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What Is CCPA? Overview, Laws, Requirements, & Future

January 4, 2021

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As we leave our data on every site we visit, personal information has become a valuable asset for both consumers and companies.

For that reason, organizations process increasing amounts of personal information every day.

While there is nothing wrong with that, many companies sell the data of consumers to make a profit without their consent.

At the same time, with a hacker attack taking place every 39 seconds, a great share of organizations have failed to protect their customers’ sensitive personal information from data breaches that cost $3.86 million on average.

For that reason, data protection and privacy have become an important issue, with 46% of consumers feeling they have lost control over their personal information.

Besides consumers, governments have also realized the importance of data privacy. As a result, they have passed laws to provide increased control to their citizens and regulate how businesses can interact with their personal information.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is among such data privacy laws, which we will explore more in detail in this article.

What Is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)?

The CCPA refers to the California Consumer Privacy Act, a data privacy law passed by the California state legislature in June 2018.

Also called the “California GDPR” and “GDPR Lite,” the CCPA follows the footsteps of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The CCPA introduces new rules related to how businesses can collect and process data, consequences for non-compliance and breaches, as well as rights that allow California residents to have increased control over their personal information.

When Did the CCPA Go Into Effect?

While the state of California passed the law on June 28, 2018, the CCPA only went into effect on January 1, 2020.

Affected businesses were given six full months to comply with the law as part of a grace period. Commencing July 1, 2020, California authorities have the right to enforce the law and fine companies for non-compliance.

Who Does the CCPA Apply to?

The California Consumer Privacy Act applies to two different parties.

On one side is the consumer, defined as a California resident under the CCPA. Every natural person who resides in the state – even if physically outside California for a temporary or transitory purpose – is considered a California resident.

Since the CCPA provides increased control over their personal information, consumers are clearly the ones who benefit from the state’s data privacy law.

Indeed, under California’s data protection law, businesses don’t have much choice other than to comply with the CCPA’s rules.

However, the CCPA does not apply to all organizations.

To qualify as a business under the CCPA, the organization has to be a for-profit company that “does business” in California.

While this definition is rather vague, it means that an organization doesn’t have to be located in the state (or even in the United States) to be affected by the CCPA.

Instead, any for-profit business that serves California residents have to comply with the state’s data protection laws if it meets one of the following:

Has an over $25 million gross annual revenue,
Purchases, receives, or sells the personal data of 50,000 or more California residents, households, or devices, or
Earns 50% or more of its annual revenue from selling the personal information of California residents.

It’s important to mention since IP addresses are considered personal information under the CCPA, any for-profit organization operating a website that has at least 50,000 unique visits from California in a given year has to comply with the state’s privacy rules.

The CCPA also applies to data brokers that are defined in the privacy law as organizations collecting and selling consumer personal information to third parties without having a direct relationship with end-users.

However, the CCPA exempts organizations regulated by certain other laws from complying with the California Consumer Privacy Act’s rules.

Examples of these organizations include credit bureaus as well as certain financial institutions and insurance firms.

Why Is the CCPA Important?

The CCPA is an important step towards consumer data privacy.

Until the law came into force, organizations could interact with citizens’ personal information without any major rules or accountability.

Nowadays, personal information is precious and extremely valuable. While businesses benefit from the worth of personal data, consumers largely tend to share significant amounts of their data without realizing it.

Without a data protection law, businesses can’t be held accountable for how they store and interact with the consumers’ personal information. On top of that, they can collect and sell personal data to make a profit without the users’ knowledge or consent.

In the worst-case scenario, the lack of proper security measures could lead to consumer data being obtained by malicious parties, potentially causing serious damages to the victims.

Similar to the EU’s GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act focuses on fixing the above issues by introducing stricter rules for businesses with the goal to safeguard consumer data and the privacy of the users.

Businesses impacted by CCPA may need to allocate an increased amount of resources to comply with the new rules in order to handle consumer data with care and avoid being fined by authorities.

With that said, the CCPA also provides some benefits to organizations. Upon compliance with the privacy rules, businesses can highlight how they protect their customers’ data to earn the loyalty and trust of consumers.

It’s also crucial to emphasize that the CCPA is a state-wide privacy law designed to safeguard the personal information of California residents. Currently, the United States lacks a federal law that offers data protection on the national level.

Interestingly, it is increasingly becoming the standard for US businesses to use CCPA-compliant privacy measures not just for California citizens but also for all their users throughout the nation (and even overseas).

How Does the CCPA Define Personal Information and What Data Does It Cover?

The California Consumer Privacy Act defines personal information as data that identifies, relates to, or could be reasonably linked to an individual or his household. Examples of such include:

Name
Age
Email address
Postal address
Demographics data
Social Security Number
Driver’s license number
Records of purchased products
Geolocation data
Internet browsing history
IP address
Biometric data (e.g., fingerprints)
Financial information (e.g., credit card data)
Account name or another online identifier
Inferences from other personal information that can be used to create a profile about someone’s characteristics and preferences

The CCPA does not cover publicly available data from federal, state, or local government records. Professional licenses and public real estate records are good examples of data not covered under the CCPA.

Are Cookies Considered Personal Information Under the CCPA?

For business owners, it’s essential to take a look at whether and how the CCPA impacts the cookies they collect about California consumers.

Cookies refer to small text files that a website places on a user’s browser upon visiting the site. By doing so, businesses can collect information about the consumer, the user’s device, as well as other data that helps them recognize the user when he or she returns to the website.

We differentiate two types of cookies.

Cookies fall into the first category if they are necessary for a website’s core functions, recording only random identifiers, which are often deleted after the user closes his browser.

However, most cookies are placed on websites by third parties, using unique IDs to collect a wide range of data on consumers for marketing and analytical purposes.

Cookies falling into this category often store user data for longer times (even tens of years), which is a practice that can violate the consumers’ privacy.

Categorizing them as unique identifiers, cookies fall under the CCPA’s rules.

As per the notice at collection rule (more on this later), the business has to clearly display its cookie policy to users upon their visit, including what kind of personal information it collects about them and for what purpose.

Are There Any Privacy Policy Requirements in the CCPA?

The California Consumer Privacy Act requires businesses to disclose their privacy policies at a visible place on their websites.

Besides that, the companies’ websites have to include information about the privacy rights of consumers outlined in the CCPA (e.g., the right to know) as well as how users can exercise them.

What Are the Rights and the Requirements Under the CCPA?

As mentioned earlier, the CCPA provides new rights to consumers over their data as well as rules on how businesses can interact with it.

