TikTok collaborates with Dentsu, providing a new data tracking system for marketers

TikTok has recently announced a partnership with Dentsu, the Japanese advertising agency. The partnership offers an interesting alternative to web tracking for brands through Dentsu’s ‘Digital X’ process.

More importantly, it allows marketers to track data in a privacy-friendly way.

As part of the new process, advertisers will be able to track user data through the TikTok Events API, which will be merged into X-Stack

Despite increasing data flow constraints, all social platforms are working to provide alternative tracking solutions to ensure that campaign performance measurement is properly tracked.

It is well known that Meta faced huge financial losses as a consequence of Apple's privacy policy changes. Google is also working on scaling back its tracking on the web as the measurement landscape becomes more and more restrictive.

Some marketers are looking to increase automation to improve ad performance. Third-party providers, such as Dentsu, are now operating to provide alternative solutions that enable integrated data tracking in a privacy-friendly manner.

The integration will allow for greater response tracking to evaluate the efficacy of their TikTok campaigns.

The demise of third-party cookies has a profound impact on marketers. It has been arduous for marketers to collect customer data and implement precise ad targeting.

Though marketers are leveraging first-party data, it only allows them to have a partial view of customers’ journeys. A holistic view of the customer journey is paramount for marketers to gain meaningful insights so that they can optimize their marketing campaigns.

On the one hand, concerns about data privacy are growing. As a result, more stringent privacy laws and regulations are enacted. Customers, on the other hand, are increasingly concerned about how brands use their data. This, in turn, puts pressure on marketers to devise a solution that allows for ad personalization while respecting consumer privacy.

At this point, TikTok's decision to integrate TikTok's event API with Dentsu's 'Digital X' appears promising, given marketers' gradual shift away from cookie-tracking. Because it is solely a server-side mechanism, marketers can no longer rely on cookies. Needless to say, the digital X enables marketers to track user behavior on websites, such as website visits, logins, and so on, using server access logs with the users' permission.

We believe that the move is tremendous for marketers. It prepares them for a cookie-less world because it allows marketers to improve tracking and, thus, ad performance by replacing current systems while remaining privacy-compliant.

In short, by integrating with digital X, TikTok is enticing brands and marketers with improved security, privacy control, and optimized ad targeting.