing, what recommendations do you have for organizations that are looking to become compliant with PIPEDA?

Coles : Get on it!