Privacy Notice Highlights

This Privacy Notice was last updated, July 10, 2015. Please check back for changes as we update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Your use of the Website means that you agree to our Privacy Notice.

What to expect from this page. This brief view of our Privacy Notice outlines the most important details you need to know. It outlines the data collection and use practices of GroupM Worldwide Inc., (GroupM). We wanted to save you from a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo but still provide the essential information. You can read the full GroupM Privacy Notice for more detail on our privacy practices. Where we use a term that you may not understand, it will be highlighted. Just “mouse over” the term, or “tap” from your mobile device, and you will see an explanation.

These Privacy Notice Highlights and our full Privacy Notice only apply to GroupM.com and GroupMpublications.com, (Website) and services GroupM provides online for its clients (Services). This notice does not apply to any other sites, products or services of GroupM, its affiliates or its clients.

Information we collect and information we do not collect:

GroupM collects personal information (PII) from adults who voluntarily share that information with us.

GroupM does not knowingly collect any personal information from children 13 or younger.

GroupM automatically receives non-personal information when you visit our Website. GroupM uses common internet technologies, such as Cookies, on our Website so we can improve content and site services. You can always choose not to share your non-PII by opting-out of cookies here.

For more details about our information collection practices, please click here.

How we do and do not use the collected information:

We DO:

We use personal information to fulfill your requests and to correspond with you, but only if you decide to share personal information with us. For example we will use your e-mail address to add you to our e-mail newsletter at your request.

We may share your personal information with our contracted vendors in order to process your request when those tasks are outside our expertise. For example, if you submit payment with a credit card on our site, we may share your information with our credit card processing vendor so your payment can be processed. We may also share your personal information in the event of a merger, sale or reorganization of GroupM.

We may share aggregate, or combined, consumer data – which does not contain any personal information, and which does not identify any specific individual – with vendors or partners, when we perform services for our clients. This is non-PII about your web browsing, or about your interactions with ads we manage on behalf of clients. We do this to gain better insights into the audience interests.

We DON’T:

Except as set forth in the full Privacy Notice, we never share, rent, or sell information about you to third parties without your consent.

We do not share personal information about you with our partners or vendors, except as described in the full Privacy Notice.

If you choose not to share your non-personal information with us. (We call this “Opt Out”).

To opt out of data collection via cookies from GroupM.com please click here.

To update your browser settings to opt out of all data collection via cookies, regardless of what sites you visit, see your browser’s help menu; links to instructions for popular browsers are below.

Apple Safari
Google Chrome
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox

To opt out of interest based advertising by some providers, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/. (It’s important to note that you will still receive ads after opting out of behavioral advertising, however the ads will simply be less relevant to your interests).

How we secure your personal information: As stated previously, we do not generally collect PII, but in the rare instances we do, we take reasonable steps designed to secure it appropriately. To protect the information against unauthorized access and use, we take reasonable security measures as possible, such as limiting access to specified personnel, and by storing data on servers designed to be secure.

How to Contact Us: For more detailed information regarding our privacy practices, please go to our full Privacy Statement. Or write to us at: Privacy Officer, GroupM, 498 7th Ave., New York, NY 10018 or via email at Privacy@GroupM.com.

Full Privacy Notice

How and why we collect data and covering your choices.
(last update, July 10, 2015)

This notice outlines how and why GroupM Worldwide Inc., (GroupM), collects data from visits to its websites. It also outlines how and why GroupM collects and uses data through services to clients and explains what these practices mean to you -- and how you can manage choices. To keep this simple and as brief as possible, you can see definitions of words that may be unfamiliar by hovering over them with your mouse, or tapping from your mobile device.

Important

Please check back often as this notice is updated from time to time. Your use of GroupM websites means you agree to this privacy notice.

This is GroupM’s full Privacy Notice. It only applies to GroupM.com, GroupMPublications.com, (“Website”) and Services (“Services”) GroupM provides to its clients. This notice does not apply to any other sites, products or services of GroupM, its affiliates or its clients.

How information collection on our sites works:

Meet Maggie: To show how information is collected on our Websites and across the internet, we’ll use Maggie as example. Maggie will help show one person’s journey on the web, and how we help make her online experience more meaningful and relevant.

