Welcome back to our Compliance Superhero Series where we highlight compliance professionals who are doing excellent work. We ask them about their background, their thoughts on the industry, and any hidden superpowers they have. I’ve reached out to Marvel about adding them to the next phase of the MCU, but until that happens, you can get to know them here. This month, we’re highlighting Leon Hoppe, who heads up Digital Marketing at WebSeeds & KickAds Brand Marketing. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Welcome Leon! Can you share a little bit more about yourself and your role at both WebSeeds and KickAds Marketing?
My journey began in 2006, buying and selling domains, then that opened the door for doing media buying and then I started working with affiliates and affiliate networks. Then I found myself being pulled into email marketing. The last 10 years I’ve been really focused with email marketing and also working with some affiliates.
What was your path into the compliance space?
It was probably 2009, I was managing a pretty successful brand, as the affiliate manager. We were working with a lot of affiliate networks and affiliates, and about 99% of our traffic was coming through email and back then compliance was kind of an afterthought. But that changed when we got a demand letter for a hundred thousand dollars from a lawyer, stating that we had violated California’s anti-spam law. That gave us a wake-up call. We didn’t realize at the time that, as the advertiser, that you are responsible for what your affiliates send on your behalf!
So, if an email is misleading their From-Lines or Subject Lines or with the content they’re sending, that falls on you. After a few months of negotiation, we settled the case and that prompted us to protect the brand. We then looked for services that can help us protect the brand and that’s actually how we found and started with LashBack.
Using Lashback, gave us more visibility to what affiliates were sending and then when affiliates weren’t abiding by the CAN-Spam laws or the CAN-Spam Act, we were able to shut them down pretty quickly and protect ourselves and protect the brand.
What would you say is the most challenging part of working in compliance?
I like the creative challenge and also problem solving. It’s always evolving, so just trying to stay up to date with things. Testing out new creatives, seeing what other people are sending, new guidelines coming out, there are new algorithm changes all the time with email marketing. So, it’s about thinking long term and focusing on compliance long term.
What’s your biggest piece of advice for a successful compliance program?
Start early and make compliance part of the culture rather than an afterthought. Too often teams just think of compliance as an afterthought, and then you get hit with some kind of litigation. Instead treat it like a foundation. You’re creative, you’re list building your data use. That needs to fall under compliance. It’s better to do it now than deal with headaches later on.
What would you say is your superpower?
Pattern recognition. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I’m not just a mailer, I’ve done the affiliate side of things. I’ve worked with a lot of media buying, I’ve seen a lot, did credit card processing for a while as well, so I’m able to see the deliverability issues, the root cause of things where most people waste time chasing symptoms. I’m able to lean in and see the pattern, and that tells me exactly what’s happening, then I’m able to take action quickly!
Want to hear more from Leon? Be sure to catch the full interview on the COMPLY Podcast—coming soon!
