In this article, Keith Norris, Marketing Association’s Compliance Consultant, explains how our free advisory service helps members stay compliant, cut through confusion, and avoid legal slip-ups. Read on to see how we’ve got your back.

One of the most important roles of an industry body like the Marketing Association is having a strong voice to ensure your needs are understood by the lawmakers when legislation is being considered. Every single new law seems to make our lives more complex, and every new minor amendment creates a new playing field. Our role is to make sure those changes don’t bring with them unintended consequences for marketers. But we go further than that, we help marketers like you stay on the right side of the law.

Baffled by complex regulations….we can help!

The MA Member advisory service

The MA works hard to help our members stay on the right side of the many laws and regulations which affect all aspects of marketing. We operate a fast turnaround advisory service and aim to answer every query on the same day or within 24 hours. This service is entirely free of charge for corporate members, and on the rare occasion we don’t have the resource to help you ourselves, we help you find someone find someone who can. We keep all enquiries anonymous and totally confidential.

Research

Difficult questions often require extra research. This is carried out by our compliance consultant, Keith Norris who has over 30 years’ experience working with lawmakers and regulators. This knowledge, combined with his marketing experience, means we can often suggest marketing alternatives which you could not expect from a corporate lawyer or an in-house legal advisor. We don’t give legal advice; we give specialist marketing advice which enables you to achieve your goal without straying outside regulatory boundaries.

Examples

Many marketers have a basic understanding of the Privacy Act 2020 and how it affects marketing comm’s, but very few have the time (or inclination) to study the 13 Privacy Principles which are at the heart of the Act. Our compliance expert has been involved in the very drafting of this legislation. In the early 1990s he was part of a small group advising the first Privacy Commissioner Sir Bruce Slain before the Act was even in place. Privacy has become such a hot potato globally that it’s difficult to keep up with the constant small changes. We are, for instance currently facing more privacy regulation in the use of biometrics, 3rd party data collection and the Customer and Product Data Act. Don’t be embarrassed to admit you’re confused by the finer points of privacy legislation….most people are…. and its easy to get it wrong. Save yourself hours of painstaking reading and simply email keith@marketing.org.nz  to get the advice you need.

Perhaps you are looking to run a promotion where a lucky customer will win a trip to an exotic holiday location. All they have to do is buy your product and go in a random draw to decide the winner. Simple and effective marketing, or is it? If you have to buy a product and go into a random draw to win a prize, that’s gambling, isn’t it? Yes, and it’s covered by Gambling Act 2003. So, is this a raffle or a lottery? Can you run it online?  Do you need a licence? Have you studied the DIA gambling fact sheet #9? What are prohibited prizes under the Act? There are dozens of questions to be answered when you want to run a simple promotion like this. And you face other legislation like the Fair Trading Act, the Commerce Act, the Consumer Guarantees Act etc. etc. Not to mention keeping within the guidelines of the Advertising Standards Authority! You don’t need to wade through all this regulation, that’s our job. Simply email contactus@marketing.org.nz tell us what you need and leave it to us.

Source: Keith Norris, 10 July 2025