Your data, treated with care.

Who we are

The Idea Shop is an advertising and communications agency at 3/77 Convent Road, Alagapuram, Salem 636 016, Tamil Nadu, India. For this website we are the data fiduciary: we decide why and how your personal data is processed.

What we collect

• What you tell us. When you use a form, chat with Odi, book a call, request an estimate, audit or brochure, apply for a job or subscribe to our newsletter, we collect what you enter: usually your name, email, phone number, company, city and your message. Job applications can include a CV and portfolio link.
• Context about your request. The page you sent it from, the language you used, the campaign link that brought you here (for example a UTM tag) and the website that referred you, so we can understand what is working.
• Basic technical data. To stop spam and abuse, our server briefly uses a one-way hashed version of your IP address to limit how many messages one connection can send.
• Analytics, only with your consent. If you choose “Accept analytics”, we use Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity to understand how the site is used. If you choose “Only essential”, these never load.

Why we use it

• To reply to you, prepare proposals, quotes and audits, schedule the call you booked and send the brochure you asked for.
• To consider your job application.
• To send The Thunder Letter if you subscribed. Every email has a way to unsubscribe.
• To keep the site secure and improve it.

We process your data on the basis of the consent you give when you submit a form or choose analytics, and for the legitimate purpose of responding to the request you made. We do not sell your personal data.

Who we share it with

We share data only with service providers who help us run the site and reply to you, and only as much as they need:

• Hosting and email: our web host and email delivery provider, which store the site and deliver our emails.
• Odi’s AI answers, when switched on: questions you type into Odi’s “Ask me anything” are sent to Anthropic to generate a reply. Please do not type sensitive personal information into the chat.
• Spam protection, when switched on: Cloudflare Turnstile checks that forms are sent by people, not bots.
• Team alerts: new enquiries may be forwarded to our team’s private messaging channel so we can respond quickly.
• Embedded media: YouTube videos and Google Maps load only when you click to play or open them.
• Analytics, with consent: Google and Microsoft, as described above.

Some of these providers may process data outside India. We choose providers with strong security practices.

Cookies and browser storage

This site stores a few small items in your own browser to remember your choices: light or dark theme, language, sound and accessibility settings, your consent choice, the secrets you have discovered and your conversation with Odi so you can continue it later. These stay on your device. You can clear them at any time from your browser settings. Analytics cookies are set only if you accept them.

How long we keep it

We keep enquiries for as long as we need them to work with you and for our records, normally up to three years after our last contact. Job applications are kept for up to twelve months unless you ask us to delete them sooner. Newsletter subscriptions are kept until you unsubscribe.

Your rights

Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 you can ask us to:

• tell you what personal data we hold about you and how we use it;
• correct, complete or update it;
• erase it, unless we must keep it by law;
• withdraw your consent at any time, which does not affect what we did before you withdrew it;
• nominate another person to exercise these rights for you.

To use any of these rights, email us at the address below. We will respond within a reasonable time.

Contact and grievances

Questions, requests or complaints about your personal data: theideashopsalem@gmail.com or +91 96007 04660, The Idea Shop, 3/77 Convent Road, Alagapuram, Salem 636 016. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may approach the Data Protection Board of India.

We may update this policy as the site or the law changes. The date at the top shows the latest version.