The Right to Know

The right to know refers to the ability of California consumers to submit requests to businesses to disclose what personal data they have collected, used, shared, or sold about them, along with the reasons for doing so.

Consumers can request businesses to provide the following information:

The categories of personal information collected
Specific records of personal data collected
The categories of the sources the business used to collect the data
The purposes for using the personal information
The categories of third parties the business shares the data with
The categories of personal information the business discloses or sells to third parties

However, businesses can deny the consumers’ right to know requests in some cases, including:

The company can’t verify the consumer’s request
The request is manifestly unfounded or excessive
The business has already responded to the right to know request of the same consumer more than twice in a 12-month period
Businesses are prohibited from disclosing sensitive personal information (e.g., financial account number, social security number, account password) even with the consumer.

However, in such a case, the company still has to inform the user about the type of sensitive personal data it collects

Revealing the data would restrict the organization’s ability to exercise or defend legal claims or rights or comply with legal obligations
The personal data falls into a category that is exempt from the CCPA (e.g., certain medical information and consumer credit reporting data)

To exercise their right to know, consumers have to submit a request via one of the methods (e.g., email message, phone call) provided by the company.

After submission, the business has 45 calendar days to respond, which can be extended to a total of 90 days upon notifying the consumer.

Organizations have to provide the sought data free of charge for the 12-month period preceding the consumer’s request.

It’s crucial to mention that consumers must submit their requests directly to the company in order to get their claims accepted.

According to the CCPA, businesses often use the solutions of multiple service providers (e.g., payment gateways, shipping companies, etc.). The privacy act treats service providers differently than the businesses they serve, making the latter parties responsible for responding to CCPA-related consumer requests. For that reason, submitting a right to know request to a service provider instead of a business will likely result in a denied claim.

Notice at Collection

A notice at collection refers to the mandatory duty of a business to inform consumers about the personal data they collect about their users at or before the point at which it gathers the information.

As per the CCPA, the notice at collection should include the categories of personal information gathered about consumers and the purposes for which businesses use them.

There is a further requirement for companies that do not just collect and use the consumers’ personal information but also sell it.

According to the CCPA, such businesses must include a “Do Not Sell” link in the notice, which users can use to opt-out of the sale of their personal data.

The Right to Opt-Out

With the right to opt-out, consumers can use the “Do Not Sell” link on a business’ website to request the company not to sell their personal data to third parties.

After submitting the opt-out request, the business is prohibited from selling the consumer’s personal data unless he later authorizes the company to do so again.

However, businesses must wait at least 12 months before asking a consumer who decided to opt-out for authorization to sell his personal data again.

It’s crucial to note that the CCPA includes some cases in which consumers are unable to exercise their opt-out rights.

A business might refuse user opt-out requests when:

The sale of the consumer’s data is necessary for the company to comply with legal obligations, defend legal claims, or exercise legal claims or rights
The personal information falls into a category that is exempt from the CCPA (e.g., certain medical data, consumer credit reporting information)

The Right to Delete

Under the CCPA, consumers not only have the right to opt-out of the selling of their personal data but also to request that businesses delete the personal information collected about them.

Similar to the right to know, businesses have a maximum of 45 calendar days – which can optionally be extended by another 45 days after notifying the user – to respond to the request.

Also, consumers must submit their requests directly to the business instead of one of its service providers, which is the same process as in the right to know.

In addition to fulfilling the consumer’s request, the company has to notify its service providers to delete any records they possess related to the user.

The CCPA includes multiple exceptions for the right to delete, including cases when the business:

Can’t verify the consumer’s request
Needs the personal information to complete the consumer’s transaction, provide a reasonably anticipated product or service, or for certain product recall and warranty purposes
The data is crucial to carry out certain business security practices
The user’s personal information is essential for certain internal uses, which are compatible with reasonable consumer expectations or the context in which the data was provided
The lack of the consumer’s data would prevent or limit the business in complying with legal obligations, exercising legal claims or rights, or defending legal rights
The CCPA does not cover that type of personal information

The Right to Non-Discrimination

Without the right to non-discrimination, businesses could prevent consumers from exercising their control over their data.

As per the CCPA, the right to non-discrimination refers to the mandatory requirement in which businesses have to provide the same quality of products at the same price to both consumers who have and who haven’t exercised their data privacy rights without denying access to their services.

However, there is one exception to the rule.

When a consumer opts out of the sale or requests his data to be deleted, a business may not be able to complete the transaction if it needs the user’s personal information or a related sale to provide him goods or services.

But in such a case, the business can still provide services to the consumer by rightfully denying his opt-out or data deletion request (as this is considered an exception under the CCPA).

While businesses can’t discriminate consumers based on whether they have exercised their rights under the CCPA, the privacy law allows them to offer promotions, deals, and discounts in exchange for collecting, storing, or selling their users’ personal data.

However, organizations can only offer such deals to consumers if the financial incentive is reasonably related to the value of the users’ personal data.

According to the CCPA, by opting out of a sale or requesting to delete their personal information, consumers might not be able to participate in the special data-related deals of businesses.

How Is the CCPA Enforced?

It’s important to mention that the CCPA lacks a dedicated government body or agency responsible exclusively for enforcing the privacy law.

With that said, the California Consumer Privacy Act can be enforced in two ways.

First, consumers have the right to sue a business violating the CCPA but only in a limited number of cases, all of which are related to data breaches.

In the instance of a data breach, a consumer can initiate a lawsuit against a business if his non-encrypted and non-redacted personal information was stolen due to the company’s failure to use reasonable security measures to protect it.

In such a case, a consumer can sue the business for statutory damages.

But before doing so, the user has to first give written notice to the company of the specific CCPA sections it violated.

After submission, the business has a maximum of 30 days to respond to the consumer with a written statement about curing the violations the user referred to, as well as a guarantee that no further CCPA violations will occur.

Unless the business refuses to respond in the above timeframe or continues to violate the CCPA’s rules, the consumer is unable to sue a company that has managed to cure the violation.

Also, consumers can only sue a business in the event the following personal information types have been stolen in a non-encrypted and non-redacted form during a data breach:

Sensitive government-issued documents or unique ID numbers used for identification purposes (e.g., social security and passport numbers, driver’s licenses, tax IDs)
Financial information combined with the security code or password that allows someone to access the account (e.g., credit card number with a CVV or a bank account number with a username and password)
Medical and health insurance information
Biometric data used for personal identification (e.g., fingerprints, photos used for facial recognition purposes)

California’s Attorney General is responsible for enforcing all other CCPA violations.