Maggie is a 42 year-old mother of three who lives in a small town on Long Island, New York. Maggie likes to shop, research, and read content online, particularly about her gardening hobby. She uses email and social media and enjoys receiving advertising relevant to her interests, so she can learn about new products and ideas. However, Maggie is concerned about her privacy and what data and information is collected about her. She often wonders how her computer knows she likes gardening when she sees gardening ads, even when she is not on a website about gardening. The privacy principles below will help Maggie and others better understand just that. The principles explain who GroupM is and how we collect and use information in connection with the GroupM.com Website and GroupM Services.

GroupM.com Website Privacy Practices

Before we get detailed on our privacy practices, we want to point out that we collect data in two different ways. This section talks about our data collection and use practices for this Website; later we will talk about data collection and use via services provided on behalf of our clients.

Collection and Use of Non-Personal Information (information that doesn’t identify you by name): When Maggie goes to www.GroupM.com, we automatically gather non-personal information (also known as non-PII) by placing a cookie, or number, on her device. We do this to help understand what parts of our website Maggie enjoys most. This allows us to improve with content that Maggie prefers for future visits. We do not automatically collect or use any of Maggie’s personally identifiable information (PII) when she visits www.GroupM.com.

Collection and use of Personally Identifiable Information (PII)? We only use PII when a user voluntarily provides it. There are a few instances where we may collect PII from Maggie. But, we never collect PII without consent and never use PII in advertising or marketing placements. Examples where Maggie or other users might voluntarily provide PII include:

Responding to Maggie's requests: we keep a record of information, including email address and other PII solely for responding to a user’s request. For example:

Purchases: If Maggie were to purchase or subscribe to GroupM services for a fee via GroupM.com, information collected such as payment information would only be used for processing payment.

How to manage information we have about you and your GroupM.com subscriptions. If at any time Maggie decides she would like us to remove her from our marketing e-mails or newsletters, unsubscribe from our database, or if she’d like to change or correct any contact information, she can contact us at privacy@groupm.com. She must include her name, email address, and clear instructions regarding changes she is requesting. She may also unsubscribe from email newsletters by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link found at the bottom of the email.

About Cookie use and similar technologies on GroupM.com: When Maggie uses our Website, she is providing consent for our use of cookies. GroupM uses cookies, pixels and similar technologies to collect Non-PII about your visits to our Website.

A cookie is a file placed on a user’s browser that uniquely identifies browser and device. Cookies allow us to customize Maggie’s website experience to include more content she likes, and less content she may find not useful. If Maggie does not agree to our use of cookies, she may prevent their use through her browser settings, elect not to use this Website, or just opt out of cookies on our Website as described below. By opting out, Maggie may not be able to use certain Website features or take full advantage of all offerings.

Sometimes a cookie resides on Maggie’s device for just the single time she’s visiting our website; this is called a session cookie. Sometimes a cookie remains on Maggie’s device until she deletes it; this is called a persistent cookie. Both types of cookies may be used on our Website. Cookies help us analyze how users like Maggie use our Website by telling us the pages viewed. They also tell us about the number of visitors to the Website and the webpages that referred them. The Google Analytics cookie we use is an example of a persistent cookie.

GroupM uses the following cookies:

Performance/Analytics/Tracking: This type of cookie provides aggregated information about where a user may go on the Website.

Google Analytics. GroupM uses Google Analytics to help us analyze how visitors use the Website. Among other things, Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information about the number of visits to the Website, the webpage that referred visitors to the Website, language, device, browser and operating system, the pages visitors view within the Website and other similar details. We do not share this information with third parties. When used this way the Google Analytics cookie is a persistent cookie, and will remain on your device until the cookie expires or you delete it. These cookies may appear as _utma, _utmb, _utmc, _utmz, _utmv, _utmt.
We also use> Google Analytics as a session cookie. This cookie may appear as has_js. We do not retain this data as it is deleted upon closing of your browser, and therefore we cannot share it with any third parties.

Social media/Sharing: These are cookies that help with the Website’s functionality. These are third party cookies, and they allow you to share comments, pages, bookmarks, and likes, and help to provide access to social networking tools easily.

