New analysis by digital marketing agency In Marketing We Trust has found 31 of 32 everyday marketing activities could become more costly, less effective or dependent on controls held by major platforms under proposed Australian privacy reforms.
The findings are based on an assessment of 32 everyday marketing activities for a large Australian company against the draft legislation. While none was assessed as being banned outright, the analysis found almost every activity would be materially affected in some way:
- 20 could continue, but at higher cost;
- Four could continue as they are, but would work less effectively;
- Seven depend on controls held by platforms;
- Just one activity was assessed as unaffected: measuring a business’s own performance through analytics.
The activities tested include customer list uploads, retargeting, lookalike audiences, conversion tracking, programmatic buying, website and app tags, analytics, personalisation, retail media and addressable TV matching.
Paul Hewett, CEO of In Marketing We Trust, said: “The consultation period for the latest tranche of Privacy Act reforms was very short, so we had to work fast to test what the proposals would mean for marketing teams. Our analysis shows almost every common activity is affected, though none stops outright.
“The indications are the reforms will pass parliament in the coming 12 months, which is a short window for the amount of work marketers will need to do to get ahead of the impact. That will start to appear in their performance numbers before it quickly becomes a compliance issue.
“The short answer is they will fundamentally change what marketers are able to do across the majority of common marketing activities, which will ultimately flow through to marketing performance and effectiveness.”
The platform problem
One of the biggest pressure points identified is marketers’ reliance on technology platforms to meet requirements they may not be able to fulfil themselves.
Seven activities were assessed as dependent on controls held by platforms, including customer list uploads, lookalike audiences, programmatic buying, addressable TV matching and shared ID solutions. Under the proposed direct marketing rules, advertisers could also face opt-out obligations without necessarily controlling the platform mechanisms needed to deliver them.
Benoit Weber, Head of Digital Analytics at In Marketing We Trust, said: “Being reliant on platforms is a difficult situation for marketers who will still carry the risk under these proposals, even if they can’t control how they are operationalised.
“There are still a lot of unknowns under these laws, not least how platforms are defined in terms of the way they use data – a definition which has a material impact. Common things like targeting will also become harder with more consent and opt-out requirements for consumers.”
The consent question
Consent presents another potential challenge. Under In Marketing We Trust’s interpretation of the draft, sending customer data to an advertising platform could constitute a “trade” requiring consent unless the platform is acting as a processor, potentially affecting customer list uploads, advertising pixels and conversion uploads.
Importantly, the draft could also bring data businesses already hold into scope of new consent and fair and reasonable requirements, including CRM records, website sign-ups, newsletter lists and event registrations.
In Marketing We Trust is calling for greater clarity over who holds responsibility for advertising opt-outs when platforms control the relevant mechanisms, and whether platforms should be treated as controllers or processors. It has also asked for consent-to-trade requirements to apply prospectively to information collected after commencement, and for staged implementation where businesses depend on technology suppliers to make changes.
What marketers should do now
For marketers, the immediate priority is understanding what customer data they hold, where it came from, where it is being sent and what permission exists to use it.
In Marketing We Trust recommends auditing tags and pixels, mapping data flows, documenting consent history and making new consent specific and dated. More significant changes, including mass re-permission campaigns or leaving platforms, should wait until the final legislation and platform responses are clearer.
The assessment represents In Marketing We Trust’s practical interpretation of the exposure draft. It is not a survey of Australian businesses or a measurement of financial impact, and the proposed legislation remains in draft form and may change.
Find out more: In Marketing We Trust’s webinar.
