Privacy Policy

1. WHO WE ARE

We provide our audiences and customers with critical news, data, analysis, marketing solutions, and events that empower them to compete in today’s ever-changing environment. Our mission to connect brands and marketing professionals with the information and people they need to do their jobs better every day.

2. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

The personal information that we may collect from and about you broadly falls into the following categories.

2.1 Information we collect directly. You may provide personal information to us through the Services – for example, when you sign up for, order, subscribe to, or make use of any of our Services, consult with our customer service team, or communicate with us in any way.

We may also collect personal information, such as your contact and professional details, when you attend our events, take part in surveys, or through other business or marketing interactions we may have with you. You may choose to provide additional information when you communicate with us or otherwise interact with us.

In most cases your provision of personal information to us is entirely voluntary. However, if you fail to provide such information, we may not be able to provide certain Services or information to you.

The personal information you provide may include:

• Contact Information: When setting up an The Creative Empire account to access or subscribe to the Services, you will be asked to provide certain information, including contact information (such as name, address, email, or telephone number), and professional information (such as job title, department, or job role).
• Financial Information: If you are paying for any of the Services (for example, through one of our online check-out pages), we may require you to provide credit card or other financial information in order to process a payment from you. You should never provide detailed credit card information directly to The Creative Empire via an unsecure form (such as email).
• Transaction Information: We will maintain a record of your purchases, transactional information, your Services history, and usage. We may also retain your communications with us and our responses.
• Partner Products & Services Offered on the Services: Third parties, such as our partners, sponsors, or advertisers whose services are promoted or advertised on the Services, may request that you provide personal information. Please see How We Share Information in Section 4 below for further details.
• Surveys: You may elect to provide information in connection with surveys in which you participate.
• Emails to The Creative Empire: If you send us emails, you should be aware that any information provided in an email may not be secure or encrypted and therefore may be available to others. Please exercise caution if you decide to disclose any personal or confidential information to us in any email.
• Job Applicants to The Creative Empire: When applying for select job postings at The Creative Empire, we will ask you to send us your resume or other relevant information online.

2.2 Information we collect automatically. When you use the Services, we (or our third party partners) may collect information about your device and usage of the Services. In some countries, including countries in the European Economic Area, this information may be considered personal information under applicable data protection laws.

We may use a variety of technologies (collectively, “Tracking Technologies”) to collect some of this information. Our use of Tracking Technologies is discussed in more detail in Tracking Technologies and Advertising and Analytics Services in Section 5 below.

We may use Tracking Technologies to automatically collect the information described below:

• Device Information: We may collect certain information about the device you use to access the Services, including but not limited to IP addresses for your devices, unique device identifiers, browser types, and browser language.
• User History: We may log certain usage information about your use of the Services, which may include a history of the pages you view. If you download and use any The Creative Empire software or application on your device, the log files will automatically be collected by the application and sent to our servers when your device syncs up for the latest content available.
• Mobile/Location Information: We may collect additional information from you if you access the Services through a mobile device, for example we may collect your unique device identifier, your device’s operating system, mobile carrier, or your location when you opt in for us to do so. However the degree to which your location can be identified depends on the device you are using (e.g. laptop, smartphone, tablet) and how you are connected to the internet (e.g. via cable broadband connection, Wi-Fi, etc.). If you enable location services for the Services we may collect your regional location data periodically as you use or leave open the Services. We may also collect your location information from your IP address or zip code.

We may also use location data internally or in conjunction with our third party service providers to customize your experience and provide offers that may be relevant to you. Depending on the device you use to access the Services (e.g. Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, Bada, etc.) you may be able to control whether location data is collected from the settings on your wireless device.

2.3 Information we collect from third party sources.

• Third Party Sources: From time to time we may obtain personal information about you from third party sources, such as public databases, social networking services, third party data providers and our joint marketing partners. Examples of the information we may receive from third party sources include job title, company, location, updated contact information, and other demographic and professional information. We use this information, alone or in combination with other information (including personal information we collect), to enhance our ability to provide relevant marketing and content to you and to develop and provide you with more relevant products, features, and services.

3. HOW WE USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We may use the personal information that we collect through the Services to:

• Provide the products and services you request, process transactions, and send you related information, including confirmations and receipts.
• Provide support and improve the Services and to manage system administration and security.
• Respond to your comments, inquiries, and requests and provide customer service.
• Link or combine information that we collect directly with information from third-party sources or multiple devices to help understand your needs, provide you with personalized content, and provide you with better service.
• Personalize and improve your experience and deliver content or features that match your profile and interests, including to show you targeted advertising as described in Tracking Technologies and Advertising and Analytics Services in Section 5 below or to deliver personalized content. Please also review Section 6 below for further information about Your Choices/How to Opt Out.
• Send you marketing and promotional communications (in accordance with your marketing preferences). Please see Your Choices/How to Opt Out in Section 6 below.
• Send you e-mail newsletters and alerts (in accordance with your newsletter and other preferences). Please see Your Choices/How to Opt Out in Section 6 below.
• Perform statistical and marketing analyses of user behavior.
• Manage your account(s) and send you technical privacy policy and service updates, security alerts, and other administrative messages.
• Send you push notifications via our apps or text (SMS) alerts. Please see Your Choices/How to Opt Out in Section 6 below.
• Conduct surveys.
• Process and deliver sweepstakes and other promotions.
• Award and honors submissions
• Comply with or enforce legal requirements, agreements, and policies.
• Evaluate candidate submissions for job postings.
• If you log in with or connect a social media service account with an The Creative Empire Service, we may use this data to facilitate your sharing of information between the The Creative Empire Service(s) and your social media service.  This includes using Facebook or another service to comment on thecreativeempire.net or an affiliated site.
• Carry out any other purpose for which the information was collected.
• Perform other activities that are in our legitimate business interests and consistent with this Privacy Policy.

4. HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION

We may share your personal information with the following types of third parties for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy:

• Administrator Uses: If your use of the Services is managed for you by an account administrator then your account administrator and resellers who provide user support to your organization may have access to your personal information (including your email and other data). Please refer to your account administrator’s privacy policy for more information.
• Partner Products & Services Offered on the The Creative Empire Services: If you provide personal information in order to access products or services of third parties, such as our partners, sponsors or advertisers, that are offered or promoted on or through the Services, you may be providing your information to both The Creative Empire and the third party. For example, when you enter your personal information in order to download a white paper offered by a partner on the Services, both The Creative Empire and the partner may receive your personal information. Your personal information will be subject to this Privacy Policy as well as the privacy policy and practices of such third party. The Creative Empire is not responsible for and this Privacy Policy does not cover such third party’s use of your personal information.
• Sharing Information with Marketing Partners: The Creative Empire selectively makes its postal mailing address list and email list, for customers in the United States, available to third party partners so that they may provide you with information about product or service offerings, events or promotions, which may be of interest to you. You may opt-out of having such information shared for this purpose. Please see Your Choices/How to Opt-Out in Section 6 below.
• Third Parties Providing Functionality: We also work with third parties to provide certain functionalities on the Services and to improve the effectiveness of the Services and its content. Separate and distinct from information The Creative Empire shares with third parties, third party companies may also use Tracking Technologies to independently collect and store information about you and your usage of the Services and may combine this information with information they collect from other sources. Please note, we do not control Tracking Technologies used by third parties, and their use of such Tracking Technologies may be governed by their own privacy policies.
• Third Party Event Sponsors: When you register for an The Creative Empire event (including any webinars, Brandweek, Ignite events, Elevate events and honor and awards events), we may share the information you provide, such as your name, company name, postal address and email address, with third parties who are sponsoring the event. You may opt-out of having such information shared for this purpose, as described in greater detail in Your Choices/How to Opt Out in Section 6 below.
• Mobile Carriers: If you access the Services through a device or app, we may share your information with mobile carriers, operating systems, and platforms.
• Compliance with Law: The Creative Empire may release information if it is required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to: (1) comply with the law or comply with legal process served on The Creative Empire; (2) protect and defend the legitimate business interests, rights or property of The Creative Empire, its users, advertisers, customers, sponsors, advertisers, or affiliates; and (3) if we believe your actions are inconsistent with our Terms of Use or policies.
• Service Providers: Sometimes we need to share your information with our third-party service providers, who help us provide and support the Services and other business functions. For example, we use service providers to assist with the following: analyzing data, hosting data, engaging technical support, processing payments, delivering content, mailing statements to subscribers, email distribution, and providing customer service.
• Advertising Partners: We may partner with third party advertising networks and exchanges to display advertising on our websites or to manage and serve our advertising on other sites and may share your personal information with them for this purpose. Please see more information in Your Choices/How to Opt Out in Section 6 below.
• Organizational Changes: Should The Creative Empire undergo a sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of substantial assets, reorganization, or liquidation, The Creative Empire’s accumulated customer information will be treated as an asset and, like other business assets, subject to transfer to or acquisition by a third party. We may also disclose information about our users in connection with a commercial transaction where we, or any one of our businesses, is seeking financing, investment, support, or funding.
• With Your Consent or at Your Direction.  As directed by you or with your consent we may share your information with a third-party.

5. RIGHT OF ACCESS

You may access, correct, or update the information you have provided to us. The Creative Empire takes reasonable steps to ensure that the data we collect is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete, and up to date. You can update your account information by logging into your online account and updating your contact and profile information. You can view, change or update your editorial newsletter preferences, and email marketing preferences by contacting [email protected]. You may also contact us at any time by using the contact details provided in Contact Us in Section 16 below.

5. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

The Creative Empire is not responsible for the content or the privacy policies of websites to which it may link. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by The Creative Empire. You should consult the respective privacy policies of any applicable third parties to learn more about their privacy practices.

6. HOW WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SECURE

To help prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place appropriate technical, organizational, physical, electronic, and managerial procedures designed to protect the information we collect. Specific measures we use include installing anti-intrusion hardware and firewalls, virus scans, monitoring Operating System and software logs and applying software patches. The measures we use are designed to provide a level of security appropriate to the risk of processing your personal information.

Please understand, however, that while we try our best to safeguard your personally identifiable information once we receive it, no transmission of data over the Internet or any social media or other public network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

To help protect the privacy of your own information, including maintaining the confidentiality of any account information or access credentials, we recommend you take precautions to protect the security of any personal information that you transmit over any public or untrusted network by using encryption and other techniques to prevent unauthorized persons from intercepting or receiving any of your personally identifiable information. You are responsible for the security of your information when using unencrypted, open access, public or otherwise unsecured networks.

7. CHILDREN

Our Services are directed at a general audience and not directed to those under the age of 16. The Creative Empire asks that minors not submit any personal information. The Creative Empire does not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 16 years of age and if we obtain actual knowledge that a user is under 16 years of age, we will take steps to remove that individual’s personal information from our systems.

8. HOW LONG DO WE RETAIN YOUR INFORMATION?

We retain personal information we collect from you where we have an ongoing legitimate business need to do so. For example, we retain information in order to provide you with services, to comply with applicable legal, tax, or accounting requirements, and to enforce our agreements, prevent fraud, assist with investigations, resolve disputes, analyze or troubleshoot programs, enforce our terms of use, or take other actions permitted by law. We may also retain information to prevent re-registration in the event that your account has been suspended or terminated or to create an archival copy of your information, which might be used by us for record keeping and internal purposes.