PPCChat | Digital Advertising & Privacy – Can They Coexist? | 25th January 2022

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Greetings Happy Readers! In this week’s PPCChat session, host Julie F Bacchini discussed experts concerns about user privacy, their views on users’ privacy as a marketer, any plans to take active steps with regard to data privacy and more. Here is the screencap of this week’s philosophical discussion.

Q1: How concerned do you think advertisers should be about user privacy?

VERY. If you operate in more than even one market, you are subject to different rules, different expectations. Plus, your customers deserve your best. @JuliaVyse

IMO, there’s a trade-off between privacy (including fake privacy) and our goals as advertisers. But there’s not a whole lot we can do to control that. @stevegibsonppc

I do think it should be top of mind. Even if we just take the data we are seeing from the iOS update where its clear that a lor of people would rather not be tracked, it definitely needs to work within our strategy. @TheMarketingAnu

Extremely concerned especially the bigger you are. Different countries and even states have different rules already and it is going to get more complicated. @lchasse

If you haven’t been paying attention to privacy, that should change this year. Between laws in US states working their way through legislatures, laws & lawsuits in EU and an overall bigger emphasis on it by the platforms themselves, it will be inescapable. @NeptuneMoon

Very. Transparency is just as important as privacy, so no matter what your opinion is, arming customers with knowledge and respecting them is key. @SEMFlem

It’s a big issue that will impact targeting a lot. Some of it justified and some channels will use “privacy” as cover to change things in their favor. @robert_brady

Very concerned! It’s a big topic of conversation and I feel like everyone has an opinion on it but I very rarely hear from actual advertisers in the debate. It is the job of the platforms to make safe policies, but we have to be aware of them. @shepzirnheld

I think advertisers should focus their concern on providing a better experience for users at every stage of the funnel. It’s possible to maintain privacy while still providing that personalized experience, it just takes more effort. @ownyourserp

Honestly, they are fairly concerned, but not in the way the general public would hope for. I also think it is a much bigger concern outside of search. @JonKagan

Q2: Are your clients or stakeholders concerned about user privacy? What do you think is shaping their current attitudes?

Big time. My public sector partners for obvious reasons and some of my other clients have really clear thinking the topic. If they don’t need to collect data to sell the product, why would they?  @JuliaVyse

It’s hard to say. I worked with a company last year whose head of data interpreted GDPR as making many standard approaches to marketing illegal. If she was right, then privacy is a killer. But, if she’s wrong, not so much. @stevegibsonppc

Yes, most of my clients are taking it very seriously and making it part of the internal discussions. We will have to work with legal to create platform changes and to ensure we are not crossing lines we may not even know exist. @lchasse

Interestingly, clients are most concerned w how “privacy” moves by platforms are impacting their advertising, more so than actually thinking about user privacy relative to their actions and properties. As I said,I think it is smart to start thinking more about it. @NeptuneMoon

My clients are not currently talking about it b/c I don’t think they understand it & Google did no favors with the floc stuff. @selley2134

Working in-house now, privacy has come up a couple times since I started because we focus internally a lot on respecting our audience relationships. Privacy issues will be key to this during ’22. @SEMFlem

We haven’t talked about it a ton, but I would say the overall reactions are similar to the “average” reaction out there. They like the idea of privacy, but also want targeted ads. The great advertising dilemma of 2020-2030. @PPCKirk

When it comes to privacy in relation to the advertising platforms, clients I’ve worked with actually rarely question it. When it does come up, it’s normally in regards to the protection of user submitted PII (think lead forms) @BrettBodofsky

When FLoC first came about and there seemed to be pushback and tons of articles coming out. Clients would see those articles and were curious how/if FLoC would change their ability to target users. @BrettBodofsky

In search, no, because I explain to them why they dont need to be concerned. Everything else kinda flows like this: @JonKagan

There is a general “fear” in advertising that lack of cookies & reduced tracking ability is going to affect bottom-of-funnel conversions. I think this fear is unfounded & overall advertising tactics will change for the better to allow users to stop feeling “targeted” @ownyourserp

Yes. Our clients want to make sure they are not losing insight and can tie in and give credit to the right channels/campaigns. We are concerned with that + loss of levers to impact performance. @360vardi

Q3: Do you have different views on user privacy as a marketer versus you as a consumer? If so, how do you reconcile those views?

