With the changes and evolutions that the digital media landscape constantly presents, Digital Remedy aims to stay ahead of the curve, finding ways to lead the industry, ensuring we don’t just evolve with it. In 2019 alone, we have seen data privacy and compliance become hot topics in the market, and crucial components for our clients’ long term success.
To ensure we stay on top of our compliance game we are excited to announce the appointment of Gracielle Cabungcal as our new Data Privacy Officer. Born in the Philippines and raised in New Jersey, Gracielle graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a double major in Biological Sciences and Government. She turned her attention towards law, attending Quinnipiac University School of Law where she concentrated on both business law and intellectual property before graduating early with honors. She’s practiced in a variety of areas including corporate law, intellectual property, domestic relations, immigration, and breach of contract litigation in both the private and public sectors. Licensed in both New York and New Jersey, Gracielle brings a diverse and comprehensive set of skills to Digital Remedy, helping to navigate complex business opportunities, data regulation, and compliance management in the ever-changing digital media industry.
As our industry continues to evolve, so does Digital Remedy as an organization. And with those ever-constant changes, comes a change of scenery!
Digital Remedy is moving its west coast office from the Emerald City to Silicon Mountain. Our move to the Mile High City comes after careful deliberation on where we can best support our clients and expose the Digital Remedy name to new opportunities and experiences. Denver has become a thriving hub for tech and digital, and we didn’t want to miss out on all of the fun.
While our chapter in Seattle may be coming to a close, we are beyond grateful for the opportunities that the city has provided our organization, and for the fantastic team that helped build our west coast footprint.
With our very own Jamie Paro leading the team, we are excited for the new sights, scenes, and opportunities waiting for us in Denver. Go Broncos! (not really…)
Digital Remedy is off to a great start in 2019, and Harmony—our social responsibility team—is no exception. Harmony aligns our business expertise and passion with our desire to care for our local communities through fundraisers, events, and off-site visits, in an effort to get all Digital Remediers involved in initiatives that they care about. The Harmony Team aims to discover different organizations and opportunities that give our team the chance to lend their time toward something they are passionate about.
We started the year with the goal to focus on growing in both size and impact. Starting with only seven members last year, our now 20 active members across our U.S. offices collaborate regularly to find new initiatives, activities, and events that benefit our employees and the communities in which we work. Each initiative helps bring the Digital Remedy together and emphasizes our core value of fostering a more caring community.
So, what exactly has Harmony been up to thus far in 2019?
Red Nose Day
Digital Remedy has been a proud supporter of The Red Nose Foundation every May, and this year was no different. To try to do better than ever before, the Harmony Team combined two qualities into an event that almost every Remedier loves: food and competition. The First Annual Red Nose Day Bake Off was born.
To participate, employees in each office were encouraged to whip up their greatest, tastiest, and sweetest treats to enter the competition for the chance to earn the title of the Digital Remedy Master Baker. From cookies to cupcakes, to everything in between, our Bakers did not disappoint with over 20 people entering their creations. Tasters were asked to make a donation of any size to become an official dessert judge and sample all of the treats. Spectators who didn’t want to face the inevitable sugar crash were still able to contribute to the cause and watch the madness ensue as Remediers flocked to try each and every dessert. You know…just to ensure they were making educated, balanced decisions.
At the completion of the event, each Digital Remedy office crowned a Master Baker, whose delicious recipes stole the hearts (and taste buds) of their team members. More importantly, we exceeded all fundraising expectations, collecting over $950 throughout the week, nearly twice as much as ever raised before!
To learn more about The Red Nose Foundation check out their website, and see all of the delicious recipes from the Bake Off here.
#WSW
Wardrobe Swap Wednesday
Another significant event that closed out the first half of 2019 was inspired by Joe Gallagher, a beloved, late member of the Digital Remedy family. Joe was passionately involved with Covenant House, a privately funded foundation that provides shelter, food, and other services to homeless and runaway youth. To support this organization, Harmony hosted a wardrobe swap in order to collect much-needed clothing donations. Employees in both New York and New Orleans were told to collect any lightly-used or new clothing they no longer needed and bring it to the office where the kitchens were transformed into mini clothing stores. Those who brought in donations were encouraged to swap out any items, and then all leftover clothing at the end of the event was donated to Covenant House in New York City and New Orleans, as well as The Salvation Army. In total, our Harmony team was able to collect over 200 items to donate, allowing us to help two great organizations doing amazing work while continuing to honor Joe’s memory.