Social media widgets used on this Website include LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. These social media widgets collect information about your visit to the Website and your use of the social platform services (for example, buttons or likes) on the Website. We do not share information with these social platforms, however please keep in mind the social networks collect the data of your site visit and interaction with the social widget directly.

Opt out of cookies placed from visits to GroupM.com by clicking here. You can also change your browser settings to prevent cookies.

Does GroupM.com share any information with other vendors or partners? If permitted by law, we may provide access to a user’s PII and/or Non-PII to our vendors and contractors (also known as third parties) who are performing services on our behalf. For example, if Maggie uses a credit card to subscribe to a service, we may securely share her credit card information with our credit card processing service to transact her payment. These vendors are not permitted to use this information for any other purpose.The GroupM Site uses social media widgets including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn so users can easily share information about their visits with “likes” or “shares.” Always review the privacy policy of social media sites as their data collection practices are separate from GroupM’s practices. Additionally, we must disclose a user’s information when we believe we’re legally obligated to, or in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding prohibited activities, such as incidents of hacking, misuse, or other prohibited activities.

Use of this site by Children & Children’s data: We’re sensitive to children's privacy. Our Website is not developed for or directed at children under age 13. We specifically request that children not provide personal information (PII) through our Website. If a user believes her child provided PII and would like it deleted from our database, she can contact us at privacy@groupm.com. Likewise, if we become aware we’ve collected personal information from a child under the age of 13, we’ll delete it on our own.

California Online Privacy Protection Act Disclosures: California law requires us to tell you that GroupM does not authorize third parties to collect PII without separate consent by you, the user. Because “tracking” is not yet defined by industry standard, GroupM does not honor Do Not Track signals or similar mechanisms.

Data retention and storage: Our Website visitors should know we may use cookie information for advertising purposes for up to 13 months, and summary reports with cookie information may be kept longer. Our Website and databases are maintained in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. When a visitor uses the Website or our Services, he/she gives us consent to collect and store information in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany and to use information as specified within this privacy notice. However, if he/she has opted out or chosen not to share information we will not collect it in the first place.

Information Security: Maintaining the privacy of our user’s information is very important to us which means we take care and pay special attention to our security measures to protect user information from data breaches. We follow industry standards to protect against the unauthorized access to, retention of, and disclosure of information. This includes necessary physical, electronic, and management activities to protect information integrity, access, and use. Any information stored on our servers is treated as confidential. But please do keep in mind no matter what we do to ensure safety, no transmission over the internet is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Because of this, we ask that our users are aware of with whom they share their information, and what information they share.

Linking to other websites/Third party sites: A link from our Website to another website does not imply our endorsement of affiliates or websites, and we do not control third party websites to which we link, nor assume responsibility for their content or privacy policies. Once you follow a link to another website, the GroupM Privacy Notice no longer applies. It’s important to always read the privacy policy of any website you are visiting.

Transfer of data upon change of control: Users should be aware that in the event that another company acquires all or substantially all of the assets of our business through a consolidation, merger, asset purchase, or other transaction, including as part of a corporate reorganization of bankruptcy proceeding, we reserve the right to transfer all information (including any PII a user may have provided through the “contact us” page) that is in our possession or under our control to the acquiring party.

GroupM Services Privacy Practices

This section outlines services we provide for our clients. It concerns data collection and use on such sites (not GroupM.com), in conjunction with our services for clients. This information is not related to what happens on GroupM.com. It’s important you always review the privacy policy of any site you visit as practices vary.

What Does GroupM do? What does GroupM mean by their Services?

GroupM is a leading global media investment and media agency holding company. We focus on media buying and media strategy, and we continually evaluate innovative ways to deliver relevant advertising and custom online experiences on behalf of our clients. Protecting online user privacy in the course of our business is a priority and one we take very seriously. GroupM provides client services such as media planning and buying; marketing communications planning; campaign analytics and research; paid search placement and search engine optimization; and branded entertainment and sports sponsorships (“Services”).

Don’t get it? Allow us to explain a bit more about our Services, how information is collected and used, and how you can opt out should you choose to do so.

