How to make data-driven advertising good again

The time to define and establish principles of ethical and trustworthy data use and execute them is now. The urgency is driven by four forces that are aligning to create a moment to act in 2024.

1. Increasing regulatory scrutiny:

   We need to get ahead, rather than playing catch up.

2. The changing infrastructure of digital advertising: 
   
   Third-party cookies are going away, we need alternatives.

3. Media is under siege:
   
   We need to do something to allow media owners to thrive and innovate based on data-driven business models.

4. New technology innovation: 
   
   Privacy enhancing technologies can be developed and put into practice and services.

But to leverage these driving forces we need a strong alignment between buyers and sellers in the industry.
 

When GDPR came into force in 2018, it seemed that massive change was imminent, but many pre-GDPR practices stayed in place and the public perception of data-driven advertising remained the same. The only visible change, especially for users, has been the outcome of a year-long debate that personalisation requires consent as a legal basis, yet we are still debating how this may look.

In addition, the discussions regarding data-driven advertising were happening with siloed stakeholders. On one side, a discussion driven by the political and regulatory spectrum and privacy activists wanting to ban data-driven advertising, and on the other, the industry changing practices driven by lawsuits and regulatory action rather than presenting a vision of how the future of digital advertising should look.
 

The status quo makes it easy for privacy activists to say data is completely ungoverned, but radical change is hard. Further regulatory action may be unavoidable and may even be welcome, in regards to anticompetitive behaviour, but generally the industry needs to get ahead of any potential future regulation and present itself as a responsible player in the market;
 

We need some companies – media owners and the buy-side – to become trailblazers driving this dialogue with regulators on how they have established, and continue to work on, future-proof practices. They will have to work hard on communicating these concepts and work hand-in-hand to co-engineer technologies, solutions and general ethical data processing principles in line with European norms and values. We need easy-to-digest stories that will support a productive dialogue with the regulator.

Some advertisers have already taken steps towards an ethical approach to data-driven advertising. Approaches around context and the use of first-party data are growing and the market is moving in that direction.

However, advertising without any data looks like a false promise. Measurement, campaign control, attribution and targeting cannot happen without any consent or any type of data access. The simple objective is not to operate without data, but rather how to do more with less data.

We need some companies – media owners and the buy-side – to become trailblazers driving this dialogue with regulators on how they have established, and continue to work on, future-proof practices. They will have to work hard on communicating these concepts and work hand-in-hand to co-engineer technologies, solutions and general ethical data processing principles in line with European norms and values. We need easy-to-digest stories that will support a productive dialogue with the regulator.

Some advertisers have already taken steps towards an ethical approach to data-driven advertising. Approaches around context and the use of first-party data are growing and the market is moving in that direction. 

However, advertising without any data looks like a false promise. Measurement, campaign control, attribution and targeting cannot happen without any consent or any type of data access. The simple objective is not to operate without data, but rather how to do more with less data.

The answer might simply be, do more with less data. In light of diminishing third-party data, the key might lie in collaborative approaches between media owners and advertisers being able to leverage consented consumer first-party data in a responsible manner. This systemic shift where parties define with whom they collaborate in well-defined environments is a completely different approach to simply putting ten tracking tags on a website where multiple third-parties collect data for campaigns. Large media owners already have a lot of good practices in place: reducing third-parties, appropriate consumer consent practices, proper consumer engagement and certainly privacy enhancing technology will play its role. A cross-party approach is needed between media owners, agencies and advertisers on a joint vision of what responsible advertising looks like.

Media owners, agencies and advertisers must define a joint vision about ethical data-driven advertising, create a forum for informed discussion and work on the messaging of these complex topics. And then transition into an ecosystem where these practices are implemented, can be enforced (at best technically), audited/ certified and made transparent to demonstrate what is being done. Advertisers will naturally be seeking to support responsible approaches as they seek to be conscientious players.

Start with what has already been done by media owners, covering for example:

• Reduction of the vendors they are working with, tags on sites.
• Good consent practices that have been implemented, not constantly spamming consumers.
• Privacy technology onsite that actively scans and checks if privacy settings are respected as well as ensuring that B2B relations are abided by (not loading non-approved vendors).

There are a lot of good practices already in place. There are things that are quite easy to implement, which just need to be done. Then, there are more ambitious goals regarding shifting more processing on the server side due to the use of first-party data. We don’t need all that client-side processing, which is the major source of data leakage. There are a sizable number of things that media owners have implemented about which everyone would say:

“Ok, this is common sense. We just need to communicate it.”

The WFA presented its media charter last year during the Cannes Lions, where advertisers seek to collaborate to create change. There are chapters on competition, accountably, measurement, sustainability –and the topics discussed in this article are included in the aforementioned charter. The foundation is laid for greater collaboration between the buy side and the sell side.

It’s a great opportunity – the time is now!