While the Attorney General can file an action against non-complying companies, he doesn’t represent individual California consumers.

Instead, the Attorney General’s office monitors consumer complaints to identify patterns of misconduct and may launch a large-scale lawsuit against violating businesses on behalf of California citizens.

What Are the Fines and Consequences of Violating the CCPA?

In the last section, we have explored how the California Consumer Privacy Act can be enforced. Now, let’s see what the fines and consequences of violating the CCPA are.

For violating the CCPA, authorities can punish a business with fines, which fall into two categories.

In the first category, the consumer is the one that sues the company. Here, the fines are less severe for non-compliant businesses, ranging from $100 to $750 per consumer per incident or actual damages (whichever is greater).

However, the state can impose a fine of up to $2,500 per violation for an organization that unintentionally breaches the CCPA. Intentional infringements come with a higher price for businesses, which can be up to $7,500 per violation.

At first glance, the CCPA’s fines can seem rather mild compared to a strict privacy law such as the EU’s GDPR, where a single penalty can be as much as 20 million EUR ($23.66 million) or 4% of the annual global turnover of a company.

However, these can add up to a hefty fine as authorities punish companies by the number of violations or incidents (or actual damages) per consumer. For that reason, non-compliance with the CCPA bears high costs even for a business that serves only a few California consumers.

How Is the CCPA Different From the GDPR?

Upon passing the bill in April 2016, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been pretty much in the spotlight, and remains so, long after it became enforceable in May 2018.

And it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Applying to all businesses targeting EU citizens, the GDPR introduced strict rules for companies while providing increased control to 515 million people over their data.

With businesses facing maximum penalties of up to 20 million EUR ($23.66 million) or 4% of their global annual turnover (whichever is greater), European authorities have imposed nearly 260 million EUR ($308 million) of fines to non-compliant companies to date.

While the CCPA and the GDPR share similar features, there are some major differences between the two data protection laws.

In the table below, you can see how the two data privacy regulations compare:CCPAGDPRBusiness CoverageFor-profit businesses that do business in California fall into one of the three categories: 1.) Have an annual gross revenue above $25 million, 2.) Interact with the personal data of 50,000 or more California consumers, 3.) At least 50% of their annual revenue comes from selling the personal information of California consumers.All data controllers and data processors that are either based in the European Union or interact with the personal information of EU citizens (no matter where the organizations are located).Parties ProtectedCalifornia consumers, referring to any natural person that resides in the state for other than a temporary or transitory purposeEU data subjects, referring to all citizens in the European Union that have their personal information collected or processed by organizationsEnforcementCalifornia’s Attorney General with the option for the state’s consumers to sue businesses for damagesThe data protection agencies of EU member states with the option for European Union citizens to initiate lawsuits against non-compliant organizationsData Types CoveredAll personal information that relates to, identifies, or could reasonably be linked with a California consumer or household, with the exception of publicly available personal data from federal, state, or local government recordsAll data that relates to an identified or identifiable EU data subjectConsent RequirementsBusinesses must obtain the consumers’ consent in the case of minors, or when users have previously opted out of the sale of their personal informationUnless a legal basis applies, organizations must obtain the consent of EU citizens prior to processing their dataSecurity RequirementsWhile the CCPA lacks specific security requirements for businesses, consumers have the right to sue violating companies for damages that are the result of their failure to follow the appropriate security practices and proceduresAs per the GDPR, both data controllers and data processors are required to implement both technical and organizational security measures appropriate to the level of risk involvedConsequences of Non-Compliance$100 to $750 per consumer per incident or actual damages (whichever is greater) in the case of consumer lawsuits, and $2,500 to $7,500 per violation of civil penalties imposed by California’s Attorney GeneralUp to 20 million EUR ($23.66) or 4% of the annual global turnover of the violating organization (whichever is greater)

In addition to the differences listed above, there’s another main difference between the two data privacy laws.

While it includes most of the rights introduced in the GDPR, the CCPA lacks the right to rectification and the right to object to automated decision-making.

Also, the CCPA only provides partial coverage for the GDPR’s right to restrict processing and the right to object to processing in the form of the right to opt-out.

What Is the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and How Is It Different From the CCPA?

Also called the “CCPA 2.0”, the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) is an extension of the CCPA.

Passed in California in November 2020, the CPRA aims to address the limitations of the CCPA to protect the state’s consumers more efficiently.

One of the most important changes the CPRA introduces is establishing an organization – called the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) – that is solely responsible for enforcing the state’s privacy laws.

With this move, the CPRA seeks to relieve the California Attorney General’s burden and instead create an agency that has the necessary resources to take legal action against non-compliant businesses.

Furthermore, the CPRA introduces two new rights:

The right to rectification: With the right to rectification, consumers can request businesses to correct inaccurate personal information.
The right to restriction: Here, consumers can exercise their right to limit how businesses use and disclose their sensitive personal data.

Also, businesses collecting personal data from California consumers have to clearly and transparently inform users in case they use automated decision-making technology.

Regarding personal information, the CPRA differentiates sensitive (e.g., social security numbers) and standard consumer data, introducing separate rules for interacting with each. Also, authorities can impose three times the fines for violations that involve minors’ personal data.

Furthermore, the CPRA requires companies to protect the privacy of not only California consumers but also of their employees and independent contractors.

Although the CPRA was passed in November, it will only become effective on January 1, 2023, and enforceable on July 1, 2023.

With that said, the refined privacy law will likely have an impact on how companies collect personal information from January 1, 2022.

What Are the Advantages and the Downsides of the CCPA?

In this section, we have collected the advantages and the downsides of the California Consumer Privacy Act.ProsConsIncreased data privacy rights for consumersLess rights than in the GDPR, which only apply to California consumers on the state levelWhile the California Attorney General is responsible for enforcing the CCPA, consumers can sue companies for statutory damagesThe CCPA lacks an agency solely dedicated to enforcing the consumers’ privacy rights and California residents can only commence lawsuits against violating businesses in a limited number of casesAs the refined version of the CCPA, the CPRA introduces more rights to California consumers and fixes some of its predecessor’s shortcomingsConsumers have to wait until January, 2022 before noticing the effects of the privacy law, which will not become enforceable until July, 2023Since there is no upper limit for the fines, organizations violating the CCPA’s rules face dire consequencesThe CCPA doesn’t cover all types of personal information and only applies to for-profit organizations that do business in California and fall into one of the three threshold categoriesDespite being only a state-wide privacy law, since it applies to a large part of US organizations, the CCPA introduces a new standard for data privacy across the United StatesBusinesses can take advantage of their compliance with the CCPA to increase the trust and loyalty of their customers

CCPA: A Crucial Step Towards Consumer Data Privacy

Providing increased control to California consumers over their personal information, the CCPA is amongst the most important data privacy laws in the United States.