Interest Based Advertising (IBA)

Remember Maggie and her gardening hobby? With Interest Based Advertising (IBA) technology, (also known as behavioral advertising or audience buying), Maggie will see more gardening ads online because she visits many gardening websites and reads a lot of online content about gardening. If our client is a Brand that sells gardening tools, GroupM’s Services will help place ads on sites where people who like gardening, like Maggie, will see them.

When Maggie visits websites, watches videos online, or clicks on ads, we store a number on her browser using a “cookie” to remember her visits. Accomplished with partners (digital publishers such as online gardening magazines, for example), this cookie (number) will never collect personal information (PII) about Maggie, similar to how explained above. More on this a bit later…

Because many websites Maggie visits are related to gardening, the anonymous number which identifies her machine or device is put in the “gardening enthusiast” interest category. As a result, we may show Maggie ads that are relevant to gardening enthusiasts as she browses websites. This is how we use information collected about Maggie through the cookie (number). This is an industry standard approach; you can learn more about these practices at www.iab.net/privacymatters. Remember the cookie does not tell us who Maggie is specifically. All we know is that someone used that particular device to view a gardening website. We tag the device with the cookie so we can later serve more gardening ads to that device.

NO PERSONAL INFORMATION is collected for IBA. So whatdowe collect?

Through the process described above, we do not collect any of her PII and do not know Maggie’s name or any other personal information. We simply recognize the cookie (number) stored in her browser which tells us someone likes gardening websites. We then show Maggie ads related to interests in gardening and based on inferred demographics associated with gardening. We will never show ads based on sensitive information categories such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation, health, or sensitive financial categories.

Sharing this information and how online advertising works:

Maggie’s Non-Personal information (non-PII) collected through our Services (or ads placed by us on behalf of clients) may be shared with our clients and vendors. This is essentially how we do business and is how online advertising works. By sharing Maggie’s Non-PII with our clients and vendors, the information helps them deliver more tailored ads to potential customers. The non-personal information allows clients to best understand what ads Maggie likes most based on how she interacts with the ads and when. This also enables serving of personalized ads to Maggie’s devices so she sees ads relevant to her interests, hobbies and things she may be shopping for at the moment. This information also helps clients formulate more efficient ad campaigns which can help Maggie in the long run. We do not collect PII via our clients’ ads, except in instances where consent is given by you or you provide the PII voluntarily, and therefore, we do not sell, rent, or share personal information collected on GroupM.com or other websites with anyone other than as set forth in this Privacy Notice.

What to do when you prefer not to share your non-personal information – how to “opt out”

Opting out of Interest Based Advertising (IBA) is different from opting out of cookies from GroupM.com as described above under the section about our “Website”.

While Maggie really enjoys receiving ads relevant to her gardening interests, if she, for some reason, chooses to stop sharing certain non-personal information for targeting advertising, she can “opt out” of some cookie, or number, placement. If she opts out, it does not mean Maggie will stop receiving ads altogether. It only means she’ll stop receiving ads tied to her interests. Maggie has a few options on how she may opt out. One option would be to adjust her browser settings to block third party cookies. She can learn how to do this by viewing the Browser “help” menu. In addition, she can go to the Digital Advertising Alliance’s, (DAA), Consumer Choice page, http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ where Maggie will be able to opt out of allowing the companies listed on such site to place a cookie, or number, on her device. Maggie needs to remember that if she opts out by clearing her browser cache or by resetting her cookies, she will have to take these steps from time to time, to opt out again.

GroupM is an active member of the Digital Advertising Alliance and complies fully with the DAA Self-Regulatory Principles.

Questions or Comments about this Privacy Policy

If you have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Notice, you should contact us through email addressing general questions and comments to privacy@groupm.com, or by post: GroupM, 498 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10018, Attn: Privacy Officer.

[The Privacy Policy that follows below is applicable to all regions outside of North America]

Privacy Policy (Global)

Last update, July 27, 2015

This notice outlines how and why GroupM Worldwide, Inc. (“GroupM”) collects data from visits to its websites. It also outlines how and why GroupM may collect and use data about you through services it provides to its clients and explains what these practices mean to you -- and how you can manage choices. The services we offer to our clients are relevant to you, as our services include the placement of advertisements on websites outside of GroupM.com and may be seen and engaged with by you. We explain this in further detail when we describe how our services work here.

