One of the world's largest ad buyers spent years building a marketing ecosystem based on digital user data, conflicting with Apple's privacy actions
According to The Wall Street Journal, Procter & Gamble joined companies working with the China Advertising Association to test a new data collection tool designed to circumvent Apple's Application Tracking Transparency guidelines.
The state-sponsored Chinese Advertising Agency has developed a new tracking method called CAID to change access to the IDFA or advertising identifier of an iPhone or iPad. Apple reported that starting with iOS 14.5, apps will not allow access to a device's IDFA without explicit user permission; this will affect cross-app and cross-site tracking used for ad targeting.
CAID - China Advertising ID is testing in China with major companies such as Baidu, ByteDance (TikTok) and Tencent, as well as Proctor and Gamble. In mid-March, Apple began warning developers not to circumvent Application Tracking Transparency rules using methods such as CAID. Apple told developers that attempting to circumvent the new ad tracking restrictions would result in its removal from the App Store.
An Apple spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal "App Store" terms and guidelines apply equally to all developers around the world, including Apple. We strongly believe that users' permission is required before they can be monitored. Applications that are found to be ignoring the user's choice will be rejected. "
As a leading advertiser around the world, P&G has a great stake in tracking users and is the largest Western company involved in efforts to create an Application Tracking Transparency alternative. It has many big brands including P&G, Gillette, Charmin, Pampers, Tide, Bounty, Pantene, Crest, Febreeze and more.
In a statement, P&G told The Wall Street Journal that it provided input to the Chinese Advertising Agency to "deliver useful content that consumers want, in a way that gives priority to data privacy, transparency and consent." Delivering useful content to consumers "means partnering with platforms and publishers, both directly and through our advertising associations around the world."
P&G has its own consumer database that is not affiliated with Facebook, Google and other advertising platforms. According to The Wall Street Journal, P&G has built a database of 1.5 million customers worldwide using a combination of anonymous consumer IDs and personal information shared by customers. P&G largely uses this database in China, where it spends 80 percent of its digital ad purchases on targeted ads.
P&G refused to provide additional details about the CAID tool and did not say whether it would use the technology. It is not yet clear how Apple will respond to CAID if some of the world's largest companies adopt the ad tracking alternative. When news of the warnings broke out to Chinese developers, a Chinese marketing industry veteran said Apple's actions could "halt" CAID testing.
Other US companies such as Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Nielsen are also working with the Chinese Advertising Agency on CAID.
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