Digital Advertising in 2021: The Importance of People-based Marketing

The digital advertising industry is constantly on the move and is evolving. This year, it is particularly driven by the growing need to prioritize and put consumers at the heart of retail. Why?

Consumers: at the heart of retail

Consumers: They did not have and do not have a clear insight into how and why their data is used, which has led to a lack of trust. As a result, we have all seen regulatory action taken, among other things, on the storage and use of data. The related developments, such as the approaching end of third-party cookies, demonstrate the urgency of publishers, advertisers and third-party providers: a collaboration based on consumer confidence to build closer relationships with their target group and ultimately ensure the greatest possible effectiveness of digital advertising.

Speaking of which trends and solutions will change the industry in 2021?

The digital advertising industry is known for its constant innovations and has already begun to reshape the ecosystem, with data protection and consumer consent at the heart of its tasks.

At the beginning of the year, we would like to highlight some particularly important changes that will affect the German market in 2021:

Trend 1: People-based marketing – the key to greater consumer confidence:

It is becoming increasingly clear that consumer confidence must be at the heart of our industry. While we will soon navigate a world without third-party cookies, People-based Marketing is clearly gaining in the right approach to improving consumer addressability.

In fact, we saw an increase in authentication forms on publishers' domains over the past year. LiveRamp ATS or netID are just two initiatives that are already available in Germany. Such initiatives, which are geared towards first-party data (based on a login), will help advertisers and publishers, among other things, to improve the advertising experience for consumers through more targeted advertising. The most important thing, however, is that consumers can now determine who has access to their data and how it is used. This inevitably creates more trust among users.

Trend 2: Omnichannel, the way to Digital Advertising 2.0?

The topic of omnichannel is becoming increasingly important. This is partly due to the more differentiated media usage behaviour of consumers: In addition to desktop, other channels such as mobile, connected TV and audio as well as corresponding advertising formats are therefore also the focus of advertisers and publishers.

Diversifying advertising channels allows advertisers to target their audience on the most relevant and engaging digital platforms. Consumers: In turn, consumers benefit from a better user experience, as their ads are now more up-to-date and relevant. Finally, pursuing an omnichannel advertising approach paves the way for Digital Advertising 2.0.

Trend 3: Set transparency as the default along the entire supply chain

Increasing transparency along the digital value chain has been and remains important, inter alia, in the context of the development of new channels. In order to ensure transparency across the board, standards must be established on the one hand and concrete measures must be taken on the part of individual market participants: internally. With regard to the standards, ads.txt, sellers.json, TCF 2.0 or the Programmatic Advertising Code of Conduct have already defined and implemented some trendsetting measures. However, in order to achieve a more transparent ecosystem, further standards and closer cooperation within the supply chain are needed.

With regard to the above-mentioned measures, individual market participants can contribute to the development of a more responsible ecosystem with only a few simple steps, such as greater transparency with regard to billing arrangements and the disclosure of how and when data is stored.

Consider changes and trends in 2021 as an opportunity

While the end of third-party cookies is a challenge in the short term, it offers advertisers the opportunity to build closer and more meaningful relationships with consumers and publishers. If we see these changes and trends as an opportunity and take concrete steps together and work together, our ecosystem will become stronger – and the experience for consumers will be all the better.