THE BIG PRIVACY FIRST WAVE - WILL IT OVERTAKE YOU TOO

Why we believe in choice-driven advertising and user empowerment

High waves on coasts are caused by many different factors: the strength and duration of the wind at sea, the surface of the open water where the wind can blow unhindered in the same direction and the seabed when the waves reach shallow water.

 

The targeting and tracking changes in the online advertising world are also like a ‘privacy-first wave’ that has been slowly building for 25 years and is the result of many long-term changes:

 

1. international data protection law on the transfer of personal data to other EU countries - especially the USA

 

The Safe Harbour Agreement adopted by the European Commission in 2000 was declared invalid in 2015 and the follow-up agreement from 2016, the EU-US Privacy Shield, suffered the same fate in 2020. In principle, EU citizens should be guaranteed a level of protection comparable to EU law when their personal data is transferred. To this end, Ursula von der Leyen and President Biden announced agreement last week on a third iteration of such an agreement.

 

2. National/European data protection regulations and laws

 

Since 1995, there has been Directive 95/46/EC (Data Protection Directive) on the protection of the privacy of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data, which was replaced by the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in 2018. In addition, the Telecommunications Telemedia Data Protection Act (TTDSG) has been in force since the end of 2021. The ePrivacy Regulation was also supposed to come into force with the GDPR, but the EU member states have not yet been able to agree on a final version. Instead, the EU Parliament voted through the Digital Services Act and the Commission's Digital Markets Act in 2022.

 

3. restrictions by browser and mobile operating system manufacturers Third-party cookies have been blocked by default in the new Firefox browser version since 2019. In 2020, Google announced that it would make third-party cookies obsolete in the Chrome browser from 2021, which Safari implemented directly in the same year. Apple has made it more difficult to identify mobile users for advertising purposes since 2021, which Android has now also announced until 2023. Beitrag nicht verfügbar

 

The observation we make on the points outlined above, and which was responsible for the founding of Welect more than 6 years ago, is:

 

It is no longer appropriate to force adverts on people. We live in a world in which we can, may and must make many more decisions. And this must be reflected in online advertising, and not just for reasons of data protection.

 

We live in a choice-driven world - from mobility to media use

The fact that it is no longer appropriate to impose advertising reflects the reality in which we live. Why do I believe we live in a choice-driven world? Here are a few examples:

 

  • If I want to get from A to B, I not only have the option of walking, cycling, driving or using public transport, but also some new options such as Uber, e-scooters, e-bikes and various modern versions of carpooling (car sharing). Travelling to foreign places no longer means having to rely on hotel recommendations from a travel agency. Reviews from many other people, as well as videos and pictures of local offers, can help. Or you can simply book private accommodation on one of the various platforms.
  • Similarly, the possibilities for communication have multiplied. In addition to letters, faxes and telephone calls, there are now also a large number of video call providers, chat services and private messages in the various social media.
  • We can shop 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And the cool T-shirt from Bangkok can also be ordered easily online. We can compare the quality, prices and, above all, sustainability of the products on offer and get opinions on the products from other shoppers in advance.
  • Our media consumption behaviour has changed to a similar extent. We have long had unlimited access to music and podcasts from all over the world. We watch films and series when and where we want and can usually choose the conditions (with or without adverts, paid, etc.).

 

These are conscious and unconscious decisions that accompany us every day, much more so than a few years ago. These are just a few examples of the choice-driven world we live in - we could go on with other topics such as nutrition, finance, property or dating. We have been getting used to being able to determine so much ourselves online for years, so in my opinion it is incomprehensible why users are not allowed to have a say in the display of adverts.

 

Personalised advertising for the user as a panacea? I doubt it!

What makes the privacy-first wave described above so special is that the online advertising industry believes it can compensate for this by delivering personalised advertising. The requirement to record where people surf, what they click on, what they search for and what is in their emails and messages is not only at odds with the changed framework conditions listed above. Above all, there is no consent from people - at the very least, they want to decide for themselves whether they are tracked, what data they pass on to whom, and so on. Assuming, of course, that they understand how tracking or data protection works. Because I dare say that not even all people who are active in the advertising industry understand the complexity of AdTech issues. It's complicated, it's made complicated and that's exactly why I think the continuous development of the Digital Services Act, for example, is appropriate and right. We have to learn and live with the fact that there are no different rights online than offline.

 

The big wave is piling up and will soon break - are your campaigns and online advertising measures ready for it?

When surfing big waves, there is the unpleasant situation of the wave breaking in front of you and a huge wall of white water rolling towards you and overrunning you. Surfers call this ‘getting caught inside’ - it describes the situation where the surfer has not reacted quickly enough to paddle out and not let the wave break in front of them. And this is exactly where we are in the industry right now. The privacy-first wave has been rolling towards the entire industry for a few years now - it's time to paddle out of the wave! And this is exactly where we come in!

 

With our Choice-Driven Advertising approach, we don't impose advertising on anyone - we give people the choice of which advertising to opt for. In a nutshell, we say: ‘Choice is the new targeting’. We know that it works. We know that it is contemporary. We know that we help agencies, advertisers, publishers and ad tech companies to prevent the wave from overtaking them - but do you?

 

If you want to surf your next campaigns safely, we are the strong partner at your side - feel free to get in touch with me or someone else from our Welect team. L

 

We look forward to hearing from you!