Simon Cetin, founder and partner at iPROM and head of the Retoba Lab, emphasized the importance of data sovereignty in digital advertising in an article for Marketing magazin. He argued that companies without the vision to build their own data ecosystems end up paying others to access and activate their own data, which in the long run puts them in a dependent position and drives up marketing costs.

“Simply put, companies or organisations that lack the vision to build their own data ecosystems – their own walled gardens – are paying others to access and activate their own data. In reality, digital advertising has never been simply about investing to reach a target audience; it’s a question of data sovereignty for decision-making.”

According to Cetin, every euro invested in advertising should generate not only sales results but also long-term data value. Without their own infrastructures and strategies to collect and activate their data, brands leave this value in the hands of those from whom they order or buy advertising. Ultimately, this puts the brand in a dependent position and increases marketing costs.

For this reason, iPROM is developing a smart infrastructure for its clients, built on first-party brand data and data generated alongside advertising across all platforms and media. This approach enables simultaneous advertising management and real-time strategy optimisation. The effectiveness of this vision is backed by facts and numerous case studies.

“The third wave of digital advertising we are discussing is not the future – it is the present. The question is not whether companies will adapt, but whether they will dictate the rules of the game in their segment and niche. The winners are not those who invest more in advertising, but those who use it to build smarter data ecosystems. In the digital environment, these are the fundamental building blocks of a company’s or brand’s value. What’s more, strong data foundations also allow brands to tap into new revenue streams that may be undiscovered today,” he adds.

Simon Cetin highlighted retail media networks, which retailers are already setting up, as a key area for future growth.

“Look at the US, they have captured almost 20% of the digital advertising pie in the past year. This and similar business models will expand to different industries and sectors in the coming years,” Cetin concludes.

This commentary was originally published in the print edition of Marketing magazin (Vol. 525, pp. 58-59) in the article Are you ready for the third wave of digital advertising?