PRIVACY POLICY Social (trading as The Ministry of Social Ltd) Effective Date: 1 April 2025 | Last Updated: March 2025
1. Introduction
Social, trading as The Ministry of Social Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”), is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who visit our website and engage with our services. This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, use, store, disclose, and protect your personal information.
We are bound by the Privacy Act 2020 (New Zealand) and the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) contained within it. We take our obligations seriously and are committed to handling your personal information in a transparent and responsible manner.
2. Who We Are
Social (trading as The Ministry of Social Ltd) is a digital marketing agency based in Christchurch, New Zealand. We provide paid advertising, lead generation, SEO, web design, and digital consulting services to businesses throughout New Zealand and internationally.
For the purposes of the Privacy Act 2020, The Ministry of Social Ltd is the “agency” responsible for the personal information we collect.
You can contact us at: The Ministry of Social Ltd Christchurch, New Zealand Email: tbc Website: www.growyourbusiness.nz
3. What Personal Information We Collect
We may collect the following categories of personal information from you:
3.1 Information You Provide Directly
- Your name and contact details (email address, phone number, business name)
- Enquiry or message content submitted through our contact forms
- Information provided when requesting a Lead Leak Audit or other service
- Billing and payment information (processed securely via third-party payment providers)
- Any other information you voluntarily provide to us
3.2 Information Collected Automatically
- IP address and approximate geographic location
- Browser type, device type, and operating system
- Pages visited, time spent on site, and referring website
- Cookie data and tracking pixel data (see Section 8)
- Interaction data from email campaigns (open rates, click-throughs)
3.3 Information from Third Parties
- Data from advertising platforms (Meta/Facebook, Google, TikTok) where you have interacted with our ads or our clients’ ads
- Publicly available business information used for prospecting or outreach
- Referral information provided by existing clients or business contacts
4. How We Use Your Personal Information
We collect and use your personal information only for lawful purposes that are directly related to our business functions, or for purposes you have consented to. These include:
- Responding to enquiries and providing the services you have requested
- Sending you proposals, quotes, reports, and service-related communications
- Managing our client and supplier relationships
- Processing payments and maintaining financial records
- Improving our website and digital services
- Conducting marketing activities, including sending newsletters or promotional content (where you have consented or an existing client relationship exists)
- Running and optimising advertising campaigns on behalf of clients
- Meeting our legal and regulatory obligations
- Detecting and preventing fraud or misuse of our services
We will not use your personal information for purposes that are incompatible with the reasons for which it was collected, unless we have your consent or are otherwise permitted or required by law.
5. Our Basis for Collecting and Using Your Information
Under the Privacy Act 2020, we may collect personal information where:
- It is collected directly from you with your knowledge and, where required, your consent
- It is necessary to provide you with services or fulfil a contractual obligation
- It is required for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your privacy interests
- We are required or authorised to do so by law
6. Disclosure of Your Personal Information
We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share your information with:
6.1 Service Providers
We engage third-party providers to assist us in operating our business, including:
- Website hosting and IT infrastructure providers
- Email and CRM platforms (e.g. Mailchimp, HubSpot, or similar)
- Payment processors (e.g. Stripe, PayPal, or similar)
- Advertising platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok) for campaign management
- Analytics providers (e.g. Google Analytics)
These providers are only given access to the information necessary for their specific function and are required to maintain appropriate confidentiality and security standards.
6.2 Legal and Regulatory Requirements
We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law, court order, or at the request of a government authority, or where we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our legal rights or the safety of others.
6.3 Business Transfers
In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of our business, personal information held by us may be transferred to the new entity. We will take reasonable steps to notify affected individuals in such circumstances.
7. Overseas Disclosure
Some of our third-party service providers are located outside New Zealand, including in the United States and Australia. In accordance with Information Privacy Principle 12 of the Privacy Act 2020, we take reasonable steps to ensure that any overseas recipient of your personal information is subject to privacy laws or contractual obligations that provide comparable safeguards to those applicable in New Zealand.
By using our website and services, you acknowledge that your information may be transferred to, stored in, or processed in countries outside New Zealand.
8. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience, analyse website traffic, and support our advertising activities.
8.1 Types of Cookies We Use
- Essential cookies: Required for the website to function correctly
- Analytics cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with our site (e.g. Google Analytics)
- Marketing cookies: Used to track advertising effectiveness and deliver relevant ads (e.g. Meta Pixel, Google Tag, TikTok Pixel)
8.2 Your Choices
You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings at any time. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. Most modern browsers also allow you to opt out of tracking-based advertising.
9. Data Security
We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, or disclosure. Our security measures include:
- Secure hosting environments with HTTPS encryption
- Access controls limiting who within our business can access personal data
- Use of reputable, security-compliant third-party platforms
- Regular review of our data handling practices
While we take these precautions, no method of data transmission or storage over the internet is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your information.
10. Privacy Breaches
Under the Privacy Act 2020, we are required to notify the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals if a privacy breach occurs that has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm. We have internal processes in place to identify, assess, and respond to privacy breaches promptly and in accordance with our legal obligations.
If you believe a privacy breach has occurred involving your personal information, please contact us immediately using the details in Section 2.
11. Your Rights Under the Privacy Act 2020
You have the following rights in relation to your personal information:
11.1 Right of Access You have the right to request access to any personal information we hold about you. We will respond to such requests within 20 working days, as required by the Privacy Act 2020.
11.2 Right of Correction If you believe that any personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, you have the right to request that we correct it.
11.3 Right to Withdraw Consent Where our collection or use of your information is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out prior to your withdrawal.
11.4 Right to Opt Out of Marketing You may opt out of receiving marketing communications from us at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email we send you, or by contacting us directly.
To exercise any of the above rights, please contact us at the details provided in Section 2.
12. Retention of Personal Information
We will retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, to comply with our legal obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce our agreements. When your information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify it.
13. Children’s Privacy
Our website and services are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a child under 16, we will take steps to delete that information as soon as practicable.
14. Third-Party Websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.
15. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. The current version will always be available on our website, and the effective date at the top of this document will be updated accordingly.
16. Complaints and the Privacy Commissioner
If you have a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us in the first instance using the details in Section 2.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC):
Office of the Privacy Commissioner Website: www.privacy.org.nz Phone: 0800 803 909
The OPC has the authority to investigate complaints and take action under the Privacy Act 2020.
This Privacy Policy applies to Social (trading as The Ministry of Social Ltd), Christchurch, New Zealand. Effective Date: 1 April 2025.