While it takes some extra legwork for businesses to comply with the CCPA’s regulations, they can showcase their dedication to follow the state’s data privacy laws and thereby increase their customers’ trust and loyalty.

CCPA may only cover California residents, but because the law applies to many businesses in the US and abroad, it introduces a new standard in data privacy (especially in the United States).

As a result, an increasing number of US states have come up with their own data protection regulations, with a growing chance for a federal consumer privacy law to be introduced in the (near) future.

On the flip side, the CCPA is not as strict as the EU’s GDPR and clearly has its shortcomings.

With that said, the newly passed California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) will provide a solution to the majority of those issues.

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Permission Joins Impact’s Developer Partner Network to Revolutionize Affiliate Marketing with Web3-Powered Rewards

Feb 11th, 2025

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‍Partnership Combines Web3 Innovation and Affiliate Marketing Expertise to Drive Consumer Engagement and Trust with Brands

La Jolla, CA – January 2025– Permission, the pioneer in Web3 advertising technology, has partnered with Impact.com, the world’s leading partnership management platform, to redefine affiliate marketing with crypto-powered rewards. This collaboration marks a breakthrough moment in the marketing ecosystem, enabling brands like Walmart, Target, and Adidas—already thriving within Impact’s ecosystem—to supercharge consumer engagement with ASK tokens while prioritizing privacy and transparency.

By joining Impact.com’s extensive network of over 1,000 technology partners, Permission empowers advertisers to seamlessly integrate Web3 rewards into their affiliate campaigns. Through this partnership, brands can reward users for their time, attention, and engagement—shifting the paradigm from passive impressions to active participation, all while respecting global privacy standards like GDPR and CCPA. This is on top of Permisson’s 350,000+ userbase and over $45 million rewards that have already been paid out.

Key Highlights of the Partnership:

For Advertisers: Effortlessly integrate Permission’s ASK Rewards through Impact.com to drive conversions and loyalty.
For Consumers: Earn ASK tokens for engaging with affiliate campaigns, gaining a direct stake in the brands they love.
For Brands: Access real-time insights into user behavior while building transparent, trust-driven relationships with audiences.

“Impact.com’s network unlocks unprecedented opportunities for Permission to bridge Web2 and Web3 marketing strategies at scale,” said Charlie Silver, CEO of Permission. “Our collaboration enables brands to create real, measurable value for users while redefining affiliate marketing in an era where privacy and engagement are paramount.”

Why This Matters for Marketers:

Boosted ROI: Crypto rewards foster greater engagement, increasing conversions and brand advocacy.
Sustainable Relationships: Incentivized campaigns build long-term loyalty through meaningful user interactions.
Future-Proof Privacy: Permission’s opt-in model ensures compliance with evolving global privacy regulations.

As digital marketing shifts toward consumer empowerment, Permission and Impact.com’s partnership signals the rise of a fair, transparent, and value-driven economy where users, brands, and advertisers all win.

About Permission

Permission is a leader in Web3 advertising, empowering users to take control of their data and earn rewards for engaging with brands. Leveraging blockchain technology, Permission enables advertisers to build trust, transparency, and value in the digital economy. Learn more at http://permission.ai.

About Impact

Impact is the leading partnership management platform, empowering businesses to scale and optimize their affiliate and partner programs. With a global network of developer partners and advanced technology solutions, Impact connects brands with new opportunities for growth. Visit www.impact.com for more information.

Media Contact:

Charlie Silver

CEO

media@permission.ai

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Insights

Zero Party Data: The Holy Grail of Consumer Data

Jul 9th, 2020

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Tension exists in modern advertising. Cambridge Analytica, GDPR, and numerous breaches have prompted a privacy whiplash against brands who were careless with data, and for good reason, but users are also demanding more and more personalized experiences — requiring nuanced data.

Even when advertisers are working with the best they can get, modern data collection is littered with problems. Advertisers are often left with inferred and piecemeal data, resulting in a mismatch that frustrates consumers.

Fortunately, there are solutions being developed, and one such innovation is known as zero party data (or ZPD). Zero party data puts the power back in the hands of consumers and enables businesses to collect more accurate data by fostering genuine, opt-in interactions.

Before we go into why zero party data will define advertising in the 21st century, let’s cover what kind of data we currently use.

The Three Types of Data Commonly Used Today

First Party Data

First party data is proprietary data collected by companies directly from its customers.

This most commonly includes email addresses, birthdays, addresses, purchase history, etc. This is the data most of us are familiar with. From Facebook Pixel data to sales spreadsheets, first party data is relied upon for day-to-day activities across modern businesses. It’s collected and owned by the business rather than the consumer.

First party data is where issues are most prominent (Equifax’s staggering failure comes to mind), and it’s the reason we have regulatory bodies in place such as the PCI Security Council. User data is sensitive, and the transition into a technology-first economy has not been kind to the average consumer’s privacy.

Second Party Data

Second party data is first party data sold to other companies.

It’s collected the same way as first party data, and then it’s packaged up and sold. A common example is email lists. If you’ve ever received a random email from a company, then your email was sold as second party data. Shared internet browser cookie data and product preferences are also popular second party data, and these data sets can either be consumer-specific or anonymous.

Third Party Data

Third party data are large data collections gathered by companies who are not the original collectors of that data.

Think inferred data, psychographics, income based on zip codes, etc.

For example, in fashion, there are data reports that forecast color trends for upcoming seasons. These reports are compiled by a company that takes the time to buy or license data from a wide variety of sources, compile them, and then present them in a useful way.

More generally, third party data usually covers demographic information like estimated household income, purchase preferences, etc., and companies use this data to educate their marketing efforts and build statistical models.

What Is Zero Party Data, and Why Is It So Exciting?

Zero party data is consumer-owned data given voluntarily by the user to brands in return for a benefit.

This could be anything from:

Intention to buy
Preferences on types of ads
Demographic information such as gender, age, interests, etc.
How they identify themselves

Zero party data hands the reigns of control back to the consumer by giving them ownership of their data. Brands and third party platforms own first party data, and users own zero party data. Businesses cannot package and sell zero party data the way they sell first party data.

While self-reported customer data like email addresses, birthdays, etc. would be considered first party data in the past, the expectations consumers have around that data has forced a new distinction between data types.

