Project Rearc

About Project Rearc

Project Rearc was launched in 2020 in response to the deprecation (or limitation) of third-party cookies and other identifiers, being disrupted by consumer privacy approaches taken by browsers, operating systems, and new privacy regulations across the globe.

This taskforce is a global call-to-action for stakeholders across the digital supply chain to come together to ‘re-architect’ digital advertising to build systems and standards that preserve addressability with consumer privacy and security at the heart of everything that we do.

This taskforce brings together over 800 business, policy and technology specialists from across the world, from 487 companies, who represent various components of the digital supply chain.

The Work

When Project Rearc first came together, the group ran a comprehensive study to document all the business use cases of identifiers from key stakeholders across the industry and across the digital supply chain. In March 2021 the taskforce released a portfolio of standards for responsible addressability and ‘predictable privacy’.

We continue to work and evolve the standards within this portfolio; and in February 2022 Project Rearc announced a new workstream focused on developing Privacy Enhancing Technology (PETs) standards and tools.

 

Portfolio Approach

The reality of a ‘privacy-by-default’ internet is that the level of audience addressability will vary across different parts of the internet. The levels of addressability can be categorized into three buckets, based on whether an advertiser’s audience data can be linked to a publisher’s audience data; and if so by whom.

  • Bucket 1: Unlinked First-Party Audiences

This describes environments where there is no ability to link the publishers audience to the advertisers audience, regardless of the buying method.

Project Rearc support or solutions in this area: Seller Defined Audiences (SDA)

  • Bucket 2: Browser or Operating System- Linked Audiences

This describes environments where the browser or operating system does the audience linking.

Project Rearc support or solutions in this area: SKAdNetworks List, PETs workstream

  • Bucket 3: 1:1 Linked Audiences

This describes environments where publisher and advertiser audiences can be linked using some token of identity resolution and data management platforms.

Project Rearc support or solutions in this area: User ID 2.0, User-Enabled ID Tokens: Best Practices

The Global Privacy Platform, Accountability Platform and PETs Initiative additional initiatives from Project Rearc that will support across all three buckets.

Overview of Project Rearc Solutions

  • Accountability Platform
    A system designed to ensure that supply chain participants can consistently show they are adhering to and respecting consumer preferences. Read more
  • Global Privacy Platform (GPP)
    A unified global architecture to manage consumer privacy preferences according to local level regulations. Read more.
  • PETs Initiative
    PETs are sophisticated technologies currently employed by enterprises within the insurance and financial industries and they are used to maximize data security while minimizing the use of personal data.  This workstream explores the integration of such technology within the advertising industry to preserve the security of first-party data. Read more.
  • Seller Defined Audiences (SDA)
    Enables publishers, DMPs and data providers to scale their first-party data responsibly and reliably without data leakage or reliance on technologies that are being disrupted. Read more. 
  • SKAd Network Lists
    Created to support companies adopting Apple’s SKAdNetwork measurement solution. The SKAdNetwork List is a tool designed to help manage and maintain SKAdNetwork IDs. Read more.
  • User-Enabled ID Tokens: Best Practices
    Guidelines for the encryption and use of user-enabled IDs—notably email addresses or phone numbers—in scenarios when online publishers or marketers offer personalized content or services tied to a user-provided email or phone number. Read more.

Getting Involved

The whole industry is invited to participate in Project Rearc.

The removal of third-party cookies and identifiers will have a profound impact on all digital advertising stakeholders, and we encourage you to participate in laying the foundations for tomorrow’s solutions for data collection, data processing, ad targeting, measurement, and optimization; driven by the need to enhance consumer transparency and industry accountability.

Let’s re-architect the digital marketing industry together! Find out how to get involved HERE.