Why and How New Data Privacy Laws Can Be a Win for Advertisers

As advertisers adapt to stricter data privacy rules, they look for more efficient and innovative ways to improve customer engagement. Easier said than done, however. Balancing greater customer engagement and heightened consumer privacy is no small achievement in an era of heightened scrutiny and stiff penalties for the improper use of personal data. 

Here are a few significant privacy-driven challenges facing today’s advertisers:

• The deprecation of third-party cookies and Apple’s App Tracking Transparency Framework
• Consumer data-privacy laws such as California’s Consumer Privacy Rights Act
• EU Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act and General Data Protection Regulation
• First-Party Data and Data Clean Rooms

Yet, with proper due diligence, increased data privacy can be something other than a brick wall for advertisers. In fact, they may be able to utilize the first-party data they obtain from users to deliver better ad experiences — and increase return on ad spend (ROAS). How? First-party data is personal information collected from consumers. By working with partners who are knowledgeable about privacy, advertisers may use their advertising technology to optimize this data and deliver more relevant campaigns. 

To manage these challenges and opportunities, many advertisers and publishers implement customer data platforms that unify user data drawn from disparate sources. What’s next? For many media buyers, the next step includes matching that data by establishing data lakes or clean rooms where first-party data sets can match up with data partners providing privacy-oriented data insights that fuel omnichannel campaigns.

On Viant’s Data Platform, for example, the integrated clean room technology creates a safe and private space for this kind of first-party data onboarding. The data can then be matched to over 70 data partners and then activated for a range of uses, everything from audience segmentation (imagine identifying or expanding your target audiences) to increased accuracy for closed-loop measurement, including tracking offline conversions. Advertisers can also leverage the Data Platform’s machine learning and automation capabilities to drive more granular data insights — and keep pace with today’s fast-evolving digital advertising industry. 

What more can advertisers do to maximize their data quality and data privacy investments? 

Viant’s Household ID (i.e. a post-cookie identifier) allows advertisers to use the activated data from the Data Platform for personalized campaigns on the Viant DSP across the devices of their target audiences. 

Picture this: A retail brand is about to launch a campaign for its upcoming summer line. Using the enriched data from the Data Platform, Household ID and Viant DSP, they can target the campaign across the devices of audiences most willing to buy (e.g. long-time shoppers of the brand and/or those who viewed an advertisement). Campaign performance, such as what media is driving the most conversions and online/offline purchases, can be tracked within the DSP. 

So while consumers will undoubtedly benefit from the increased attention to privacy protections, so can advertisers. Working with an advertising technology partner that understands the importance of optimizing consumers’ first-party data (collected in a privacy-minded manner) means they can deliver an ad experience customized to the needs of their target audience — all while respecting their privacy. 

Get in touch with your Viant rep to learn more, or get started with Viant.