The I-COM Data Ethics Council will explore how Data Ethics can enrich our brands and user experiences as Smart Data Marketers. To that end, the Council will identify strategic values and corresponding operational focus areas that are at the core of Data Ethics to help build transparency in communicating our data ethics frameworks to consumers and build competitive advantage.

This matters because Data Ethics has risen to become a strategic differentiator for Smart Data Marketers essential for them to exist and compete. At the same time, it has been tainted by broken trust. There is a three-way collision of Smart Data Marketing needs, people’s expectations of service and trust, and regulatory enforcement realities. Marketing and the evolution into a digital first ecosystem has really taken a beating for aggressive user tracking, user manipulation, profit before people, and lack of accountability - all of which has brought into question the trustworthiness of brand marketing. Our challenge is to ensure that we create a culture and operational focus in our businesses where the ethical use of data is embedded in everything we do - from design to activation.