As Google Analytics prepares to excise the IP address from its product, it’s a sign of which way the privacy winds are blowing.
Google Analytics is already reeling from the Schrems II ruling, which states European data can no longer cross borders, and the product is already banned in a handful of European countries.
But these rulings aren’t actually about GDPR or advertising-related privacy at all. European regulators want to protect EU citizens from US mass surveillance tactics.
In other words, even if the advertising industry prioritizes data protection, it can still get in trouble over bigger issues.
A similar dynamic is playing out with the EARN IT Act, which aims to protect children online by carving out an exception to Section 230, the law that protects platforms from liability for the content that people post. We give a rundown on what industry folks need to know about this law and its prospects.
But if you’re a marketer, what are you to do about this clear push for data privacy? American Express decided to switch from a multi-touch attribution model (MTA), which requires precise signal, to a marketing mix modeling (MMM) approach.
We close the episode by sharing Amex’s MTA-to-MMM journey and insights on what marketers can start doing today to make better media decisions with less data. Spoiler: The first step is cleaning up and getting your first-party data in order.
