GDPR -- what it means for everyone

As players in the marketing industry will be aware, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force on 25 May 2018. While the date may be known, little else is yet set in stone.

GDPR preparations in 2017

The broader points of GDPR are well known -- it aims to clamp down on data privacy, providing consumers with more rights to their data and requiring brands to acquire consent. However, as Digiday notes, guidance on finer points, such as when and how consent can be obtained, remain unclear.

Even the latest round of guidelines -- a draft of which was released in early December -- only provided marketers, publishers and ad tech companies with further vagueness. Feedback to these latest guidelines is expected after 17 January, but, as the research discussed by ITProPortal highlights, there’s still a long way to go before companies will be GDPR compliant. And time is running out.

The scaremongering and confusion surrounding GDPR last year resulted in some brands taking matters into their own hands by hiring data privacy experts.

L’Oreal’s CMO for Western Europe, Stéphane Bérubé, told Digiday that consent and privacy preferences should become key objectives for the ad industry this year.

He continued: “I don’t think the [ad industry] has done a good enough job convincing and explaining to the consumer why sharing their data can be good for them. GDPR is a good thing if we explain to the consumer that their data will lead to personalisation and relevancy without intruding on their privacy.”

What’s in store this year

In the build up to the enforcement of GDPR, you can bet that there will be huge publicity surrounding the regulations. This will, Digiday argues, make consumers pay more attention to consent notices from brands. But this doesn’t have to be a bad thing and marketers aren’t suddenly going to be left without data.

Greater transparency, and by that we mean clear explanations of the data being requested and how it will be used, will help provide end users with greater feelings of comfort and trust. Included in this will be the need for brands to communicate the value exchange, so consumers understand the deal they’re making in exchange for their data.

What if data does dwindle?

The scaremongering around the issue of GDPR suggests that, post-implementation, marketers and advertisers will find their data storage has reduced to almost nothing, with consumers all declaring their right to erasure. This obviously isn’t going to happen, but what will the industry do if data reduces, even a little?

So much of current marketing and advertising utilises data to provide consumers with personalised content and brand experiences. And while many may see a dataless dystopia, the truth is that the industry will do as it has always done -- it will evolve and move with the times.

But you can future-proof yourself now by investing in solutions that deliver your marketing message to the right people, at the right time, in the right environment, all without using any consumer data.

While you might think this sounds too good to be true, Grapeshot’s technology simply analyses the content on a webpage to provide true context and place your ads in front of your target audience. It enables you to become GDPR compliant, increase brand safety, and improve your targeting. Get in touch today to find out more about our solutions.