Metaverse and NFTs aside, digital identity was one of the hottest topics of 2021 (think cookies, IDFA, FLoC, data clean rooms, and so on), and its importance is only going to grow in 2022 and beyond, as many identity initiatives move past the testing phase and different strategies start to take shape.
So, why is it important? The concept of identity is ubiquitous in advertising, touching virtually every aspect of the value chain from targeting through to post-campaign attribution. While some may associate digital identity with personally identifiable information and tracking of individual users across their digital journeys, itโs actually very rare and typically restricted by privacy regulations and/or digital platform policies.
In fact, it may be helpful to think of the role of digital identity in advertising as allowing advertisers to tell one user apart from another in a privacy-compliant way. In most countries, privacy compliance means doing this without touching any private user information, and there are multiple ways to achieve that โ for example, by utilising anonymised unique device or user IDs, user location, or by grouping users by cohorts based on their traits, interests or behaviours.
Whatโs changing and why does it matter?
When it comes to identity, adland seems to be going through a perfect storm. Weโre seeing a general trend towards stricter privacy and identity protection with multiple forces at play, such as legislative changes, an increasingly privacy-conscious consumer base, major platforms changing their privacy policies, evolving media owner strategies and the emergence of new identity solutions.
Taking all these forces together, it is clear weโre heading towards a very different regime for digital identity, where it is no longer seen as a commodity and is highly safeguarded and valued by all parties.
From consumersโ perspective, identification will have to be โearnedโ through meaningful value exchange and trusted…