With advertisers and media outlets stepping up the technology and strategy behind online ads, UK wireless carrier Three is rallying a militia of mobile users in an effort to a 24-hour counteroffensive next month. However, diplomacy here may be more effective than war.
For 24 hours, Three will block all ads at the network level for customers who agree to participate in the campaign.
Three is partnering with Shine, an Israeli startup that sell ad-blocking software. The two will integrate their technologies to bounce ads during the June 13 trial.
Three is calling the event, scheduled for June 13, a "trial," indicating that it's looking at expanding the initiative if this campaign doesn't get the response the carrier wants.
And what Three wants is to improve the mobile browsing experience for customers, according to Tom Malleschitz, chief marketing officer of Three UK.
"We can only achieve change by working with all stakeholders in the advertising industry - customers, advertising networks and publishers - to create a new form of advertising that is better for all parties," says Malleschitz.
Call To Arms
Three wants to change the way targeted ads are created. While the company seems to be fine with relevant ads, Three is taking a stance against the type of marketing materials that are customized based on information surreptitiously collected from users.
Along with striking back against advertisers and publishers of targeted marketing materials, Three is also working to shift, from consumers, the burden of paying for ads using data as currency.
"The current ad model is broken," says Malleschitz. "It frustrates customers, eats up their data allowance and can jeopardize their privacy. Something needs to change."
For The Cause
The belief that customers shouldn't pay for the data consumed by ads is misguided, according to SlashGear's Chris Scott Barr.
Internet service providers charge both the client and host, the user's device and the content's servers, whenever data is transmitted and received, notes Barr. The user's data allowance is charged on one side, and the website takes a hit to its monthly allotment of bandwidth.
"Since this is the sole means of revenue for many websites, this means that the website's operators must shoulder the cost of every one of Three's customers that visit their site," Barr writes. "Every one of Three's customers that opts-in to this program will be costing website owners money, every time they browse the Web."
While Three rallies its troops and allies to make war, the Interactive Advertising Bureau continues to call for diplomacy. Many of the companies behind popup blockers are in the business solely for profit, and appear to have little interest in improving policy, according to Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
As an example, Rothenberg pointed to AdBlock Plus' Camp David summit in which the company opened a dialog with publishers. But the company would not answer the publishers' questions about AdBlock Plus' criteria for "acceptable ads," its payment plan and details about an independent review board it would set up, according to Rothenberg.
"There certainly are intelligent, well-meaning critics of advertising, marketing and media with whom we engage, whose aim is to advance consumers' interests through dialogue and development," Rothenberg says. "The ad-block profiteers are not among them. They cloak themselves in a Halloween mask of consumerism as they attempt to impose private taxes on consumers and businesses alike."
