The ninth P of marketing: Privacy as a growth lever
Proving why Privacy deserves its place as the ninth strategic pillar in the modern marketing mix: new data and insights from 200 UK and US senior marketing leaders on the brand and performance payoff of Privacy-Led Marketing.
Executive Summary
Trust is the internet’s most valuable currency and growth-driver. But it’s volatile. As AI scales across marketing, the advantage shifts to brands that earn trust – by proving data integrity and securing consent at every step.
Our new, original research with 200 senior marketing leaders in the UK and US shows:
- 77% report better performance after adopting privacy-led practices
- 88% expect privacy to be a core competitive pillar within two years
- Yet 54% still fear regulation will slow growth.
With additional insights from CMOs at Argos, HSBC and Usercentrics, plus experts from Google, this report quantifies the impact of Privacy-Led Marketing, pinpoints the confidence gap, and offers a practical framework to turn privacy from an obligation into an advantage.
Privacy-Led Marketing
Privacy-Led Marketing is an ethical and user-first approach that redefines how brands connect, perform, and build trust.
By turning consented data into a performance driver, it enables compliant data capture, meaningful personalization and measurable impact.
Privacy-Led Marketing champions transparency, empowers user choice and transforms every interaction into an opportunity to earn trust, fuel sustainable growth and deliver long-term value.
Welcome to the era of the ninth P
The story starts back in the 1960s when the strategic pillars of modern marketing were founded on the classic four Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Since then - roughly every two decades - marketing has gone through a significant revolution. People, Positioning, Processes were added along the way. Then, Performance was front and center.
Now, we’re in the Privacy era - one that goes hand-in-hand with user consent, or permission. And Privacy is the most powerful P of all.
Why? Because privacy is becoming a performance system. And brands have an opportunity to turn permission into profit by treating user consent as infrastructure and first-party data as the growth asset. Trust then becomes the compounding loop across brand, measurement and media. Marketers face twin pressures: shifting tech standards and rising regulatory scrutiny.
Where are you on the Privacy-Led Marketing maturity curve?
200 senior marketing leaders from across the UK and US rated their organization’s Privacy-Led Marketing journey. There’s already lots of progress across the industry – and even more opportunity to push forward and power growth. Find out how, here.
Benchmark against your peers: how would you rate your organization’s maturity when it comes to Privacy-Led Marketing?
Leading
Embedded across the organization
Advancing
In progress with strong pockets
Emerging
Early stage initiatives
Nascent
Awareness only, limited action
“The most successful companies in the next decade will be the ones that earn trust at every step. CMOs have an opportunity – and a responsibility – to lead this shift. To bring Privacy-Led Marketing into the heart of brand strategy, reshape how teams think about data, inspire creativity rooted in respect, and align growth with governance. This isn’t theory: CMOs are already seeing measurable uplifts.”
Dive into the full report and you’ll discover:
A sector in flux
The new digital advertising tools, regulations and consumer behaviors reshaping how campaigns are planned and delivered.
- 46% disrupted by Google Consent Mode
- 54% fear privacy rules could slow growth in the year ahead
Trust as strategy
The privacy-led practices powering stronger results and smarter, long-term advantages.
- 86% say consumer trust is highly important to their marketing strategy
- 77% believe consumer trust has grown in marketing
Privacy as rocket fuel
How building transparent and respectful relationships with consumers is a core, strategic advantage.
- 77% report better performance in the past year thanks to Privacy-Led Marketing
- 88% say privacy will be a core pillar of a competitive marketing strategy within two years
What’s in the way?
The roadblocks holding marketers back.
- 59% still treat privacy as a legal obligation rather than a growth lever
- 40% don’t explain how they’re using consumer data for AI
The answer: driven by people, not just policy
How to kick off Privacy-Led Marketing? It’s down to consumers, stakeholders and leadership.
- 48% say it’s driven by consumer demand
- 41% report strong internal advocacy pushes it through
7 steps to becoming a Privacy-Led Marketing pro
Permission has replaced persuasion. Discover the playbook to earn it.
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