A little. I take other people’s privacy more seriously than I take my own. Being behind the scenes if you will I know what I am giving away & how it will most likely be used. Others don’t have that insight so I try to think of that for them, if possible. @selley2134

I actually appreciate privacy both as a marketer and as a consumer. Executing it properly is the difficult part. We tend to go too far one way or another with things in general and I am not an expert so I just hope the experts do it right for people. @lchasse

I don’t think I do, TBH, (we just understand what is happening more as marketers). Like, I also don’t want to be needlessly tracked by everyone/thing. But I like the idea of having targeted ads, and would love complex solutions that solve both of those problems. @PPCKirk

I’m about 90% the same attitude and 1000% more concerned with privacy than most of the people know I’m my personal life. It drives me a bit batty that MORE consumers aren’t concerned. @ynotweb

Actually no I don’t. It’s been basically the wild west and as a citizen, I’d like my privacy better protected. as a marketer, I’m absolutely sick of the ‘let’s gather everything we can’ mentality. @JuliaVyse

I kind of do? But I’m also a big jaded about how much privacy ever really existed in anything digital. I do try to bring the sensibilities of people being targeted by our ads into the conversations with clients. Don’t want to engage in shady or semi shady things. @NeptuneMoon

I have definitely given it much more thought as a marketer than as a consumer. For the former – in all our chats and some of my blogs/talks. as a consumer, I’m very abt it. Until some of my personal data get negatively affected i guess. is that bad?? @TheMarketingAnu

Absolutely, and they are polar opposites. DON’T TRACK ME!!! vs. C’MON JUST LET ME DO IT AND STOP BEING LAME. It is a great internal monologue @JonKagan

For real, when people get annoyed at Google for getting store/resto hours wrong, when the owner should run it thru GMB? Like, yes it’s frustrating, but when you ask Google to do all that for you, you’re asking for MAJOR surveillance increases! @JuliaVyse

I’ve grown so used to personalized ads that track my every click and 100x cookies on every site. I won’t miss them tho. I’m excited for this “new frontier” in advertising forcing advertisers to get more creative & brands to recognize the importance of customer loyalty @ownyourserp

As a consumer, I understand that most of the “free” stuff on the internet is paid for through my data & tracking me. So in using things I accept the trade-off. I do wish data wasn’t being sold/traded behind the scenes so much. @robert_brady

Idk. I think I feel the same way. I believe that either way I’m being tracked by someone, so I prefer getting info that is customized to me. We’re all being sold/remarketed something while we’re online @360vardi

Healthcare peeps, do we want to talk about ‘informed consent’ and what a mess that is? It’s not just a chore, it’s a pretty strong gear shift from ‘oh I like that watch’ to ‘I’m allowing/inviting you to contact me @JuliaVyse

Even for big brands with deep pockets this is hardly feasible, let alone small brands and local businesses. Even Google can’t get it straight, how can they expect the rest of us to? #PPCchatnytimes.com/2022/01/24/tec…@ownyourserp

Smaller the organization the easier it is. Once you ask a brands legal team, kiss it goodbye @JonKagan

Clear consent will need to be defined to really know how feasible it could be. I feel like companies will find creative ways to skate by this. @lchasse

I think the concept of “clear consent” is nice in theory, but a hot mess in how to actually achieve it. I’ve said before that I think uploading customer lists is very gray. No one asks for that permission during a sales process. @NeptuneMoon

Especially as it’s coming from Google – it’s most likely harder than they are making it out to be @TheMarketingAnu

No, they’re the same. They’re both behavioural, one is before you’re a customer, one is after. @JuliaVyse

I would argue it is less privacy-protective. A cookie knows I visited a website and views XYZ. It does not know my email address, for example. First-party data knows way more & I did not actively consent, in an easy to understand way, to having my data uploaded. @NeptuneMoon

Inherently? Absolutely not. Can it be? Sure. As we say in SEO “it depends”. In this case, it depends on who is collecting this data and what measure they feel like going to in order to provide privacy. 9/10 I don’t think those measures will be strict enough. @ownyourserp

If the company isn’t selling/trading the data, there should be fewer privacy concerns because only one entity has the data. But that’s a big if. And some entities (Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft) are really, really large. @robert_brady

First-party data has a lot of information. Credit card companies literally know where you were on specific days/times and what you bought. Companies know a lot about us and all that data aggregated is incredibly powerful. @lchasse

Privacy protected first-party data is an oxymoron. @JonKagan

Q6: Are you and your clients or stakeholders planning for and/or taking any active steps with regard to data privacy when it comes to your digital advertising?

Yes, but it’s all pre-emptive. ah, public sector… @JuliaVyse

No active steps being taken yet, but this chat is motivating me to make it more of a priority. @SEMFlem

For small businesses, I highly encourage not running ads without a clear privacy policy on the site. @ownyourserp

How to implement anything still feels like a moving target right now. That being said, having a clear privacy policy on your site (if you don’t) should be a top priority for 2022. As for the rest, pay close attention to what happens/changes & go from there. @NeptuneMoon

I don’t think there is clear direction on what/how to change anything currently. There is some direction but even that is murky. I keep recommending that brand speak with legal counsel to go over the current regulations and what they/we should be doing. @lchasse

Collecting as much 1st party data as possible, and operating like a criminal minds profiler on a serial killer and doing everything we can to build consumer profiles on behaviour for the future. @JonKagan

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