Zero party data is proactive and functions as an ongoing conversation between consumers and advertisers. It’s the difference between implied interest and explicit interest, and the best ZPD is constantly evolving.

Users offer valuable information in return for better personalization or via value exchange marketing, which is when users answer an ad or survey in return for something related to their experience. For example, getting a free audiobook chapter in return for filling out a sponsored survey is an example of a value exchange.

In a way, ZPD is simply the next step in the stairs of permission marketing pioneered by thought leaders like Seth Godin. Opt-ins are the pinnacle of permission, and zero party data is exclusively opt-in. We know humans are habitually materialistic — we won’t stop buying good products if presented with the opportunity, so why shouldn’t we use technology to make the relationship between consumers and brands better?

Today’s Flawed Data Ecosystem Needs Solutions Like Zero Party Data

Zero party data wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if there weren’t problems worth fixing today. The issues with first party data and modern data exchanges are many, and here are a few of them:

Consumers have little control over their data and aren’t compensated whatsoever.

In today’s digital advertising world, consumers have limited control over their data and aren’t compensated for it monetarily. Most data is collected through user consent to join a platform, e.g. Facebook. Once a user decides to join Facebook, they are subject to ads, and that is the price they pay for using the platform. But users don’t have any choice or real control over their data — they aren’t rewarded in any way apart from being interrupted.

Businesses are often working with outdated data and are fighting against a tide of anti-advertising behavior.

Second party and third party data can be horrendously out of date and inaccurate, and even the best guesses in targeting are based on databases of old data. If a user expressed purchase intent for a car and then purchased a car, then any auto dealer using that data to push car ads to them is wasting their money. They aren’t likely to purchase two vehicles in a short time frame.

Ad blockers and private browsers are also becoming more and more mainstream, and the more sophisticated and ubiquitous consumer privacy tech becomes, the worse it is for advertisers. The best solution is to foster a voluntary exchange of data, and the best way to do that is to give ownership back to the users.

Businesses have repeatedly proven themselves incapable of protecting consumer data.

With breach after major breach, consumers are only becoming more protective of their data. This is accelerating the trend of consumer control, and consumers should have more choice in whom they trust with their data.

What Else You Need to Know About Zero Party Data

Zero party data is better for businesses too.

Zero party data isn’t all about consumers. ZPD allows businesses to:

Collect more accurate, relevant, and immediate data from consumers.
Better match products to consumer interests.
Build more brand loyalty and ad engagement by seeking permission instead of interrupting.

A consumer offering voluntary information is the most accurate form of data collection and engagement, and that’s already proven through existing first party data trends.

Zero party data isn’t perfect, yet.

It’s worth noting that the zero party data ecosystem is young, and that brings challenges for brands. For one, it’s difficult to scale, although that’s being solved by technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrencies that enable permission-based engagement.

There are also some best practices businesses need to keep in mind when collecting ZPD. For example, if someone collects zero party data clumsily, a user may feel incentivized to say what they think the brand wants to hear instead of what the consumer actually thinks. This isn’t a problem unique to zero party data, but it can distort data integrity.

Zero party data functions on trust, which will act as a natural filter for bad faith actors.

An interesting positive consequence of widespread ZPD adoption is a sort of natural selection throughout digital businesses. Predatory businesses currently rely on second and third party data sources to target and take advantage of consumers. ZPD, on the contrary, is only rewarding to advertisers if they are trustworthy (or at the very least compelling) enough to benefit from your data. This will empower consumers to reward the businesses most deserving of their data and make bad-faith actors less effective.

Getting Started and Best Practices for Collecting ZPD

Zero party data will continue to grow in this decade and beyond, eventually becoming the standard solution for transferring data between brands and consumers. If you work for a business, you can start reaping the benefits of ZPD right now.

Here are a few ways your business can start using zero party data:

1. Integrate more value-exchange ads into your marketing strategy.

Look for publishing partnerships and ways to incorporate value-exchange ads into your marketing strategy. Try partnering with a SaaS company to offer an additional day in their free trial to users who complete your survey or engage with your video. Or perhaps you take part in the robust world of value-based ads in mobile gaming, where users are rewarded with in-game currency or items for interacting with brands.

You could also look at giving away additional content or bonuses on your site for more information (this is already very popular in the inbound marketing world), with the explicit caveat that their data will never be sold. Your options are wide.

2. Set up a cycle of giving and receiving to succeed with ZPD.

Users shouldn’t be placed into static buckets. As consumers buy and grow with a brand through ZPD, there is two-way communication which results in better buying experiences for customers and more revenue for brands. Find ways to incorporate a natural refreshing of user data, whether that’s through accruable incentives or multiple opportunities over time to update their data.

3. Use blockchain to grow zero party data at scale.

One roadblock for businesses is the ability to achieve scalability when it comes to zero party data. Setting up a value-exchange marketing campaign or survey seems feasible, but when it comes to big data decisions, zero party data often falls short. That’s true, but that can be overcome with technology like cryptocurrencies that enable consumers to monetize their data and engagement.

Imagine a mobile app that’s powered by a cryptocurrency that rewards consumers in return for interacting with sponsored content. Users can then exchange or use that currency to spend it on whatever they’d like — perhaps gift cards or physical items. This lets brands collect zero party data to better serve a target demographic while giving consumers a cash equivalent for engaging with brands they are genuinely interested in. It’s a win-win.

Permission.io is building the ideal zero party data ecosystem for users, developers, and brands.

See what we’re building.

4. Use ZPD in tandem with first party data for the best marketing results.

Until a full-fledged permission-based internet and app ecosystem is available, combining first party data and zero party data is the best approach for smart advertising. Serve ads based on the most amount of ZPD data as possible and always respect the user.

The Bottom Line on Zero Party Data

Zero party data is voluntary data given by a consumer to a brand, and it’s owned by the user. While the world of ZPD is still young, it has the potential to revolutionize our modern web advertising model and create a more personalized, equitable, and profitable experience for both consumers and businesses alike.

Join us as we revolutionize the internet as we know it.

Whether you’re a brand, a developer, or a user, we’re building a new ZPD-based data ecosystem that will compensate users for their data and fundamentally alter how the internet economy functions.

Get involved.

Guides

First Party Data — A Complete Guide for Marketers

Oct 30th, 2020

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If you work in marketing, chances are you use first party data every single day. Traditionally referred to as the most valuable of all data types, we use first party data to retarget consumers online, deliver specific products based on purchase behavior, and much more.

