General Motors needs another “zero” for its “zero-zero-zero” electric vehicle marketing motto: Zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion, and now “zero-party data.”
The Detroit automaker is investing in its customer data platform to help move drivers into EVs, and the strategy hinges on “taking our first-party data down to zero-party data,” according to Ajay Kapoor, GM’s global director of performance driven marketing.
“GM has had a tremendous amount of first-party data, on the vehicle, the individuals, households,” Kapoor told Ad Age. “Now, it’s about really driving activation, and cleaning up and pulling that [data] together … gelling that together in an enterprise data strategy.”
Read: Behind the Super Bowl EV marketing push
Zero-party data is a term of art in the marketing world, and it’s taken on added significance as brands negotiate stricter privacy rules over how they collect, use and share consumer data. First-party data is information brands collect during the normal course of business. For instance, when a person visits a website and buys a product, the brand could infer a certain amount of information from the consumer.
Brands are putting more emphasis on first- and zero-party data, and they are moving away from third-party data because it doesn’t come directly from the consumer, who could be confused about how their data gets used in those contexts. Third-party data comes from trackers and sources not directly run by brands.
Zero-party data is more direct, when the consumer states a preference and opts into using that preference for greater customization in marketing and services. For GM, this is a key distinction as it builds a more complete marketing picture of its customers, and as it deals with the transition in digital media that is moving away from cookies and third-party ad IDs. Apple has been the main driver in eliminating web trackers, and governments have cracked down on sloppy data collection practices, going after brands that don’t safeguard customer information.