Every decision making rarely involves a great choice and a really bad choice. There is always a nuance. It’s important for companies to explore this nuance, because what may seem like a sensible decision one day may turn out not to be the right one later. In the process of decision-making and the search for an end, they may miss opportunities that their competitors can take advantage of.
This manifests in the false dichotomy between usefulness and privacy of data, or the belief that they are incompatible. There is actually a way to make better use of data, securely, without compromising its privacy.
Preserving utility and privacy in data-driven marketing
Recognising the link between trust and brand strength, marketers have often made themselves the de facto consumer advocates within their organisations, some of them cleverly accommodating so-called ‘privacy actors’. Contrary to this approach, the others have significantly reduced or abandoned data-driven advertising, therefore sacrificing performance rather than becoming real consumer advocates by supporting the necessary reforms.
However, despite improvements in contextual advertising and other modelling strategies, addressable advertising (whether through activation with premium advertisers or by leveraging a persistent identity across the ecosystem) will still enable better use of media investments and will guarantee a prominent place in any marketing strategy. Fortunately, more and more publishers are developing their own authenticated inventories, which encourages customer participation and offers brands an alternative solution for maintaining and even improving their campaign results, even programmatically.
Brands that consider themselves customer-centric and champion consumer protection need to recognise the benefits of using authorised data rather than intermediaries. This allows marketers to continue to benefit from addressability and create more experiences while confirming their commitment to the ethical use of data.
Now, with a focus on building trusting relationships with customers and more transparency about how data is collected and used, publishers and advertisers can preserve access to valuable audience data and activate them at scale in a way that meets and exceeds current international privacy standards.
To learn more about how LiveRamp helped Danone maximise utility and data privacy using LiveRamp Safe Haven, check out this case study.