In the data economy, the smarter you are with your data, the more you will succeed. We’d also argue that the more respectful and permission-based your data collection practices are, the better experience your users will have. This positive experience turns into goodwill, which turns into loyalty and ultimately results in more sales.

Before we go into the details on first party data and how to best use it, let’s briefly cover all four major data types marketers use.

Defining the Most Commonly Used Data Types

What Is First Party Data?

First party data is any data collected by companies on their own customers.

This means any CRM data, purchase history, or demographic information you have within your system. If it was requested or collected by your company and is exclusive to your company, then it’s first party data.

Businesses collect first party data with forms, surveys, pixels, shopping records, shipping addresses, and more. This data is extremely valuable to businesses because it offers direction on how to message existing customers while giving companies a blueprint for attracting more of their best customers.

First party data is also where many privacy issues arise, with major breaches leaking sensitive information around the internet ecosystem and generally undermining the privacy of users.

What Is Second Party Data?

Second party data is any first party data sold to other companies.

If you collect data from your customers, package it up, and then sell it to another company, then that first party data becomes second party data. Conversely, if you purchase email lists, demographic information, or purchase history data directly from the company that collected that data, then you have purchased second party data.

What Is Third Party Data?

Third party data is any data that you use or buy from a company that isn’t the original collector of that data.

Third-party data is most commonly packaged into large data sets built off of first party and second-party data. It commonly includes demographic data, psychographic data, bulk email lists, and other expansive data sets.

What Is Zero-Party Data?

Zero party data is any consumer-owned data that is given up voluntarily by a consumer to a company in return for some benefit.

Meet the new kid on the block, zero-party data. This could be notification of buyer intent, shopping preferences, product feedback, identifying information, or ad preferences.

Zero-party data is the future of advertising data because users own their data in a zero-party data relationship. In first party data, companies own the data they collect.

Zero-party data is made possible through opt-ins on both sides of the advertising equation. Certain blockchain currencies require that companies pay consumers for their data. Zero-party data champions user rights while better matching users with brands, resulting in a win-win relationship that is mutually beneficial for both parties.

While zero-party data isn’t yet widely adopted, big changes are coming to the internet that will make it mainstream.

The Power of First Party Data: How Marketers Use It

Again, first party data is data you collect on behaviors and actions taken across your website, app, and/or product. This includes information in CRM profiles, your social media data, any survey responses, any email marketing data, and any other data your company has based on your users’ actions.

This is important data to advertisers and allows them to advertise with specificity and purpose. Here are a few ways you can use first party data:

1. To Build Accurate Customer Profiles

Customer-relationship-management software (CRMs) like HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Salesforce, and others are really just software designed to utilize first party data that your company collects. FPD gives companies the opportunity to build unique customer profiles, which allows you to use product and demographic-specific messaging while keeping track of sales conversations at the same time.

2. To Segment Your Customer Base

Segmentation is an incredibly important tool marketers use to create a sense of specificity. Specificity is simply targeted actions based on what you know about a customer. This could be behavior information such as pages they have viewed on your website, demographic information like gender, age, and occupation, or any other first party data that you have collected.

Any time you differentiate one set of customers from another, you are performing segmentation. If you haven’t taken the time to create buyer personas and use those to dictate your decisions around the first party data you have, then that’s your first step.

3. To Create Personalized Retargeting Campaigns

Platforms like Facebook, Adroll, Google Ads, and Pinterest allow you to deliver ads to the same people who have interacted with your profile or site. This isn’t possible without first party data. When you install a pixel on your site and track user behavior, you are collecting first party data.

4. To Build Email Automations

Email automations are built on triggers based on buying behavior, demographics, website data, and surveys — all of which are types of first party data. Whether you’re building in ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, Drip, or WildMail, it’s all powered by FPD.

5. To Educate Your New Advertising Efforts

Marketers also use FPD to give them insight into potential customer pools. For example, if you know through surveys and collected information that your best customers are U.S.-based, 35-44 females interested in science and politics, and your company is about to expand in the U.K., your first campaign in that market should target 35-44 females interested in science and politics.

You can structure your entire U.K. marketing campaign around these facts, and while any new market is unique and deserves to be treated as such, FPD helps marketers make more educated decisions and refine their experiments.

6. To A/B Test Your Marketing Efforts

A/B testing occurs any time you compare the results of two assets over a time-bound period. Let’s say you had a new product that allowed users to put a physical picture inside an item of their choice, and you identified two major selling points: the ability to “capture a memory” and “personalization.”

You could construct two separate landing pages, one with “Collect Your Memories” as the headline and the other with ‘The Most Unique and Personalized Gift Ever!” By using tools to collect how often users click and buy — a type of FPD — you could figure out which headline is more profitable and use that information to improve your campaign.

7. To Collect Product Feedback

Requesting product feedback and reviews is another useful type of FPD. Because you are collecting information from your consumers, any recorded feedback or reviews fall under the umbrella of first party data. Marketers and companies can use this data to redesign their existing products, develop new sales, find inspiration for additional features, and more.

8. To Sell Your FPD to Other Companies

Again, any first party data that is sold becomes second party data, and some companies make all of their money this way. Social media companies do this most famously, but anytime you’ve heard of email lists being sold or purchase behavior information being given to complementary businesses, that’s an example of second party data.

And so much more…

First party data is a broad umbrella under which most major marketing ideas, functions, and best practices come from. It’s the first type of data most companies use, and it is often the most valuable, although zero-party data is set to become the next star-child.

5 Common Ways Businesses Collect First Party-Data

If you’re a business operating in any capacity, you’ve already collected some types of first party data — at the very least, the data collected when you make a sale. Here are a few of the most common ways businesses collect FPD:

1. Pixels

Pixels, or site tags, are bits of code that are dropped into the header of your website pages. Every time a user loads a particular page, there’s a bit of communication that happens between that code and whatever service the pixel or tag belongs to. This communication sends anonymous information about the user, including demographic information, the actions they took on the page, and more.

Pixels are most famously associated with Facebook and Google Ads, and they are essential to any business marketing themselves online. You can figure out how to get and install your Facebook pixel here, and you can learn more about Google remarketing tags here.

2. Email Captures

There are countless ways to collect email addresses, but the most common include:

Putting an email sign-up on key website pages like your homepage.
Collecting them in person.
Collecting them during an eCommerce or in-person checkout.
Collecting them as part of a rewards program.
Collecting them in return for a PDF or other type of free information.

