The impact of the General Data Protection Regulation on digital marketing and analytics

Abstract

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has a substantial impact on all areas of digital marketing and analytics, including first and third-party data collection, targeting and segmentation, campaign execution and analysis. Since its introduction, the digital marketing industry has made various changes to its practices to comply with the new law, changing the landscape for marketers, advertisers and publishers. This paper reviews the nature and impact of these changes, and makes several recommendations for marketers who may still be unclear on how to balance their own interests with those of the individuals with whom they wish to communicate through their marketing. It also discusses strategies to mitigate the impact of the restrictions imposed by the GDPR on data collection and processing, particularly through third parties.