The 9th P of marketing
Why marketers are missing the mark on using privacy to drive growth
Marketing’s favorite framework (the 4 Ps) has had more remixes than a ‘90s club anthem. From Product, Price, Place and Promotion, then came People, Processes, Packaging and Physical Evidence, then Performance. Now, it’s time for the real chart topper.
Marketing has changed more in the last five years than in the five decades before. It started with GDPR, accelerated with the decline of third-party cookies and reached a tipping point as consumer trust – which, still, in 2025 continues to erode – and consented data became a brand’s most valuable currency. Yet for all that change, most CMOs still say they only truly own one P: Promotion. And too often, that means being seen as “the department that just makes ads.”
In conversation with The Drum at WPP Stream, Center Parcs CMO Andres Neira de Black, Chris Watts from Ogilvy, Romain Mallard from Coca-Cola, Niko Bartzoulanos from Electrolux, Heba Fantani from the government of Ras Al Khaimah and Chris Moody from Landor all agreed: marketing has a serious image problem – and it’s time we fixed it. It’s not just about campaigns; it’s about shaping products, influencing the customer experience and guiding how the company evolves, the panelists said. So why aren’t more CMOs driving those decisions?
Because, if the Ps are the foundation of how you build marketing strategy and drive growth for the business, we’ve neglected to see what may be the most powerful P of all: Privacy.
Privacy isn’t a bolt-on. It’s not only a compliance issue. It’s a brand equity issue. And that makes it a boardroom issue. The brands that treat it like a brand value are pulling ahead. Just ask Apple. It’s built a whole ecosystem (and marketing strategy) around user privacy, ranking in the top most trusted brands in the US and the most valuable global brand in 2025.
“If the way we collected data in-store mirrored what happens online, most customers would walk right out. Respecting privacy is a brand differentiator. As marketers, we need to think about earning trust by offering real value, at the right moment.”
Adelina Peltea chief marketing officer, Usercentrics
Welcome to the era of the 9th P: Privacy. It doesn’t just belong in the marketing mix, but at the center of it – because respecting user choices about what happens to their data is a smart growth strategy that marketers need to reflect in the way they build their strategy.
Forgetting that people are still people
Every time marketing hits an inflection point, the playbook expands. In the ‘60s, it started with the 4 Ps we all know: Product, Price, Place and Promotions. Since then, it has roughly expanded every 20 years. In the 80s, we added People, Processes, Packaging and Physical Evidence. And then came the 00s when everything went online, and the focus turned to digital technologies to track and gather all the data possible, putting Performance into the mix.
The evolution of marketing Ps: a brief history
It was at this point when marketing went digital, that something got lost. In the race for automation, reach and real-time targeting, we started treating humans like datapoints. But customers don’t change just because the interface does. Whether it’s a website, app, or AI-powered chatbot, people expect the same thing they always have: respect, clarity, and value.
Now, with AI changing how people search and discover brands, privacy is even more paramount. Usercentrics research highlights that 59% of consumers are uncomfortable with data used to train AI; while 48% say that they trust humans over AI with personal data.
“When we went digital in the 2000s, we forgot that humans are humans. They have the same expectations in a physical world as they have in a digital world,” says Peltea. “Our behaviors need to mature in the digital world to address that because we are now at a critical point where data consent and access to data is steadily declining on all fronts.”
And when that goes missing? So does the trust. So much so that The Gallup Survey ranks advertising practitioners among the least-trusted professions for the second year running. Why? Because we asked for too much, gave too little, and left people in the dark.
Source: The State of Digital Trust 2025, Usercentrics
“Marketers have misused not only their access to data, but also what is done with it across the lifecycle, which has broken the trust and the relationships with their customers,” said Peltea. And it’s true. Now marketers are all dealing with the fallout – disappearing cookies, declining opt-ins and tighter regulation across every channel.
We’ve hit a trust deficit. It’s time to rebuild that relationship. And privacy is the only way back. Because today’s audiences are different to those of decades past. They’re not just clicking – they’re consciously choosing the brands they trust. What worked in a world of shelf space doesn’t fly in a world of scrolls and swipes. Permission has replaced persuasion. And marketers need a new set of tools, values and strategies to earn it.
How the 9th P plays out across the marketing mix
Privacy doesn’t replace the Ps – it realigns them around what modern audiences expect.
Product: Built with user control and transparency at its core. Place: Digital and physical spaces that respect consumer boundaries. Promotion: Relevant, welcome, and consented - not creepy. People: Empowered by choice, not forced by default. Performance: Stronger signals. Sustainable ROI. Built on trust.
The data is the end point. The journey is trust. It’s about building that journey and relationship with your customers, for them to give you the right consent at the right time and share data that’s valuable. “Privacy is the thread that runs through every P – it’s what makes the mix coherent again in a fractured digital world,” says Peltea.
The major drivers of trust are...
Source: The State of Digital Trust 2025, Usercentrics
But privacy-first doesn’t mean performance-last. Consumers say they will walk away from a brand that misuses their data. Whereas brands that bake in privacy – through consent, transparency and respectful UX – aren’t just keeping regulators happy. They’re outperforming. With cleaner data, smarter signals, and better relationships.
The tech sands are shifting too. Google, for example, recently reduced the minimum audience size for Customer Match campaigns from 1,000 to 100 users, opening the door for smaller brands to build precision campaigns with privacy baked in, without using massive data pools.
Embracing the new marketing mindset
Marketing’s job used to be attention. That’s still true, but now it comes with permission. And with privacy as a strategic pillar, CMOs can regain what’s been lost in recent years: trust. They may not own all the Ps, but they can be the ones to unify them under a shared value system.
“The rise of the digital age forced us to rethink every channel and strategy. Now it’s time to rethink our principles.”
“Today, we need new principles for data minimization, informed consent, and respect for digital privacy. Brands don’t win because they shout the loudest, they win because they build the most trusted customer journey. Privacy-Led Marketing empowers brands to build trust at every touchpoint.” says Peltea.
Privacy as the 9th P isn’t optional, it’s a strategic and competitive advantage that marks a new era for the beginning of marketing as it should (and was always meant to) be.
3 ways to build privacy into the marketing mix
Build on principle, with permission
Go back to basics but with modern priorities. Embed data privacy as a core marketing principle - not only a compliance checkbox. Start with trust, and design strategies that treat privacy as a branded experience and long-term growth driver.
Operationalize privacy across the full marketing lifecycle
Treat privacy as a point of pride, not pain. Ensure your teams have the tools and processes to collect data compliantly, activate consented audiences, and measure performance in a privacy-safe way, end to end.
Rethink your data dependencies
See privacy as a user right, not a feature of notice. Shift focus from third-party data to first- and zero-party sources. Empower your teams to use data customers willingly share and build stronger, more transparent relationships in return.