The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on the 25th May 2018. The legislation applies throughout the EU and to any company within or outside the EU that holds or processes data on EU citizens. The GDPR is already causing quite a stir within the marketing community. Recent revelations concerning the security of personal data held by companies such as Facebook have drawn attention to this complex European legislation in the wider community. Let’s take a look at some of the implications of the GDPR for marketing generally and direct printed marketing specifically.
Personal Data
The GDPR defines six legal bases for processing personal data. However, for the purposes of email and digital marketing the important one is consent. Under the new laws, companies wishing to send marketing emails or texts should obtain the consent of the recipient. Consent must be positive and those consenting to digital marketing must specifically ‘opt in’ – so no more pre-ticked boxes agreeing to receive marketing when you are entering your details for another reason.
The Information Commissioner’s Office
All this new legislation will be enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). People who think that their data rights have been abused by a company to whom they have given their personal information can complain to the ICO – who have been given the powers to issue crippling fines. The ICO have produced a lot of information to help companies that process personal data make the transition to GDPR compliance. Here’s what they’ve had to say about direct printed marketing.
Printed Marketing
In an FAQ section of the ICO website that examines the impact of GDPR for charitable organisations, the ICO answered the question of whether the legal basis of consent was always needed for marketing with the following statement that specifically exempts postal marketing:
“No. You won’t always need consent e.g. for postal marketing but you will need consent for some calls and for texts and emails… you can rely on legitimate interests for marketing activities if you can show how you use people’s data is proportionate, has a minimal privacy impact, and people would not be surprised or likely to object.”
The print industry has called for clearer guidance on these matters from the ICO, but the organisation is a bit overwhelmed at the moment and is only issuing general guidance to the new GDPR legislation and not the sector-specific advice that is so desperately needed to clear some of the muddy waters surrounding the new laws.
Conclusion
It’s no industry secret that email marketing campaigns have a lower success rate than direct printed marketing campaigns. This was always made up for by email’s greater reach. With email’s reach being curtailed by the GDPR’s insistence on consent, we are expecting a renewed interest in direct printed marketing.
If your company is interested in setting up a GDPR compliant print marketing campaign, please get in touch. You can call us on 01603 488 001 or email sales@col-print.co.uk.
How is your business preparing for the introduction of GDPR? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter.
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