All major website platforms support email captures and integrate with other major email service providers. Email service providers are the companies that act as a database for your emails and allow you to contact people through them. Major ESPs include:

Gmail
Outlook
HubSpot
ActiveCampaign
Drip
MailChimp

Your choice will depend on your needs, although we are partial toward Gmail for personal use and ActiveCampaign and Drip for businesses.

3. Point-of-Sale Systems (POS)

Your POS is what gives you the ability to accept payments. It is most often used in reference to the software that powers your terminal, although most POS systems include and communicate with an online payment gateway as well.

Each time a card is swiped, information about that customer is collected. Some of this information, like purchase amount, product purchased, etc. happens automatically, and other information like email addresses, preferences, etc. are collected voluntarily when requested by the business to the customer.

The best POS systems tie directly into your CRM, allowing you to use that data to educate your marketing decisions. For example, let’s say you have a product that expires every three months. You could export all of the customer email addresses who purchased three months ago, tag those addresses in your CRM or ESP, and send a targeted email to those customers with a discount because you know it’s around the time they should be purchasing again.

4. Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM)

CRMs come in all types and variations, but they are fundamentally a way for you to centralize all the information you need to contact and interact with prospects and customers. CRMs usually include a combination of email sending and creation tools, SMS messaging tools, landing page tools, customer profile information, and email automation capabilities.

5. Manual Input via Call Centers and Employees

While first party data is much more efficient and effective when collected automatically, there is plenty of reason and opportunity to collect FPD when your team is working with your customers. Manual collection of FPD includes collecting email addresses at trade shows and writing down data from inbound sales calls.

Companies are always in pursuit of more FPD, and the best system for your company will inevitably change over time — look at data collection as a consistent effort. The cleaner, more refined, and more actionable your FPD, the better you will be to use it.

First Party Data: No Longer the Best for Marketers or Consumers

Here’s the issue. First party data is clearly one of the best tools marketers and companies have to grow their businesses, but it is a world away from perfect. For starters, users don’t own their data, meaning their personal information is constantly exploited by data-driven companies, and companies are stuck with patchwork data that doesn’t always integrate.

The solution? Give users back ownership of their data and use blockchain technology to pay users to interact with advertisers. This new model is a win-win for both users and advertisers because users have incentives to choose brands that they are genuinely interested in and advertisers eliminate ad spend and build loyalty and trust.

This gets to the heart of zero-party data — by creating an infrastructure that allows for opt-in ads to occur at scale, advertisers will have more complete, more active pools of users to engage. It eliminates so many of the headaches of targeting while giving users back control of their data that is currently harvested without their consent from internet barons like Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

Think it sounds too good to be true?

See how Permission is building that world right now.

News

Web3 Research Report: A New Paradigm for Brand Engagement

Aug 2nd, 2022

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The next generation of the internet is consumer-led and features the tokenization of data and other personal assets. In Web3, users – not big centralized platforms – have control over their data and take part in a platform’s upside.

The problems that digital advertisers have faced in Web2 – particularly, the inability to track users and access critical user data at scale due to privacy regulations – are solved by Web3 platforms that enable advertisers to compensate consumers with tokenized rewards for their engagement and consent to share data.

Download the Full Report Here

By providing consumers with a clear and equitable value exchange, brands earn loyalty and trust while opening the door to a new world of engagement opportunities.

The ability for brands to target consumers has never been easier given the ubiquity of the internet. However, a fragmented digital media ecosystem poses one set of business challenges for brands seeking to understand digital consumers, while a combination of privacy and data rights present a separate set of legal considerations to navigate. As a result, the $600 billion global digital advertising industry is ripe for disruption.

The days of consumers being analyzed and productized without any say in the matter are coming to an end. In the evolving digital landscape, collection and monetization of data by the largest consumer-facing platforms can no longer be inferred, it must be declared.

The new data economy unfolding is consumer-centric and requires permission for brands to participate.

While there is no single element driving this paradigm shift, the Web3 ethos of transparency, trust and ownership may be attributed to blockchain-based protocols. These protocols, known as smart contracts, enable a variety of engagement and transactions between consumers and brands in the real and digital worlds.

The Internet has evolved from viewing and authoring to owning.

The dial-up days of Web1 gave way to Web2 tech giants that harvested and monetized consumer data without their knowledge or consent. The arrival of Web3 represents a power shift from centralized enterprise technology vendors to decentralized, blockchain-based platforms that give control to the data owner: the consumer.

Consumer data: from EXPLOITATION to OWNERSHIP

As the saying goes, “if something is free, you are the product.”

Freemium Web2 business models made popular by Google, Meta (formerly Facebook) and other consumer-facing platforms generate billions in ad revenue. Consumers agree to allow these big tech vendors to collect, analyze and monetize their data in exchange for the privilege to use their platforms.

The advent of blockchain technology has opened the door for peer-to-peer transactions of digital assets, such as Bitcoin, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other cryptocurrencies.

While this itself is transformative, the ability for consumers to take greater agency/ownership of their data, including the ability to earn cryptocurrency rewards by sharing their attention and data with brands, enables a paradigm shift.

New solutions for a cookieless world

To highlight the significance of third party cookies, consider the following survey from Innovid: How important are 3rd party cookies for your current marketing strategy?

How will brands adjust as cookies crumble?

While first party cookies provide a more reliable means for marketers to understand consumer behavior, it is still limiting as the consumer is still unknown. Obtaining personally identifiable information (PII) such as name and/or email address is the ultimate goal for brands that seek ongoing and authentic one-to-one engagement with consumers.

Marketers will need to explore new ways to build one-to-one relationships with consumers en route to acquiring PII. Otherwise, CMOs and their agency partners will rely even more heavily on the Web2 consumer platforms that have become data overlords that rent audiences for advertising, sharing minimal campaign insights. While rent-to-own audience options would be ideal for brands, this is not feasible given Web2 business models and data privacy laws.

Zero-party data to the rescue

Understanding consumer behavior is paramount to a brand’s ability to deliver relevant, timely messaging. This is where the value proposition of a zero-party data platform becomes interesting for marketers in a cookieless world – imagine an opt-in rewards program that connects brands with consumers where time/attention are exchanged for a micropayment. The brand is able to tell its story to a qualified audience that has given consent to share information such as name and email. This quid-pro–quo is how zero-party data works: an equitable value exchange between consumers and brands.

Without the crutch of 3rd party data available for tracking, analysis and segmentation, brands will need to consider alternative means to obtain zero-party data.

If brands provide clear messaging and value exchange, consumers will share their data.

