There’s no CX without privacy – so what are the options for your ad strategy?

The holidays are approaching fast, but the digital marketing industry is still in full swing. It’s time to take five and catch up on some of the latest news from the world of adtech and online advertising.   

Missed our October newsletter? You can read it on our blog here.

What we have for you today: Why marketers must always put customers first, the continuing rise of global privacy regulations, the ins and outs of retail media, and the role of partnerships in tomorrow’s digital marketing industry.  

The CX imperative 

First up is the news that Meta’s profits are down and its stock is taking a hit. The reasons for Meta’s struggle are largely linked to the rise of privacy-first approaches to digital advertising. For example, with Apple making its ID for Advertisers (IDFA) opt-in, the third-party ad market has suffered significantly and companies like Meta are losing revenue as a result. 

Conversely, Apple’s financial performance continues to be strong. As argued here, this is possibly in part because Apple has focused on putting their customers first by respecting their privacy. As we at Novatiq have argued in the past, brands, agencies, and publishers that focus on delivering amazing personalised experiences while also respecting privacy will thrive in the years ahead (and here’s how they can do it).  

Privacy goes global  

In many respects, of course, digital marketing industry players have little choice but to focus on privacy. Here in Europe, we’ve been dealing with GDPR since 2018, but similar rules are rolling out across jurisdictions worldwide.  

This month, for instance, the IAB published its Multi-State Privacy Agreement (MSPA), an industry contractual framework intended to aid advertisers, publishers, agencies, and ad tech intermediaries in complying with five state privacy laws coming into force in 2023 (in California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah). 

And it’s not just the US that’s tightening up on privacy. Countries around the world are enacting laws that closely mirror GDPR including China, India, Thailand, and the Philippines (you can learn more here). The message for all brands, agencies, and advertisers – no matter where you’re based, you need to solve for privacy now. 

The rise of retail media 

One way in which brands are looking to address the privacy issue is through retail media and first-party shopper data provided by ecommerce media companies. Amazon, for instance, can provide a wealth of consented data on things like what a shopper buys; the films they watch; and the items they review on Amazon-owned websites.  

The problem here is that such data is not on the scale needed for true programmatic personalised marketing. Retail media platforms are in effect new walled gardens and will fragment the media landscape further. What’s needed is an approach that spans the open web and enables brands and agencies to reach people with the right messages anywhere on the web and on any device.  

Another issue is that brands increasingly want to leverage their own first-party data and not rely only on third parties’. Lego, for instance, is investing in its own ecommerce platform to have better access to such data.  

Our view is that publishers and brands are right to focus on first party data. What’s more, by leveraging a new generation of advertising IDs, they can join the dots between their data and the publishers’ first-party intelligence to build audiences at scale.  

Partnerships are key 

Partnerships are also proving to be a good solution to the privacy dilemma. For instance, it’s been suggested that for personalised mobile app advertising, partners can help brands navigate user targeting and optimised bidding processes to ensure that ads engage the right people at the best price. However, as mobile advertising partners rely on clients’ first-party data it’s essential that they are every bit as privacy compliant as the brand itself. 

Novatiq believes that partnerships based on secure, privacy compliant solutions are indeed the future for digital marketing. That’s why we partner with telcos to deliver our privacy-first IDs. We ensure that no personal data is transacted, and that user verification (whereby brands and publishers can recognise anonymous users across sites and devices) takes place behind the telco firewall – i.e., some of the best-protected networks in the world.   

Read more from Novatiq 

If you’re looking for more stories, thoughts, and comments on all things related to digital marketing then please drop by our blog. This month, we’re looking at data and customer experience and asking how brands and agencies can create a new value exchange for customers. 

See you next month for more news and inspiration.