While Congress’ job in dealing with COVID-19 will still be front and center come January, legislative and executive activity around privacy will likely be in the spotlight again in 2021. What will be new in 2021 is the combined headwinds of a lot of different, but related, issues pressing privacy further into the spotlight: antitrust lawsuits (from the DOJ, likely the FTC and possibly state AG’s), Section 230 reform, political advertising microtargeting legislation, state privacy legislation and enforcement, etc.

President-elect Biden, when he served as Vice President under President Obama, was part of a team that drafted one of the first-ever consumer privacy bill of rights. While the legislation itself was never taken-up by Congress, it’s likely that Biden will bring back to the White House some of the staffers who worked on that initiative with him. Vice President-elect Harris will come into the White House as one of the most privacy savvy VP’s to ever hold the office. For those who are familiar with her career as the Attorney General of California, she has been a formidable force in California on all things privacy, both in terms of enforcement and policy. In 2021, agencies should expect to see privacy in the spotlight on all fronts - new legislation (federal and state), lawsuits (the DOJ suit against Google will continue), regulatory actions (federal and state), as well as more international actions. The 4A’s will continue to push for comprehensive federal privacy legislation in 2021 via it’s involvement in Privacy for America, a coalition that the 4A’s co-founded in late 2018.

In addition to Privacy for America, in 2020 the 4A’s co-founded a new coalition known as the Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media (PRAM). PRAM is a joint effort by the digital advertising ecosystem to address a new future of identity online. Recent announcements by Google to end support of third-party cookies in Chrome and announcements by Apple to make IDFA opt-in in mobile environments means that the old ways of keeping track of measurement and attribution online are quickly fading, and without new forms of privacy-protective identifiers to take their place, the digital advertising ecosystem outside of the walled gardens will find themselves shut-out.

Biden has expressed a desire to revisit the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA), specifically the provision lowering the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. While he has campaigned on this, the practical reality is that it will be very difficult if not impossible to do if the Senate remains in Republican control. While there have been no immediate discussions of revisiting the provisions of the ability to deduct advertising costs as a necessary business expense, the growing federal deficit is going to make it difficult to not start looking for revenue everywhere possible.

For ad agencies, the more immediate tax concerns are likely going to come from the states. Faced with billions of dollars in deficits due to decreased economic activity as a result of COVID-19, states are hurting badly for revenue. This summer, the Washington, DC City Council attempted without success to introduce a new 3% tax on advertising services and personal information.

One of the big issues developing in states is the spread of the “personal information” or “digital” tax, in addition to the advertising tax. While the personal information or digital tax on the surface appears designed to get at Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc., the reality is that the way these taxes are being worded would mean that they have broader applicability than just the platforms. It’s likely that we can expect to see more introductions of personal information or digital taxes in the states in 2021.

We will investigate the financial and functional aspects of the Future of Work. Does a more mobile and fluid workforce change the space requirements, functions and operations of today’s agency office? Will the new office requirements enable agencies to free-up real estate expenses to invest in people, technology and new services for clients?

Agencies are often differentiated by the culture they create and foster. The space that an agency occupies can represent and define that culture. When the role of our office is changed and a more mobile and fluid workforce is engaged, what will that mean for sustaining agency culture? And, what impact will these changes have on creativity -- the heart of agency value?

The acceleration of remote work will require new policies and new models. We will provide our members guidance on how to establish policies that support culture and maintain connectivity while meeting employee’s desire to enhance their work/life balance.

The growth of project work and project relationships along with the need to align peaks in revenue with cost controls will redefine what agencies consider their "team." Likely the Future of Work for agencies will require greater leverage of freelance, outsourcing and active partnering to meet the growing and changing needs of clients today.

Despite recent staff reductions, it remains a talent war in the agency business. An imperative to engage a more diverse workforce coupled with the accelerating technological and analytical demands of business will change how agencies staff themselves and client engagements. From onboarding remote workers to successfully engaging freelance talent, we will share models, guidance and approaches to empower a winning talent strategy.