Our Commitments

We developed the Mad Fish Digital ethical marketing policy to guide our team and ensure that the work we deliver to our clients meets a high standard of ethical and legal requirements. The following outlines commitments to ourselves and our clients as we navigate the growth of technology in the digital marketing space.

Commitment to Honesty in Marketing

As ethical marketers we commit to absolute honesty in our marketing for our own campaigns, our customers, and our partner driven projects.

  • We are committed to helping clients create honesty in their product/service/company messaging
  • We are committed to helping companies provide clear product/service/company messaging
  • We are committed to building campaigns with thoughtful, non-predatory advertising targeting
  • We are committed to rejecting strategies that use misleading, click-bait or other sensationalizing tactics to mislead an audience

Commitment to Rejecting Impact Washing

Impact washing is when a business exaggerates their positive impact to gain a marketing advantage or uses “feel good” marketing to cover up or distract from negative outcomes that their core business model is having in other areas—socially or environmentally. As a B Corp, we are committed to rejecting impact washing in messaging and strategic tactics.

  • We are committed to being honest and transparent about the social and environmental impacts of our work
  • We are committed to being honest and transparent about the social and environmental impacts of our client’s product or services, based on the information we are provided as their vendor
  • We are committed to providing recommended messaging and creative options to our clients that avoid impact washing in their marketing strategies

Commitment to Cultural Sensitivity in Campaign Creative

Many marketing campaigns and messages have the potential to be culturally insensitive. It takes a combination of self awareness and attention to inclusive practices during the creative process to avoid marketing campaigns that are culturally insensitive.

  • We are committed to creating strategies, messaging and creatives that do not promote stereotypes, exploitations or inequities
  • We are committed to creating strategies, messaging and creatives that are accessible, inclusive, and equitable for all
  • We are committed to promoting diversity and inclusivity by avoiding biased or discriminatory content, ensuring all users feel represented and welcomed.
  • Should any of our strategies, messaging or creatives have an impact that is counter to these intentions, we are committed to accountability, education and ownership of a resolution.

Commitment to Accessibility

The internet is home to billions of users, all with unique needs and interests. To ensure an equitable and inclusive digital world, it is important that marketers and developers build campaigns and sites that can be accessed by individuals with a wide variety of needs.

  • We are committed to understanding the latest accessibility guidelines including WCAG and 501 compliance for usability, user experience and information architecture
  • We are committed to staying educated on all applicable laws and regulations established to ensure equal access to all including the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA)
  • We are committed to educating our clients and partners on these accessibility guidelines and providing our best recommendations for their application

Commitment to Permission-Based Marketing

The term “permission marketing” was originated by marketing thought leader Seth Godin in his 1999 book by the same name to describe a marketing approach where the recipient of the marketing messages provides permission to receive marketing materials.

  • We are committed to permission-based email marketing for our Mad Fish Digital marketing initiatives as well as for our client and partner’s marketing initiatives
  • We are committed to promoting and encouraging clean email and SMS lists leveraging double opt-in methods
  • We endeavor to use first party data wherever possible to drive our email marketing campaigns
  • We are committed to developing and supporting clear messaging around how data is used by supporting privacy policies and download messaging for our clients and partners
  • We are committed to using 3rd party tools and resources that follow these principles of transparency and permission-based marketing
  • We are committed to being GDPR and CCPA compliant and to helping our clients maintain the same compliance with relevant privacy laws

Commitment to Ethical Digital Advertising

Advertising has the opportunity to educate and empower. It can also be used to manipulate and deceive. It is our commitment as an ethical digital marketing agency to navigate this balance in good faith. Using our values of accountability and innovation as our guide, we endeavor to execute advertising that is accurate, ethical and honest.

  • We are committed to advertising that creates a positive experience for online customers. Website pop ups, pop unders, and modal windows that distract from a positive buyer experience will not be recommended by our team.
  • We are committed to recommending the social advertising platforms we believe will help grow our customer’s online business in a positive and ethical way
  • We are committed to educating our clients on the pros and cons of any digital advertising platform we recommend as part of our digital advertising strategy so that they can make informed decisions
  • We are committed to setting ad frequency caps on our campaigns to ensure a positive customer experience that aligns with our client’s brands
  • We are committed to properly labeling native advertisements so as not to mislead customers
  • We are committed to leveraging audience targeting tools like geofencing technology in a way that is transparent, ethical, and compliant with all relevant laws and regulations

Commitment to Ethical AI Usage

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly evolving technology revolutionizing marketing by enhancing various strategies and operations. AI is used widely in many existing marketing spaces including but not limited to: customer insights, predictive analytics, chatbots and customer service, content creation, visual creation, automating tasks, optimizing ads, and predictive analytics of ad spend.

It is our commitment to leverage the potential of generative AI to improve the experience and results of our clients while protecting the interests of Mad Fish Digital, our clients, their customers, and our community as we navigate the evolution of AI technology.

  • We are committed to being transparent with our clients when we are leveraging AI tools to develop or execute any digital strategy we propose.
  • We are committed to exploring how AI tools can elevate and uplift our services while holding ourselves accountable to our ethics and company values.
  • We are committed to keeping the following concerns in mind as we evaluate AI usage:
    – Privacy and security
    – Creative and intellectual property vs. fair use
    – Equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility
    – Transparency and explainability
    – Accountability and liability
    – Legal requirements and updates
    – Environmental sustainability
    – Automation and job displacement
    – Disinformation and propaganda
  • We are committed to maintaining a comprehensive AI policy to guide our teams on how Mad Fish Digital ethically leverages AI for our various service lines.
READ MORE ABOUT OUR AI POLICY

Ongoing Service Reflections

Our leadership team along with members of our organization will routinely assess the services we offer and their impact on the world and industry to assure they continue to reflect our stance on ethical marketing practices.

  • When new service or platform opportunities arise, we ask ourselves:
    – Does this align with our company’s purpose?
    – Does this align with our company values?
    – What potential benefit(s) to our clients does this bring?
    – What potential challenge(s) can be caused by this service?
    – Does this align with our code of ethics?
    – Does it align with established privacy laws and requirements?
  • When existing services evolve and pose a potential challenge to our ethical marketing stance, these services are upleveled to leadership for discussion, reflection, and decision on the above points.