2021 prediction: CMOs will be forced to radically 're-engineer' a key strategy method

Chief marketing officers (CMO) are going to be forced to rethink the way they gather customer data in order to make key decisions on spend amid the onslaught of tighter and more onerous data privacy rules across the world.

According to global researcher and consultancy Forrester in a new report, one in four CMOs will invest in consent and preference management in 2021 and will also have to switch up their methods of pulling data.

“The inevitable death of the third-party cookie and the growing regulatory scrutiny of digital advertising ecosystems will force CMOs and their marketing teams to reengineer the way they obtain and manage consumers’ personal data.

“In 2021, one in four CMOs will seek the support of comprehensive consent management solutions that enable contextually relevant, zero-party data collection and allow marketing teams to manage consent, including opt-out and do not sell, and customers’ preferences.

“If implemented properly, these solutions provide marketing teams with increased data granularity and accuracy. They can also deliver CX improvements. CMOs who lack these tools or rely on solutions that focus solely on cookie management and measurements must start evaluating alternative options now.”

WATCH: Privacy in the COVID-19 era: Businesses face new data protection challenges

Customer data privacy has been a focus of lawmakers and regulators for years and companies have had to continually navigate new rules governing the gathering and retainment of customer data across multiple jurisdictions.

In June this year, tech giant Apple (AAPL) executives stressed the company’s commitment to privacy and took multiple shots at Google (GOOG).

Two days later, Google CEO Sundar Pichai struck back with a defense of its privacy policies, and announced new improvements.

“As we design our products, we focus on three important principles: keeping your information safe, treating it responsibly, and putting you in control,” Pichai wrote on Google’s blog. “Today, we are announcing privacy improvements to help do that, including changes to our data retention practices across our core products to keep less data by default.”

Facebook (FB) has continually been scrutinised by lawmakers for years on data privacy.

Watch: Highlights from Mark Zuckerberg’s Congressional Hearings in 2018