Six years ago, my business partner caught a glimpse of his reflection in a Washington, D.C. office building. He saw a polished professional wearing a suit, tie and spiffy shoes–and carrying his lunch in a plastic grocery bag that ruined his whole look. For the next several weeks, we searched for a stylish, insulated lunch bag at the right price. We couldn’t find one, so we decided to make our own.
Fast forward to 2024, and we have a thriving, multi-line bag business rooted in ethical production and our Caribbean heritage. Our products are thoughtfully made to meet people’s one- to four-day carrying and travel needs, and they’re popular with a broad range of professionals, including corporate commuters, creatives, moms, and even a few NBA players. I’m a mechanical engineer and industrial designer by training, and I love studying how people use products and how we can meet their needs.
We sell our bags exclusively online, so digital ads are the primary way we tell people about them. And we’re hardly alone: Nearly 70 percent of Maryland’s SMBs use digital ads. That’s why I’m concerned about strict new legislation called The Maryland Online Data Privacy Act of 2024 that our legislature is currently considering. We all value data privacy, but the proposed legislation goes so far that it would upend how digital ads work and make it harder for businesses like ours to find customers and keep growing.
The digital ads ecosystem works well for small specialty businesses like ours. We have a limited budget, so we have to be really smart about how we purchase ads. By partnering with leading companies like Google and Meta, we know our ads reach the right people, on the right devices, and in the right language. Advertising to the right audience is critical because it allows us to compete successfully against bigger, more established brands. It also helps us earn the most revenue for the least ad dollars, which boosts our bottom line and gives us more time and money to improve our products and hire more people.
Our digital ad partners also help us measure the effectiveness of our ads so we can invest more money in ads that work and cancel, scale back, or revise ads that don’t. The legislation would really restrict the collection of data that tells us which of our ads work well. But measuring ads’ effectiveness doesn’t give us any information about individuals. And for small businesses like ours, ad-effectiveness insights are incredibly valuable because they help us get the best possible return on our advertising investment. Knowing which ads work also helps us understand our customers better, including what images and language they find most compelling.
I understand that Maryland lawmakers are concerned about personal privacy. We can all agree that sensitive and personal information should be protected. But going too far in regulating how ad companies use basic online data will make it far more difficult for companies like ours to reach the right customers and grow our business. Lawmakers also must understand that when businesses like mine use digital ads and ad measurement data, we aren’t jeopardizing anyone’s privacy or security. Instead, they’re terrific business tools that act as astonishing equalizers, letting new market entrants build companies and compete with bigger, more established players.
Like all new businesses, we set out to solve a real-world problem that many people face. Digital ads tell the right people that we have a product that will help them. If new legislation makes it harder to do that, thousands of small businesses like ours will be severely hurt. As lawmakers consider digital privacy regulation, I hope they will take the time to understand the broad consequences of overregulating digital ads and seek the best outcomes both for Maryland’s citizens and its small businesses.
