How the new privacy landscape presents opportunities for marketers

The implementation of privacy regulations has resulted in the loss of customer data signals at a moment when consumers increasingly demand personalization from brand marketers at a level of granularity that is as intimate and knowledgeable as humanly possible without being stalkerish. A little too ironic, as Alanis Morisette might say. So, exactly what are the challenges marketers face in this new privacy-centric advertising ecosystem, particularly when confronted with Google's deprecation of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser and Apple's app tracking transparency (ATT), which effectively killed the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) in mobile? And just as important, what are the best strategies brands and agencies can deploy to create personalized campaigns that take changing consumer behavior, technologies and regulations to foster not just customer retention but growth—especially as all signs point to a recession? Privacy is even more top of mind as the end of the year approaches. On Jan. 1, 2023, five states will enact new privacy laws: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah and Virginia. The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) will effectively replace the CCPA, which has been in effect since 2018. On Oct. 18, The Female Quotient's Equality Lounge at Advertising Week New York hosted a discussion that addressed these issues in depth. Ad Age Studio 30 Editor John Dioso introduced the panel, “Performance on People’s Terms: The New Landscape of Privacy and Marketing," which featured Delphine Fabre-Hernoux, chief data and analytics officer, North America, at Wavemaker; Charlyn Okigbo, business lead of emerging ad products at Uber; and moderator Amy Brooks, director of business education for Meta Blueprint and Help Centers. (For the complete discussion, see the video below.) When Brooks asked about the greatest challenges facing the ad industry in the privacy era, Hernoux noted the double whammy of consumer perception and "big tech platforms changing the rules," such as Apple's intelligent tracking prevention (ITP), which made it harder to calculate the return-on-investment for digital ads, according to industry experts. Okigbo noted that "privacy concerns have been around for a while, but with all this new legislation, it's all heightened now." "Consumers are more concerned about their data as they learn about data breaches," Hernoux added. "And they are even more aware now that they have to give consent to opt in or opt out" due to the new regulations. Reinventing the industry Yet both Okigbo and Hernoux are optimistic about the creative possibilities presented by the new privacy regulations and loss of signal. "One of the impacts of losing third-party tracking is that you're not really able to create meaningful segments and remarket to those segments," Okigbo said. "We are adapting and thinking and getting more creative based on the new changes happening. At Uber, we have 20 million people each day going to museums, concerts, hotels and conferences, and they're getting things. If you know where a customer is going, you can serve them a relevant ad based on that knowledge. That's arguably more impactful than having signals as to who that customer might be." For Hernoux, "the rise of privacy is a good thing. We need to make advertising better for people. We need to be very mindful and put the consumer front and center. On the agency side, we have the framework—people, platform, process and policy—to help clients push the transformation to the next level. It's a very exciting moment in time where we need to reinvent who we are and what we do with privacy front and center to make sure we create the right things and an ecosystem that is going to work for everyone." The importance of continued learning In the coming year, both Okigbo and Hernoux foresaw fragmentation continuing to reshape the data landscape. "What may come next after fragmentation is consolidation," Okigbo said. "We've seen the advent of retail ad networks. It feels like every retailer now has one. The reason why is because they realize the richness of their first-person data." But with the proliferation of so many retail media networks, many brands have found themselves without a unified way to measure, attribute and target. The solution, according to some industry observers, is aggregation. One sure way to get there: consolidation. "We've seen some acquisitions within the retail space," Okigbo added. "The mindset is, 'One plus one equals three.'" For Hernoux, fragmentation is a teachable moment. "As leaders we have a huge responsibility to help clients and marketers navigate this complexity," Hernoux said. "As an agency partner, I want to help as much as possible, but I also have a responsibility as a leader with my team. We are at a moment in time where the industry is changing and we need to learn every day. If you don't know something, it's OK. You can say you don't know, but we'll help you to find the answer to make sure that we have the confidence to manage conversations with clients to guide them through this ecosystem." To help industry professionals navigate the new advertising ecosystem—and to support the more than 200 million businesses using Meta technologies—Meta is developing privacy-enhancing technologies that are evolving how data is received, how goals are achieved through campaign delivery and optimization, and how measurement and reporting can clarify what is driving results. Learn more about how to enable these Meta Technologies with the free resources available on the Meta Blueprint signals training page. About Meta Founded in 2004, Meta's mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. People use Meta's apps and technologies to connect with friends and family, find communities and grow businesses.

How the new privacy landscape presents opportunities for marketers

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