Pappachen becomes first privacy boss at Kantar Group

US-- In a move that reflects growing concerns over privacy in research, the Kantar Group has named George Pappachen as its first chief privacy officer.

The appointment of a privacy boss at one of the world's biggest research groups suggests that the tide is turning on the issue – with agencies wanting to be seen to take the initiative in an area that has so far largely been left to industry associations and legislators.

Pappachen was previously director of privacy and public policy at Kantar company Safecount, which is specifically concerned with developing online measurement techniques that do not threaten privacy.

He will be responsible for implementing a privacy and data protection policy across the WPP-owned group, which includes TNS, Research International and Millward Brown.

Kantar is hoping that Pappachen's appointment will help it reassure clients and the public and head off potential difficulties. Group CEO Eric Salama said: “Privacy and data protection issues are top of mind for many consumers and will become so for many more. We cannot succeed as a business without recognising those concerns, putting in place strict and transparent policies where they are required and educating the public and our clients. In doing so, we are open to cooperating with all of our competitors to put in place an industry-wide solution, but we will not allow ourselves to be slowed down in implementing the right approaches.”

The Marketing Research Association recently named privacy as one of its top concerns for 2009, particularly in the light of fears about behavioural ad targeting.

Meanwhile Germany's research associations are urging the government to exempt market and social research from proposed new data protection rules, which they claim pose a major threat to established research methods.

Author: Robert Bain