The importance of GDPR compliance

Talk in the ad tech world has been rife with discussions and theories on how the industry can truly move forward once cookies are phased out. Although Google has moved the goalposts for the cookie phaseout to 2023, the race toward a cookieless digital era must remain a vital discussion in light of growing user privacy concerns and preferences around the world.?

That said, while our attention has been concentrated on the cookieless conversation, the bigger issue of privacy concern by consumers is still present. The EU has taken a step forward with the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is said to be the toughest privacy and security law in the world.

But what about those outside Europe? Of course, it becomes far more beneficial for companies to remain GDPR-compliant, no matter which part of the world they operate in. Privacy concerns are swiftly becoming an issue that transcends borders and cultures, especially when there are real dangers of leaving your data out in the open. Truly, it will only be a matter of time before other countries and regions follow suit, including Asia Pacific.

For brands and players who have long been reliant on cookies to target their audiences, the value of first-party data as a viable alternative will become much higher. But the Asia Pacific market has trailed behind in its first-party acquisition, and SMEs – which make up 98% of enterprises and 50% of the region’s GDP – will find it much harder to dedicate resources to building their own databases.

When it comes to cookieless targeting, AI-driven behavioural targeting that amasses, processes and analyses a vast amount of anonymised data and behaviour on the open web can level out the playing field for enterprises.

At SQREEM, we have been refining cookieless AI-driven behavioural targeting capabilities for almost a decade and implemented a working model five years ago. We first began exploring the technology out of necessity because we could not afford to purchase cookies when we were first starting out.

Back then, nobody thought it was possible to build audiences without using cookies. It was not possible for anyone to build probabilistic behavioural cohorts, and then target them in a media tech stack. Today, we provide some of the world’s top brands with intent-based insights on digital consumer behaviours to identify relevant key audience segments, while at the same time informing the development of tailored media messaging.

This is how SQREEM’s AI-targeting capabilities help businesses stay GDPR-compliant:

• Our system is entirely cookie-free. We extract behavioural footprints to turn datasets into unique IDs. These give us insights into consumer intent and reliable indicators that predict their purchase patterns, allowing us to advertise at scale.
• Our AI engine collects and analyses vast amounts of open data to capture anonymous digital footprints that define highly targetable cookie-free audience cohorts, which means that it doesn’t rely on anyone’s private browsing history, for example.
• We can leverage a business' first-party data by enriching data on their platforms and analyse it within a week, all without ever accessing data that sits behind clients’ secure firewalls. This is something we have done previously for many multinational organisations that include large pharmaceuticals to some of the largest banks globally.

This year, we’ve launched a PMP marketplace called ONE Market, a plug-and-play platform where media agencies can leverage our AI targeting using their own DSP seat, overcoming the reliance on third-party cookies and remaining GDPR compliant. If you’re interested in learning more, we’d love to connect with you.