To keep this notice as simple as possible, you can see definitions of words that may be unfamiliar by hovering over them with your mouse, or by tapping from your mobile device.

About GroupM

GroupM has adopted these privacy principles for the website located at groupm.com. This Privacy Policy applies only to the website on which it appears, and not to any other GroupM website or service. This Privacy Policy also provides information about activities we undertake across internet websites on behalf of GroupM clients.

We continually evaluate innovative ways to protect online user privacy while also seeking to deliver relevant advertising and custom online experiences on behalf of our clients. GroupM provides services for its clients such as media planning and buying, marketing communications planning, campaign analytics and research, paid search placement and search engine optimization, branded entertainment as well as sports sponsorships (“Services”).

Important

Please check back often as this notice is updated from time to time. Your use of GroupM Websites means you agree to this notice.

This notice applies to GroupM.com and GroupMPublications.com (“Website”) and services GroupM provides to its clients (“Services”). This notice does not apply to any other GroupM sites.

How information collection on our sites works:

Website Privacy Practices

Before we get detailed on our privacy practices, we want to point out that we collect data in two different ways. This section talks about our data collection and use practices for the Website; later we will talk about data collection and use via services provided on behalf of our clients.

Collection and Use of Device Information: When you visit the Website, we automatically assign you a unique ID by placing a cookie, or number, on your device. This cookie may collect your IP address for purposes of identifying your location; however, in certain countries [such as Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, MENA, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and The United Kingdom] IP addresses are considered personal data and we use a technology called Turbine that prevents IP addresses being collected. We use these cookies to help understand what parts of our Website you enjoy most, as the cookie will tell us which pages you visit, and on which pages you spend the most time. This allows us to improve your website experience by delivering content that you prefer on future visits. We describe our use of cookies in further detail here.

Collection and Use of Contact Information. There are a few instances where we may collect your name and contact details (such as e-mail address, telephone number and postal address). But, we never collect this information without consent and never use it in online advertising placement. Examples where you might voluntarily provide your name and contact details include:

Responding to requests: we keep a record of information, including email address and other contact information, solely for responding to a user’s request. For example:

If you click on the “contact us” link and submit a question or comment, we will collect your name, e-mail address, and phone number in order to send you a reply.
If you voluntarily ask to be added to our newsletter list, we will collect your e-mail address to send you our email newsletter.

Purchases: If you purchase or subscribe to GroupM services for a fee via the Website, your payment information, such as credit card number, would only be used for processing payment.

How to manage information we have about you and your GroupM subscriptions. If at any time you decide you’d like us to remove you from our marketing e-mails or newsletters, or to unsubscribe from our database, or if you’d like to change or correct any contact information, you can contact us at privacy@groupm.com. You must include your name, e-mail address, and clear instructions regarding changes you are requesting. You may also unsubscribe from e-mail newsletters by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link found at the bottom of the e-mail.

About Cookie use and similar technologies on the Website: By using our Website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies as described in this notice. GroupM uses cookies, pixels and similar technologies to collect information about your visits to our Website.

A cookie is a file placed on a user’s browser that uniquely identifies browser and device. Cookies allow us to customize the website experience for users like you to include more content you like, and less content you may not find useful. If you don’t agree to our use of cookies, you may prevent their use through your browser settings, elect not to use this Website, or just choose not to accept cookies on our Website as described below. By choosing not to accept cookies, you may not be able to use certain Website features or take full advantage of all offerings.

Sometimes a cookie resides on your device for just the single time you’re visiting our Website; this is called a session cookie. Sometimes a cookie remains on your device until you delete it or it expires automatically; this is called a persistent cookie. Both types of cookies are used on our Website. Cookies help us analyze how users like you use our Website by telling us the pages viewed. They also tell us about the number of visitors to the Website and the webpages that referred them. The Google Analytics cookie we use is an example of a persistent cookie.

GroupM uses the following cookies:

Performance/Analytics/Tracking: This type of cookie provides aggregated information about where a user may go on the Website.

