Privacy

Protecting your privacy

The Blackbridge approach

In today’s big data-driven world, it’s more important than ever for people to be confident that their information is in safe hands. At Blackbridge, a people communications agency, we’ve always been committed to protecting the information that belongs to the people and organisations we work with and for – and keeping it secure. 

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) aims to give citizens more control over their data and to create a uniformity of rules that can be enforced across Europe. Here’s everything you need to know about how we manage, secure and use your data.

First things first, these are our guiding principles when it comes to data:

• We’ll only ask you for personal or business information if we genuinely need it or it will help us to enhance the service we offer you.
• The only times we share the information we hold is when we’re legally obliged to do so, you’ve consented to it as part of the work we’re doing together, or we need to do so to protect our rights.
• We only store information on our secure online systems if we need to do so to be able to keep in touch with you, or provide you with a service.

What we collect – and why

This is a summary of the kind of information we might collect:

• Your contact details – primarily your name, email address, correspondence address and phone number(s).
• In some cases, usernames and passwords.
• Information about your organisation – this could include anything from top-level details through to employee insights about what it’s like to work there.
• Information about which pages were clicked on our websites – either our own or those we have built (we only use Cookies for Google Analytics so you’ll never find us following you around the web).
• Any other details you provide to us so that we can work together effectively. For some projects, we buy data lists containing information (primarily candidate details) to enable us to deliver upon our contractual agreements. The people who are on these databases have consented to their data being shared, and they have the option of updating or removing their data by contacting the third-party organisation that communicates with them. 

We collect and retain this information because it enables us to:

• Determine what you need, and how we can provide it through a product or service.
• Send you updates on our business, the industry and other relevant fields – this will primarily be via email.
• Manage your account and provide customer service (e.g. responding to requests or questions).
• Improve our website.
• Carry out research and analysis.
• Keep you in our talent database if you’ve applied to work with us as an employee – or for our records if you are a current employee.
• Ensure your creative work reaches a list of candidates who have consented to receiving employment-related communications.

A bit more on the kinds of information we might gather:

• Like any business, we keep hold of the relevant information we gather from on and offline interactions, as well as information that’s been explicitly given to us. That includes sign-up forms, client testimonials, feedback, user/candidate research, focus groups, and video or image content.
  
• We might also keep hold of details about how you use our products and services, and it goes without saying that we’ll keep track of any information we need for legal reasons – like financial and taxation information.
  
• We’re committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer, so we gather and retain demographic and diversity-related information too.

Where and how we store your information

Security

We take all necessary security measures to protect our stored data, including via firewalls and secure networks.

Our security measures are extremely robust. We’d also recommend that you ensure your internet connection is secure when you’re sharing any information with us via online channels.

Timescales

We hold on to data for as long as we need it for any of the purposes that apply above – and as long as we have your permission to keep it. In some cases, we may be legally obliged to keep your information for a set amount of time – for example, HMRC requires us to store invoices for six years.

If you’ve registered to receive updates from us, you’ll receive these until you notify us that you’d like to opt out. We never sell our company marketing database to other companies.

Overseas compliance

If, for any reason, we need to hold data outside of the EEA, we’ll do all we can to make sure that it is treated in the same way as it’s treated within the EEA – as securely as possible. We will also ensure it is held in full compliance with the data regulations of the relevant country.

Sharing information

Third parties

We might need to purchase data lists from third parties in order to be able to share relevant information with clients – we will take all possible precautions to ensure these third parties have followed data best practice.

Whilst we never sell our company marketing database to third parties, there could be occasions where we need to share data or information with third-party organisations. We might need to share your details with a company that works on our behalf or that regulates business practices – e.g. financial institutions or government departments. This information will only be shared if it’s a necessary part of the process of working with or for you.

If we work with you as a client, we might want to share some information with our suppliers – for example, a third-party production company might want background information about the people they’ll be filming so they can better plan and manage the filming process. We will always seek your permission in these kinds of scenarios.

Put simply, we will only share the information we hold with third-party organisations when we are either legally obliged to, or we have sought your consent and not doing so would detrimentally impact our work and your success.  

Other ways we might use your information

Our primary reason for using your information is to help you to get the best from us. We might use it to provide you with a marketing, creative or digital service or product, for example. It might be that it helps us respond more effectively to communications from you, or to improve our products and services. It could be used for our accounting records, for candidate research or at events. And sometimes, it’s just a way for us to let you know about relevant company or industry news. These are just some examples, but if you have any concerns about how we might use your details, please just get in touch by emailing us at support@blackbridge.co.uk In the meantime, here’s a bit more insight:

 Our communication channels

As a communications business, we sometimes need or want to share information via our own channels – e.g. our website and social channels. This would typically include top-level information about projects we’ve worked on together. As well as that, we’ll need to share information in any awards entries we make either jointly or on your behalf. If there’s any information you’d prefer us not to share via these channels, you can let us know by emailing us at support@blackbridge.co.uk

If you provide us with a testimonial, we may share this across our communication channels – we’ll always seek your consent before sharing a testimonial externally. If you later decide you’d like us to remove a testimonial from any external forum, please let us know via the same email address.

Controlling your information

Communications from Blackbridge

We want to make sure we only use your information in ways that you’re happy with. So if, for example, you no longer want to receive any marketing communications or newsletters from us, let us know and we’ll remove you from our database. You can either click ‘unsubscribe’ on any of our previous messages or email us here: support@blackbridge.co.uk

If you opt out of these, we’ll still send you non-commercial communications if they’re necessary for us to be able to work together. If you want to stop receiving communications from us completely, please email us at the above address and request that we remove your details permanently.

Access

You are welcome to request the details of the information we hold about you free of charge – get in touch with us using the email address above.

Amends

We will never change or amend your information unless instructed to do so by you, so our data should always be 100% accurate. If you need to update any aspect of this information or to provide us with additional details, let us know and we’ll update the information as soon as possible. You can do this by emailing support@blackbridge.co.uk

Removing your details

If we stop working with you and you ask us to delete all of the information we hold (you can do this via the email address above), we’ll delete this within 40 days of receiving the notification – unless we’re legally obliged to retain it for a longer period.

Amendments to this policy

If we update this policy at any point, we’ll share the new version on our website. It’s a good idea to check our policy from time to time so that you’re always clear on how we manage and secure your data. The changes are all likely to be very minor, but if we make a significant amend and you’ve given us permission to send you non-commercial emails, we’ll get in touch with you to let you know.