The Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, said that consumers are “very sensitive” about their private data.  Interestingly, Tarik Qahawish, Director Digital Marketing & Communications at Aeroplan, released the stat that only 55% of Canadians are concerned about privacy.  This isn’t a lot, really, and the stat drops to 45% when counting users of social media.  However, it is best to be completely respectful of any sensitivity so we should all consider how to implement the Commissioner’s guidelines.

Here’s my two cent summary of the official guidelines:

• Info on online behavioural advertising (particularly the collection of data) should be given to the user.
• This info should not be buried in privacy policy. It should be on page.
• The user should be given the option to opt-out.
• If the user opts out, the opt out should be immediate and the user’s data destroyed or anonymized.
• Accepting participation in a site should not be contingent on giving info.
• Organizations should not knowingly track children (but no definition of ‘child’ given).

Here’s is a copy of the Guide: Privacy and Online Behavioural Advertising, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

In a smart move, IAB then revealed its plans for industry self-regulation:

• Clear labelling of online behavioural advertising, with one click to more info and options to opt out.
• They will release training on new tools in Q1 and implement in Q2.

We all have to grapple with the right balance between innovation (which benefits the consumer) and the consumer’s right to use social marketing tools and brand digital properties without feeling like Big Brother is tracking them.

Lisbon is a jewel of a city.  Built on 7 hills, the old part of the city is stunningly picturesque.  My Lisbon highlights were:

• Walking down old steps in Alfama with the guide explaining we were walking beside the old Moorish wall – and realizing this is the location Saramago wrote about in History of the Siege of Lisbon [read this book, it's good].
• An evening tour where we ended up in a small plaza in Alfama watching a very low key fado show.  It was a little restaurant that put tables and chairs out in the square and had 4 different singers do sets with the two guitarists.  The singers were friends and family and the whole thing was quite cozy.  This is in stark contrast to the tour-bus fado clubs that looked really tacky.

Lisbon with view of castle

The ride through Alentejo was more rural and remote than I imagined a European country to be.  We would ride for hours and not see anyone.  Then we’d occasionally pass through a tiny village populated with a few seniors and lots of dogs.  It was bucolic, fresh and clean.  Some highlights:

• Riding a lovely, gentle horse named Principale with a gait like a rocking horse.  Then trading with another rider for horse named Ulysses who provided me with entertainment value because of his silly personality.
• Galloping down a beach that was gigantic.  The beach is 60 km but we only ran a small portion.  We were riding in October, so the sun worshipers were gone and only a few fishermen were there to witness my international posse posing for action shots.
• Riding for hours through cork forests and down completely empty country lanes and then to suddenly pass a remote farmhouse that was the location of an international rave.  There was only a handful of participants when we went by but they had the music blaring and looked happy.
• Indulging in Portugese wine and food every night at comfortable hotels.  One night after a few too many drinks, we played CDs until the proprietor had to ask us to stop partying so hard (no kidding).

Alentejo beach ride

More photos at my Flickr account.

Details:

• I booked through In The Saddle.  It’s the Dolphin and Alentejo Trails.
• The stable who put on the ride is: Raides Vicentinos.
• In Lisbon, I stayed in a nice guesthouse which was reasonably priced, clean and pleasant called Ribeira Tejo.
• The Lisbon tour is Lisbon Sunset Fado & Tapas from Lisbon Urban Adventures.

When in Rome…

Le-Tan collaborated with Spike Jonze to create a brand promo video integrating her hand made book covers and adding animation.  This is old-school stop animation video and it’s charming:

Given the tough economic times in the U.S. and the fact that the horses are being shipped to Canada for slaughter anyway, it’s not that surprising.

For more info, read the New York Times article.

The survey also shows that it’s not so easy for a brand to gather followers.  The majority only follow 1-4 brands:

 Source: Constant Contact and Chadwick Martin Bailey, October 2011, via marketingprofs.com

The picture he’s painted of Finland makes it look like a cloudy place with lots of dive bars, heavy drinking and chain smoking.  I’ve heard rumours that the Finnish tourist board was angry with him because he paints such a bleek image of Finland.  In Le Havre, he takes us to France and paints a picture of dive bars, heavy drinking and chain smoking.

I highly recommend this film.  It’s playing at TIFF Bell Lightbox this November.

Source: Ipsos OTX MediaCT Oct 11, 2011 via emarketer.com

Source: emarketer.com, October 2011.

Previously known for using digital for information exchange:

• Email for communication*;
• Signing petitions and forwarding links*;
• Researching products**.

They are rapidly adopting the new trends:

• Accessing the internet via mobile (+109%)†
• Using social media (+ 45-48%)‡
• Watching video online (8+ hrs/wk)‡

*2007 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating; Community Foundations of Canada.

**Pew Internet Project Data Memo, 2009

†The State of Social Media: The Social Media Report, Nielsen, Q3 2011.

‡Canada Digital Year in Review 2001, Comscore, 2011.