• Google Analytics. GroupM uses Google Analytics to help us analyze how visitors use the Website. Among other things, Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information about the number of visits to the Website, the webpage that referred visitors to the Website, language, device, browser and operating system, the pages visitors view within the Website and other similar details. We do not share this information with third parties. When used this way the Google Analytics cookie is a persistent cookie, and will remain on your device until the cookie expires or you delete it. These cookies may appear as _utma, _utmb, _utmc, _utmz, _utmv, _utmt.

• We also use Google Analytics as a session cookie. This cookie may appear as has_js. We do not retain this data as it is deleted upon closing of your browser, and therefore we cannot share it with any third parties.

Social media/Sharing: These are cookies that help with the Website’s functionality. These are third party cookies, and they allow you to share comments, pages, bookmarks, and likes, and help to provide access to social networking tools easily.

Social media widgets used on this Website include LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. These social media widgets collect information about your visit to the Website and your use of the social platform services (for example, buttons or likes) on the Website. We do not share information with these social platforms, however please keep in mind the social networks collect the data of your site visit and interaction with the social widget directly.

Turbine and targ.ad are services, which place a cookie on your device for the purpose of removing your IP address from the data we collect, since in some countries [such as Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, MENA, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and The United Kingdom] IP addresses are treated as personal data. This service is operated by an independent third party. The targ.ad service was certified with the Data Privacy Seal issued by the Independent Data Protection Authority of the Federal State Schleswig-Holstein in Germany in March 2010. You may choose not to receive the targ.ad 2.0 cookie by clicking here

You can choose not to accept cookies placed from visits to the Website by clicking here. You can also change your browser settings to prevent cookies being placed on your device.

Does GroupM share any information with other vendors or partners? We may provide access to information we collect to our vendors and contractors (also known as third parties) who are performing services on our behalf. For example, if you use a credit card to subscribe to a service, we may securely provide your credit card information to our credit card processing service to transact your payment. These vendors are not permitted to use this information for any other purpose.The Website uses social media widgets including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn so users can easily share information about their visits with “likes” or “shares.” Always review the privacy policy of social media sites as their data collection practices are separate from GroupM’s practices. Additionally, we must disclose information when we believe we’re legally obligated to, or in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding prohibited activities, such as incidents of hacking, misuse, or other prohibited activities.

Use of this site by Children & Children’s data: We’re sensitive to children's privacy. Our Website is not developed for or directed at children under age 13. We specifically request that children not provide information about themselves through our Website. If you believe your child has provided this kind of information and would like it deleted from our database, you can contact us at privacy@groupm.com. Likewise, if we become aware we’ve collected information about a child under the age of 13, we’ll delete it on our own.

Data retention and storage: Our Website and databases are maintained in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. By using the Website you consent to our collecting and storing information in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany and to use information as specified within this privacy notice. However, if you have chosen not to share information with us, we will not collect it in the first place.

Information Security: Maintaining the privacy of our users’ information is very important to us which means we take care and pay special attention to our security measures to protect this information from data breaches. We follow industry standards to protect against the unauthorized access to, retention of, and disclosure of information. This includes physical, electronic, and management activities to protect information integrity, access, and use. But please do keep in mind that no transmission over the internet is 100% secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. Because of this, we ask that our users are aware of who they share their information with, and what information they share.

Linking to other websites/Third party sites: A link from our Website to another website does not imply our endorsement of that website, and we do not control third party websites to which we link, nor assume responsibility for their content or privacy policies. Once you follow a link to another website, this notice no longer applies. It’s important to always read the privacy policy of any website you are visiting.

Transfer of data upon change of control: In the event that another company acquires us, or all or substantially all of the assets of our business, through a consolidation, merger, asset purchase, or other transaction, we reserve the right to transfer all information (including any information you may have provided through the “contact us” page) that is in our possession or under our control to the acquiring party, and that information may be used by the acquiring party in its business.

GroupM Services Privacy Practices

This section outlines services we provide for our clients. It concerns data collection and use on other websites (not GroupM.com), in conjunction with services we provide for our clients. This information is not related to what happens on the Website. It’s important you always review the privacy policy of any site you visit as practices vary.

