We shouldn’t go back to the Mad Men era and end up turning people off. The goal should be one that respects a customer’s integrity but also their intelligence. We hope that this change spurs a mental shift towards marketing innovation and brings about a new age of savvy and intelligence from smaller players who are actually most interested in building relationships with their customers, not simply getting their ads – relevant or not – seen by as many people as possible. The “enterprise” businesses already spending millions won’t really see much of a negative impact in the short-term, it’s the small guys that need to fight smart and tackle the wave of digital “billboardtising” that is inevitably upon us. The opportunity for a niche business to target its audience is becoming more difficult by the day. We were getting used to receiving targeted marketing for products and services from the smallest to the biggest companies that might actually interest us more times than not, but this landscape shift means we’re back to ads from the highest bidder. Apple’s advertising revenue has skyrocketed since the privacy changes have been implemented.Ĭonsumers are also, in a way, the losers in this scenario. It must also be noted that celebrating the companies which purport to champion the ideals of privacy for consumers can potentially be misaligned as their altruism may turn out to be a smokescreen. It’s become a game of digital Risk, where land is forcefully taken by these Goliaths with fat wallets leaving the Davids on a battleground of smarts. One of the unintended consequences is that it’s created a David vs Goliath battle for businesses, where the bigger corporations with large amounts of marketing spend can once again easily drown out smaller competitors with their chequebooks. While these changes have helped people navigate the internet with more confidence, secure in the knowledge that their browsing data is now in their control they’ve hamstrung marketing technology providers like Facebook and Google in their ability to build out audiences and target their advertising, because of the same limitations imposed. We’ve chosen two trends that we believe are very pertinent to the play of global marketing commerce and are key to ensuring the longevity of a business beyond the next 12 months.įor consumers, the implementation of global digital privacy regulations is a reason for celebration – but for marketers, it has somewhat sent the industry back to the 1990s. With our vistas set on 2022, things are changing and whilst some of these changes are great for consumers, there are tough decisions that businesses and marketers will have to make to ensure the longevity and relevance of their brands for the future.