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| OVERVIEW |
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The Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace ("ICOMP") is an advocacy forum for industry and experts to explore, research and discuss issues and concerns relating to online marketplaces, and to inform and educate stakeholders - including customers, suppliers and decision makers.
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As of February 2008, more than 40 signatories had joined ICOMP, including Microsoft and Burson-Marsteller.
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Microsoft is ICOMP’s initial sponsor. Burson-Marsteller acts as its Secretariat and Lord Alan Watson is ICOMP’s first Chairman.
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By bringing together industry experts, academics, regulators and representatives of consumer associations, ICOMP aims to establish itself both as a vital focal point for discussion and research and also as an advocate for intervention where this is considered necessary to maintain effective conditions for competition and innovation.
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The scope of the ICOMP's work is guided by a set of principles that members and participants have agreed to respect and promote through conduct in their respective businesses. These principles focus on the need for healthy competition in online advertising to promote online innovation and content; transparency for consumers in the ways in which information about them is used and the manner in which their privacy will be respected; and respect for intellectual property rights to foster creativity and innovation by enabling firms and individuals to capture the commercial value of their efforts.
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The focus on online advertising arises because of its critical place in fuelling development of the Internet. Web sites are able to offer a vast range of content, goods and services for free or at a reduced cost precisely because online advertising allows them to generate revenue that can be reinvested in such offerings. Online advertising generates the flow of revenues that support the growth of the digital economy. Consumer data is clearly a key parameter of competition in relation to advertising, particularly on the internet. It increases the value of the advertising spend to advertisers. As that value increases, the network effects also increase: more users, more advertisers, more investments, more functionality, more users and so on.
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This industry is changing at a pace which almost defies imagination. The growth in online advertising can be measured in times of advertising spend in internet related advertising, but that only captures one element of how dynamic and fast moving these markets are. Understanding their evolution in all its forms and complexities will be essential in order to understand the risks to competition and consumer welfare which may arise from time to time.
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| SIGNATORIES |
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| LEADERSHIP |
Introduction to the Chairman of ICOMP, Lord Alan Watson
 Lord Alan Watson is the first Chairman of the Council of ICOMP.
Lord Watson has a strong grasp of the industry and regulatory issues associated with the ICOMP agenda, which he has built over the course of a long career working in the broadcast, advertising and communications industries. He began his career at the BBC, where he was regular presenter on its flagship investigative programme, "Panorama" and he is a Fellow and former Chairman of the Royal Television Society. From 1976 to 1980 he was responsible for Media at the European Commission.
His business career began with four years as CEO of the advertising agency, Charles Barker City and for 10 years he served as the European Chairman of Burson-Marsteller.
Lord Watson also has a strong personal commercial interest in furthering the ICOMP agenda as the Chairman of CTN Communications, a provider of digital broadcasting services for FTSE 100 companies.
As the British Chairman of the Königswinter Anglo-German Conference and President of the British German Association, Watson has a high profile in Germany, a key market for the ICOMP initiative. Lord Watson has also published numerous publications including "Europe at Risk", "The Germans: who are they now?", "Thatcher and Kohl: Old Rivalries Revisited" and "Jamestown: The Voyage of English".
Lord Watson is married and has two sons. He was educated at Diocesan College Preparatory School Cape Town, Kingswood School Bath and Jesus College Cambridge. He lives in Richmond and Somerset.
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