What if, in 2025, we put the church back in the middle of the village?
Sophie Poncin, MD France
What about the original promise of digital marketing: to deliver the right message, to the right person, at the right time?
Over the past few years, the digital marketing industry has expanded considerably, enabling brands to achieve this goal with some success. But at what price? Increasingly intrusive user tracking and a lack of transparency in the collection of user consent. In other words, practices that are often abusive and disrespectful of users.
The other side of the coin is consumers’ growing distrust of the use of their personal data, which translates into higher rates of non-consent on sites.
Even if the industry has complied with the requirements of the RGPD, the situation affects all the players involved: consumers who suffer a degraded advertising experience, brands that risk breaking the bond of trust with them, and finally, the digital marketing industry, which is losing value.
Third-party cookies to blame? No doubt. But above all, it’s the fault of an industry that has made cookies its backbone, even though the technology was becoming obsolete as audiences fragmented and privacy requirements became more stringent.
Let’s be realistic and positive, their gradual disappearance represents an opportunity for the industry to reinvent itself, to rebuild on firmer foundations and offer more innovative solutions, notably by integrating the application universes and emerging screens, such as CTV.
To rebuild, we need solid foundations, starting by “putting the church back in the middle of the village”.
In other words, we need to start with the consumer in order to restore trust and create a virtuous circle between consumers, publishers and brands.
Back to basics: we need to make them understand that the open Internet is based on the transmission of data to access free content, financed by advertising. It’s about getting them to accept an exchange of value, in an approach that respects their privacy, while offering them the benefits of a more relevant advertising experience. In short, enlightened consumers who play an active role in their relationship with brands and publishers.
Some major brands, such as L’Oréal, have already realized the urgency of revising their approach to privacy, with a view to “building a world where privacy comes first” (cf. November 7 article by Rafael Aquino, Head of Ad Tech and Media Activation at L’Oréal, in Exchange Wired).
Faced with these challenges, the market needs powerful, innovative players who natively integrate privacy into their value proposition to enable brands to effectively address consenting audiences, while offering them attractive advertising experiences. It’s also an opportunity for open web players to regain sovereignty and value in the face of walled gardens.
So, in 2025, if the church is put back in the middle of the village, digital marketing will have a great future ahead of it, and we’ll be there to help make it happen.