History tells us that consumers love free things (even if they are the product) as well as discounts. In addition to free or discounted items, consumers are also receptive to sharing data if it enables personalized or bespoke experiences. By leveraging zero-party audience platforms, brands can leverage one or more of these aspects to earn trust and attain fresh, fully-permissioned zero-party data.

To highlight how receptive consumers are when it comes to receiving something in return for their data, consider the following from Cheetah Digital:

Despite consumer interest, marketer knowledge and adoption of zero-party data is still in its infancy (stats below also from Cheetah Digital):

The value proposition and interest in zero-party data will accelerate as a cookie-free world becomes a reality. Investments in consent-based consumer platforms will become table stakes for brands that seek to remain relevant and maintain growth.

With proper data, permission, and orchestration, a brand can deliver an improved – or ideally- exceptional customer experience (CX). Per McKinsey, cookie degradation means brands will be pressed to earn consumer trust through compelling CX:

“The most prepared advertisers we studied are designing consumer experiences in which consumers actively consent to sharing data (for instance, transparency on data collected, visibility into value exchange, data collection seamlessly embedded into user experience). Indeed, experiences that are valuable to consumers tend to generate data as a byproduct.”

Brand touchpoints through micropayments

The ability to conduct financial transactions through ecommerce and payment platforms has been around for nearly two decades. While the definition of a micropayment varies (under $1 to $12), latency and cost factors have largely stymied mainstream use. As cryptocurrency adoption accelerates, retailers are accepting a variety of digital currencies as payment.

The list of notable companies accepting crypto payments is diverse, including: Starbucks, Home Depot, Overstock.com, Whole Foods, AT&T, DISH Network, AMC Theatres, Twitch (owned by Amazon) and more.

The ability to accept crypto payments extends beyond the largest retailers as 36% of small to medium businesses in the United States accept some form of crypto.

Serving as the backbone for credit and debit transactions, global payment processors such as Visa, Mastercard and Paypal are getting on board the Web3 bandwagon by supporting crypto, including NFTs.

During the 2022 Financial Technology Conference, Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa highlighted the NFT opportunity:

“Technology behind non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are designed to be digital representations of real-world objects, could be set to strengthen the speed of commerce and therefore serve an important catalyst for the entire payments ecosystem.”

Financial institutions are also creating crypto-related products and services for clients. For example, Goldman Sachs supports Bitcoin-based loans and re-established a cryptocurrency trading desk, while peer Fidelity Investments allows clients to allocate Bitcoin to their 401K plans.

The above is interesting for brands and marketers as it means consumers are utilizing cryptocurrency in a variety of ways. Forward-thinking CMOs who seek innovative ways to drive digital engagement have a treasure trove of opportunities in Web3.

Web3 adds liquidity to loyalty rewards programs

Brands such as Marriott, Southwest Airlines and American Express have established industry-leading loyalty rewards programs. The value proposition of offering consumers perks for continued patronage is logical but requires significant resources. Facilitating loyalty rewards requires human capital and technological resources outside the means of many organizations. Perhaps the biggest hurdle loyalty programs face: liquidity constraints.

Blockchain-based rewards (e.g., NFTs or tokens) address multiple points of friction, including standard rewards programs that typically lock a consumer into that brand’s ecosystem. From a liquidity perspective, tokenized rewards can be transferred from one wallet (i.e., consumer) to another or used for a variety of purposes. This differs from rewards programs that limit ownership and site-specific use cases. In this vein, a universal rewards token (such as Permission’s ASK) expands liquidity exponentially, whereby a consumer is able to earn and use rewards across multiple brands.

Even during market downturns, technological adoption can accelerate

As we learned from the Web1 dot com bubble, not all companies survive market downturns, especially those without sufficient funding or sound business models. Adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies will continue fueling development of Web3 despite any “crypto winter.” Similar to the dot com bubble era, platforms that address market needs will prosper, while those without utility will fall to the wayside.

In the timeline below, adoption of the internet (1990-1998) and crypto (2014-2022) follow similar trajectories to reach 100 million users over an eight year period. While the dot com bubble in 2000 disrupted and bankrupted many online businesses, consumer internet adoption accelerated. By the end of 2003 – just three years after the beginning of the dot com crash – over 700 million consumers (11% of the global population) were online. If crypto adoption follows a similar pattern (assuming 2022 is a “bubble”) we can anticipate that by 2025/2026, crypto will experience widespread adoption.

Brands drive Web3 adoption and engagement through tokens and NFTs

Brands are also ramping up investments in crypto rewards, largely through non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and development of virtual worlds in the metaverse (e.g. Decentraland, Sandbox). For example, the world’s largest brewer and software company, as well as iconic CPG and lifestyle brands, are investing in solutions that enable next-generation brand engagement.

Established in 1936, Anheuser-Busch minted 1,936 NFTs to commemorate its foray into its virtual world, dubbed Budverse. Out of the lot, 1900 Core Heritage NFTs were minted ($99 each) and 36 NFTs were part of the Gold Heritage ($999 each). The NFTs represent different designs and vintages with a company press release stating each collectible is a “key to Budverse and can unlock exclusive benefits, rewards, and surprises.”

Other brands investing in Web3 include:

Microsoft (Activision-Blizzard)
Nike
Luxury brands (e.g. Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Gucci)
Coca-Cola

Smart contract protocols embedded in NFTs make them a powerful tool for brands to drive consumer engagement. In addition to artwork and collectibles, an NFT can serve as a digital key — opening the door for exclusive experiences in real life (IRL), online or in the metaverse.

Web3 is a team effort

Advertising agencies who have long acted as shepherds for brands are doing their part to prepare clients for the next iteration of the internet. The largest agency holding companies (e.g., WPP, Publicis, Dentsu) and independent agencies are acquiring boutiques, including the addition of executive avatars to deliver deeper digital experiences for clients. In addition to traditional media agencies, IT consultancies (e.g., Accenture, Deloitte Digital) are making moves to participate in Web3.

Web3 is a work in progress; however, the world’s leading brands, technologists and agencies are collaborating to build what will result in a more decentralized, consumer-centric internet. Blurring of real and digital worlds will accelerate, creating new revenue streams in the data economy. Instead of big tech companies dictating how, where, and when consumer data is collected and monetized, consumers are at the helm in the Web3 data economy.

Marketers seeking alternatives to audience rentals from big tech data oligarchs should consider joining the Web3 movement. Blockchain-based solutions open the door for new types of value exchange and engagement between brands and consumers. By enabling marketers to offer tokenized rewards, Permission provides the bridge to Web3 for consumers and brands to interact in a transparent, mutually beneficial way.

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