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We have already seen a number of collaborative activities within the project take place, and there are also a number of other activities now being employed through the support of our wider membership. These include global research on existing guidelines, protocols and principles from different vantage points (consumer, government, industry, company) including a survey of industry executives on the topic of digital consumer engagement; a 1.5-day workshop with participation from 25 industry representatives; and collaboration and alignment with our End-to-End Value Chain Steering Committee.
 
However, to help us drive this project forward and maintain momentum, several next steps have been identified:
  • Build on the 15th-16th October industry workshop (request invite) to further develop “the case for change”;
  • Further mobilise relevant stakeholders (including our members, the industry at large, consumers, critics, relevant bodies and platforms, and technology and service providers);
  • Agree on CEP governance (including roles and responsibilities, support and facilitation, timeline planning); and
  • Define the outline for the Consumer Engagement Principles (including impact and imperative).
We can’t afford to sit around and see what happens. “Feelings on the trade-off of privacy for relevancy are starting to shift,” noted Paula Rosenbaum of Retail Systems Research (RSR) in a March 2014 report on in-store tracking and data security. “A lot more people seem to be opting for privacy”. If our industry is to be a positive driver of change, we need to be pro-active and collaborate, and we need to begin securing our business’ future by protecting our consumers’ privacy.
 
Find out more via our CEP webpage, or contact us at directly – s.ritter@theconsumergoodsforum and r.hagedorn@theconsumergoodsforum.
 

Sabine Ritter, Executive Vice President (left)
Ruediger Hagedorn, Sr Manager, Collaborative Value Chain Initiatives & Projects (right)
The Consumer Goods Forum