What Does GroupM do? What does GroupM mean by their Services?

GroupM is a leading global media investment and media agency holding company. We focus on media buying and media strategy, and we continually evaluate innovative ways to deliver relevant advertising and custom online experiences on behalf of our clients. Protecting online user privacy in the course of our business is a priority and one we take very seriously. GroupM provides client services such as media planning and buying; marketing communications planning; campaign analytics and research; paid search placement and search engine optimization; and branded entertainment and sports sponsorships (“Services”).

Don’t get it? Allow us to explain a bit more about our Services, how information is collected and used, and how you can prevent this information being collected should you choose to do so.

Interest Based Advertising (IBA)

Let’s say you’re interested in gardening. With Interest Based Advertising (IBA) technology (also known as behavioral advertising or audience buying), you will see more gardening ads online because you visit many gardening websites and read a lot of online content about gardening. If our client is a brand that sells gardening tools, GroupM’s services will help place ads on sites where people who like gardening will see them.

When you visit websites, watch videos online, or clicks on ads, which GroupM has placed on behalf of its clients, we store a number in your browser using a “cookie” to remember the websites you visit and the ads you have clicked on. This is accomplished together with our partners (digital publishers such as online gardening magazines, for example). However, this cookie (number) will never collect your name, contact details or any similar information. More on this a bit later…

Staying with our gardening example, because many websites you visit are related to gardening, the cookie (number) on your device is put in the “gardening enthusiast” interest category. As a result, we may show you ads that are relevant to gardening enthusiasts as you browse websites. This is how we use information collected about you through the cookie (number). This is an industry standard approach; you can learn more about these practices at www.iab.net/privacymatters. Remember the cookie does not tell us your name, contact details or any similar information. All we know is that someone used that particular device to view a gardening website. We tag the device with the cookie so we can later serve more gardening ads to that device.

What information do we collect?

As described above, we do not collect your name, contact details or any similar information through the use of cookies. We simply recognize the cookie (number) stored in your browser which tells us someone likes particular kinds of websites (gardening websites, in our example). We then show you ads related to interests in gardening and based on inferred demographics associated with gardening. We will never show ads based on sensitive information categories such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation, health, or sensitive financial information such as information that may be obtained from consumer credit reports.

Sharing this information and how online advertising works:

Your information collected through our Services (or ads placed by us on behalf of clients) may be shared with our clients and vendors. This is essentially how we do business and is how online advertising works. It’s important to remember that this information does not include your name, contact details or any similar information. By sharing this information with our clients and vendors, the information helps them deliver more tailored ads to potential customers. The information allows clients to best understand what ads you like most based on how you interact with the ads and when. This also enables serving of personalized ads to your devices so you see ads relevant to your interests, hobbies and things you may be shopping for at the moment. This information also helps clients formulate more efficient ad campaigns which can help you in the long run. Again, we never collect names, contact details or similar information via our clients’ ads, and therefore, we cannot sell, rent, or share this information with anyone.

What to do when you prefer not to share your information

Choosing not to accept Interest Based Advertising (IBA) cookies is different from choosing not to accept cookies from the Website (as described above under the section about our “Website”).

If you choose not to share information about your browsing activity, you can choose not to accept a cookie, or number, on your device. If you do this, it does not mean you will stop receiving ads altogether. It only means you’ll stop receiving ads tied to your interests. When you choose not to accept cookies, you tell the advertiser that you do not want to share information about your browsing activity, and so the advertiser will not place a cookie on your device, and thus will not know that your device was used to visit particular sites.

You have a few options on how you may choose not to accept cookies. One option is to adjust your browser settings. You can learn how to do this by viewing the browser’s “help” menu, or you can go to the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Consumer Choice page, http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ where you will be able to prevent other companies from placing a cookie, or number, on your device.

You may also clear your browser cache or reset your cookies, but you should remember that this does not prevent cookies from being placed on your device in future.

Questions or Comments about this Privacy Notice

If you have questions or concerns regarding this notice, you should contact us through email addressing general questions and comments to privacy@groupm.com, or by post: GroupM, 498 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10018, Attn: Privacy Officer.