Digital Remedy Week
Yes, Harmony focuses heavily on community outreach. But another priority for the team is ensuring employees’ mental health and well-being are in a positive place, most importantly at the office. Our Harmony team recognizes most of our daytime hours are spent at work, and we want to ensure every team member feels happy, healthy, and comfortable during their time in our space. To help accomplish this, the Harmony Team designed Digital Remedy Week. A spirit week filled with themed days and fun activities to celebrate the energy Remediers bring with them each and every day, Digital Remedy Week provided a chance for everyone to get to know one another, breaking down the barriers across different teams, while having a little bit of fun along the way. The week included:
The Harmony Team is working hard to create opportunities for the rest of 2019, and has some great events slated for the back half of the year. Stay tuned to learn more about the Harmony Team, or follow along with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
We are very excited to announce that David Zapletal has been named Chief Innovation & Media Officer for Digital Remedy.
As a pillar of the organization, we are steadily impressed by the honesty, grit, and determination he deploys as a leader, and we are looking forward to seeing where he takes this new role. Combining media, technology, and product, David will continue to challenge the status quo of the market, and work tirelessly to better our products, our teams, our execution, and our relationships.
Congratulations, David! To learn more about his new role, check out the press release for the announcement here.
Today’s digital landscape requires corporations to responsibly and proactively aid in the protection of clients’ and consumers’ rights. Though a multi-layered responsibility, right now, the focus is on data.
Digital Remedy, a next-gen company powering digital advertising services and a comprehensive execution platform, works across all media platforms including mobile, tablet, search, social, OTT, video, and audio content. As a trusted digital media partner, brand safety measures are vital to every process including data protection. Even as a company that does not collect first-party data, many of us in the ad tech community understand the importance of handling other’s data. These days, data can make a ton of money, but it can also cost you. So, being able to handle large amounts of data in compliance with laws and to the even higher standards of clients is of key importance. Given the recent GDPR compliance requirements in the EU coupled with data sensitivity and compliance in the U.S., Digital Remedy has proactively created a Data Protection Officer position (DPO).
Under GDPR, companies handling personal data need to have hyperfocus on the legal implications and compliance procedures. In the lead-up to GDPR, we spent considerable time evaluating our footprint in the EU and involvement with personal data there. At the time, we chose to scale back any data collection practices to comply with GDPR. Our DPO, prior to the official designation, led that initiative and has advised Digital Remedy on GDPR throughout.
While we do not clearly fall into any category of organization that is required to have a DPO under GDPR, we feel the concept is an important one. CCPA does not independently require a DPO; however, the rigorous requirements, frequent developments, and potential consequences demand that the company be thoroughly informed on the law. At this point, most of us know the story of how CCPA came to be and what impact that had on the product. Once CCPA is finalized and goes into effect, the DPO will need to guide the implementation of new policies and procedures to comply.
As a long-time member of the IAB with the same levels of concern over the ambiguities and burdensome directives of CCPA, we need to take an active role alongside our colleagues in helping to make the CCPA clearer, narrower, and simply better. Our DPO will represent us in those discussions and make sure our concerns are heard.
Further, there are also similar laws being proposed, written, and even passed in many other states. For this reason, most experts in the field data privacy estimate a federal law is soon to come and that it is expected to mirror many of the elements contained in both the GDPR and CCPA. A federal law would undoubtedly present new and complex issues related to state and international law.
The appointment of DPO demonstrates to Digital Remedy customers and business partners that we are serious about protecting personal data and being a part of a corporate community that is conscientious about the direction of data privacy legislation.
Our DPO is responsible for several functions including informing and advising Digital Remedy, clients, and vendors, as well as any other potential handlers of personal data, on matters relating to data protection compliance. The DPO also monitors compliance with the rapidly changing laws, rules and regulations. He guides the company on how to engage with clients and vendors who handle or might handle data. Digital Remedy’s DPO ensures, in an independent manner, that an organization applies the laws protecting individuals’ personal data.
The core responsibilities of the DPO include:
Patrick Hogan has been with our company in some capacity since 2007. Along with so many in the corporate and digital legal community, he has been entrenched in data privacy over the past several years. He sits on the NYC Bar Association’s In-House Counsel Committee and the IAB’s Legal Affairs Committee. A graduate of Hofstra Law’s 2013 class, he has shown exceptional ability to advise Digital Remedy through the years in numerous capacities and has been our Director of Legal Affairs for nearly 3 years now. He is extremely resourceful, knowing the business and the industry inside and out. His continued dedication to data privacy law is an invaluable asset and will be a vital impact on our continual growth as marketspace leader.
