1. Who is responsible for your information
BillboardGuide is an editorial and planning resource about billboard, out-of-home (OOH) and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising. “We”, “us” and “our” refer to the operator of billboardguide.com.
Contact our contact form for privacy questions or requests. If you use the form, choose a general enquiry and enter “Privacy request” as the subject. You do not need to subscribe or request a media plan to exercise privacy rights.
2. Information we collect
- Enquiries and campaign briefs: names, email addresses and any business, role, phone, website and country details you supply; markets, formats, sites, budgets, timing, audience, objectives and campaign notes.
- Newsletter subscriptions: your email, optional first name, subscription preference and the page or form used to subscribe.
- Editorial submissions and correspondence: messages, corrections, press releases, organisation details, source and asset links, and embargo requests.
- Technical information: IP address, device and browser information, requested URL, request time and errors processed by our hosting and security services. When analytics is enabled with your permission, usage information can include page views, tool interactions, enquiry steps, approximate location and a browser identifier.
- Enquiry context and outcomes: the referring or first page visited, selected tool settings and campaign figures carried into a request, and relevant updates from a partner about routing, qualification, quotes or a resulting campaign.
Required fields are marked on forms. Providing information is voluntary, but we need suitable contact details to answer a request and relevant campaign details to prepare a useful response. Do not submit passwords, payment-card details, sensitive personal information or information about others unless you are entitled to share it. We may also receive information from public sources and press contacts when researching editorial coverage.
3. How and why we use information
We use information to answer requests, deliver requested services, evaluate editorial submissions, manage newsletters, calculate tool results, improve the site, record commercial outcomes, prevent abuse and comply with legal obligations.
Where a law such as the GDPR requires a lawful basis, we rely on:
- Consent for optional newsletters and browser analytics. Newsletter consent is separate from sending an enquiry.
- Steps requested before a contract, or performance of a contract, where processing is necessary to provide a service you request from us.
- Legitimate interests in responding to business representatives and general correspondence, publishing and checking editorial coverage, administering requests and commercial relationships, and maintaining a secure service. These interests must be balanced against individuals’ rights and reasonable expectations.
- Legal obligations where processing is required by law, and legitimate interests where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
The calculators and checklist do not make decisions about you with legal or similarly significant effects. Applicable protections for journalism and expression may affect how privacy rights apply to published editorial material.
4. Calculators and saved reviews
Cost estimator: your selected market, venue, schedule and calculation inputs are sent to our server to generate results. Budget and quote modes also process the amounts you enter. If you explicitly choose to contribute quote figures, we store the selected market, category, schedule and pricing figures for benchmarking. That contribution does not request your name or email; ordinary request metadata may still be processed by the infrastructure.
CPM calculator and size guide: calculations run in your browser. Continuing to an enquiry can carry selected figures into the brief. When analytics is accepted, selected tool interactions and calculation information may be included in analytics events.
Creative checklist: one draft, including the campaign name, answers and notes, is saved in this browser’s local storage. It is not uploaded to a BillboardGuide account. Use “Start over” or clear this site’s browser data to remove it. The word-count scratchpad is not saved. Copies and downloads are controlled by you and whoever you share them with.
Planning features can use session storage to carry a brief between pages. Shareable estimator links contain campaign settings; anyone receiving the link can see them. URLs can also appear in browser history and request logs. Avoid including confidential or personal information in shared URLs.
6. Who receives information
Information may be available to the operator, authorised people helping run the service, and providers or partners needing it for the purposes in this policy:
- Cloudflare supplies hosting, content delivery, database storage, images and security.
- Brevo manages newsletter contacts and email delivery.
- Google Analytics processes permitted usage tracking and configured enquiry-outcome events.
- Discord is used for internal enquiry notifications, which can include contact and campaign details.
- Relevant planning or inventory partners can receive the contact and campaign information needed to answer a brief you ask us to handle.
- Advisers, authorities or business successors may receive information where reasonably necessary for legal obligations, claims, fraud prevention or a reorganisation, subject to applicable protections.
We do not publish your campaign brief merely because you submit an enquiry. Material offered for editorial publication is handled under the Terms of Use. A partner may be independently responsible for information it uses to respond to you or arrange its services; consult its own privacy notice. You may ask us which partner received your request. External websites control their own information collection.
7. International processing
Our providers use international infrastructure, so information may be processed outside your home country, including in the United States. Campaign partners may be based in the markets relevant to your request.
Where applicable law restricts a transfer, an appropriate legal mechanism is required, such as an adequacy decision or approved contractual safeguards. The mechanism depends on the provider, destination and service. Contact us for information about the safeguards relevant to your data or to request applicable safeguards, subject to necessary redactions.
8. How long information is retained
Retention depends on the purpose, rather than one period for every record:
- Enquiries: as needed to answer, complete follow-up and retain a proportionate record. Legal obligations, disputes or relevant limitation periods may require longer retention.
- Newsletters: while subscribed. A limited suppression or consent record may remain after unsubscribing to respect your choice and document permissions. Unsubscribing does not automatically erase previous enquiries.
- Editorial records: according to their continuing relevance to published work, verification, corrections and potential claims. Published coverage may remain in the editorial archive.
- Technical and analytics records: according to security and reporting needs and provider retention settings. Relevant records may be preserved longer for an incident or legal requirement.
- Browser drafts: until cleared, replaced or expired as described above. Clearing a draft does not delete copies you previously downloaded.
When deciding whether a record is still needed, we consider its age, sensitivity, ongoing correspondence, legal requirements and whether less detailed or anonymous information would meet the purpose. Contact us to ask about a particular record or request deletion.
9. Your rights and choices
Unsubscribe through the link in a newsletter, change optional analytics through the Cookies control, or remove tool drafts using the checklist and browser settings.
Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have rights to know about or access your personal information, correct it, request deletion, obtain a portable copy, restrict processing or object to certain uses. Where applicable, you may opt out of sale, sharing, targeted advertising or certain profiling, and appeal a refusal of a rights request. These rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions; this policy does not assume every state privacy law applies to every visitor or business.
Where the GDPR applies, you may object to processing based on legitimate interests and to direct marketing, and withdraw consent without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing. You may complain to a competent supervisory authority. EEA authorities are listed by the European Data Protection Board; UK residents can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Send requests or appeals through our contact form, identifying the interaction concerned and the action you want. We may request proportionate verification to locate the record and protect it from unauthorised access. An authorised agent may act where allowed, with evidence of authority. We respond within applicable deadlines and explain any refusal or permitted extension. We do not discriminate against you for exercising rights provided by law.
10. Security and children
We use measures intended to protect personal information, including encrypted website connections and restricted administration access. No transmission or storage method guarantees complete security. Share only what is needed and contact us if you believe information has been exposed or misused.
The service is intended for business and industry research, not children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information, contact us so we can investigate and take appropriate action.
11. Updates and contact
We may revise this policy when the service, practices or legal requirements change. Updates appear here with a new revision date. Where required, we will give additional notice or request consent before applying a material change.
For privacy questions, access, correction or deletion requests, contact our contact form.