Brands face APAC privacy challenge

Tightening rules on data usage in key markets such as India, Japan and China as well as global initiatives to restrict tracking from the likes of Google and Apple, will force brands to make major changes. 

The Price of Privacy on APAC's Advertising Ecosystem consolidates results from 137 marketing decisionmakers across brands, agencies and publishers in Asia-Pacific and was conducted in March and April this year.

Forrester data shows that commitments to consumer data privacy is now the No. 2 barrier to making a purchase decision, after environmental protection but the survey found that just 30% of regional brands have a dedicated content strategy to communicate with consumers about data privacy.

Many brands had their own company data protection and privacy policy (74%) but a majority (58%) were also adhering to the EU’s GDPR regulations, a figure that rose to 76% among publishers and media owners.

Two-thirds (64%) of marketing decision-makers agreed that consumers do not understand the value of data collection when it comes to improving user experience. This rises to 75% among media agency respondents.

One major finding from the research is that nearly half (43%) of brands in Asia-Pacific continue to rely on third-party cookies in their current marketing practices.

Forty percent of brands and 60% of publishers believe that targeting will be less accurate and the No. 1 concern among both brands and media agencies is the issue of data availability and quality.

The brands that took part in the survey also admitted that while just under half (46%) had a strategy for handling a cookie-less future, many did not have the people (just 22% said they were ready), processes (17% claimed to have these in place) or tools (only 15% said these were ready) to operate in a cookie-less world.

Despite these issues, however, the research also highlighted the scale of the first-party data opportunity. However, brands are collecting far more data than they are using. Engagement data, for example is collected by 68% of respondents but only used by 51% of them.

Commenting on the research, David Porter, WFA Asia VP & Vice-President, Global Media, Unilever, said: “It is important to take the temperature in Asia because our digital landscape and privacy legislation are very different from other regions. Brands need to be prepared for changes ahead. The study shows plenty of common ground, but also highlights some gaps to fill before we have a digital world in which the public, platforms and brands feel totally comfortable in each other’s company.”