Targeted Ad Practices After O'Carroll: What To Do
In a significant development for digital marketers, Meta has agreed to stop targeting advertisements at UK resident Tanya O'Carroll following her legal challenge based on GDPR privacy regulations. This settlement could signal important changes ahead for businesses that rely on targeted ad.
In This Post....
-
How Could You Stay Ahead of the Curve
-
Stop Putting All Your Marketing Eggs in One Digital Basket
-
Value is still the king
-
The Golden Age of "Know, Like, and Trust" Marketing Is Back
-
What Tanya O’Carroll Did To Defeat Meta
Tanya O'Carroll, a tech policy expert, filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2022, asserting her right to object to her personal data being used for targeted ad. The case hinged on whether Facebook's ad targeting constitutes "direct marketing" under GDPR Article 21, which grants users an absolute right to opt out of such processing.
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) proved instrumental by confirming that "online targeted advertising should be considered direct marketing." Rather than risk a court ruling that could establish binding precedent, Meta settled the case, agreeing to stop targeting O'Carroll while maintaining that this agreement applies only to her.
Why This Reshape Your Premium Client Acquisition Strategy
While one settlement doesn't transform the digital landscape overnight, the implications for premium businesses deserve careful consideration:
1. Your Targeted Ad Could Be Next on the Chopping Block
High-ticket businesses often depend on identifying prospects with specific income levels, interests, and purchasing behaviors. If consumers begin exercising their right to opt out of profiling en masse, the effectiveness of these targeting capabilities could diminish substantially.
Think of it as downgrading from a precision targeting system to a "best guess" approach. Your ad spend might start reaching people whose idea of luxury is paying full price at Target instead of waiting for the sale. You'll still connect with qualified prospects, but expect your marketing efficiency metrics to take a hit as you cast wider nets to catch the same number of premium fish.
2. The Real Cost of Finding Your Ideal Client Is About to Change
Without fine-tuned targeting, marketing efficiency may decrease, potentially raising the cost to acquire premium customers. For businesses with five and six-figure offerings, where sales cycles are already resource-intensive, this represents a meaningful challenge. What once cost $500 to acquire a qualified lead might cost $1,500 or more. Your CFO's eye-twitch will develop its own eye-twitch. You'll still connect with your ideal clients eventually, but expect your customer acquisition costs to inflate faster than luxury real estate prices in a bidding war.
3. Big Tech's Playbook Is Being Rewritten (And So Should Yours)
Meta has indicated it's exploring a subscription option for UK users similar to what exists in Europe, where users can pay to avoid ads entirely. This potential shift to a two-tier system could further fragment audience reach. Just what high-ticket marketers need - another obstacle course to navigate!
Meanwhile, Meta emphasized in their statement that "no business can be mandated to give away its services for free," which is corporate-speak for "if we can't sell your data for targeting, we’ll find another way to keep our shareholders happy.” The digital marketing landscape is evolving faster than smartphone upgrade cycles, and businesses need to adapt just as quickly.
How Could You Stay Ahead of the Curve
1. Stop Putting All Your Marketing Eggs in One Digital Basket
Businesses heavily invested in social platform targeting should begin developing alternatives before their ad performance drops faster than tech stocks during an earnings miss:
-
Invest in content marketing that attracts ideal clients organically
Become the go-to resource in your space. Consider Louis Vuitton's City Guides - detailed, beautifully crafted travel publications that serve as legitimate resources for luxury travelers while elegantly associating the brand with sophisticated global exploration and cultural knowledge.
Your content should solve real problems or fulfill aspirations for your audience while subtly positioning your brand as the natural solution. The best content marketing never feels like marketing at all—it feels like a service your prospects would happily pay for separately.
-
Develop community strategies that foster genuine connections
Create spaces where your ideal clients naturally gather. Salesforce's Trailblazer Community stands as a prime example, offering free training, certification paths, and networking opportunities—open even to non-customers. Many participants develop Salesforce skills through the community before ever purchasing the platform professionally.
From Salesforce blog
The genius lies in how Salesforce turned skill-building into a movement complete with gamification, characters, and culture. When community members eventually influence purchasing decisions, they arrive pre-sold on the platform they've already mastered. Your community doesn't need to be massive—it just needs to create genuine value that exists beyond your sales funnel.
-
Explore strategic partnerships with complementary businesses
Form alliances where the whole exceeds the sum of its parts. NetJets and Four Seasons exemplify this approach, partnering to offer seamless travel experiences for wealthy clients through packages that combine private flights with luxury accommodations. This partnership creates a complete travel solution that neither company could provide alone, while each brand benefits from exposure to the other's premium client base.
The beauty of these arrangements is how they create natural customer journeys between complementary services, reducing acquisition costs while enhancing the overall client experience. The right partnership feels inevitable, not forced—as if these businesses were always meant to work together.
When one path narrows, the wise explorer already has alternative routes mapped. The smartest high-ticket businesses won't be caught flat-footed when privacy regulations change the game—they'll be too busy counting the leads from channels they actually control.
2. Value is still the king
According to digital marketing analyses, we may see "further growth in the value of influencers, affiliates and other content creators who can verifiably attract an identifiable audience." This shift makes perfect sense - if platforms can't precisely target users based on their data profiles, businesses will increasingly rely on partnerships with those who have already built trusted relationships with the right audiences.
Consider implementing these value-first approaches:
-
Creating genuinely valuable content that positions your brand as a thought leader
American Express demonstrated this brilliantly with their "Business Class" content hub, which offers practical business advice, industry insights, and entrepreneurial inspiration completely separate from their credit card marketing. This approach established Amex as a valuable resource for business owners, creating natural pathways to their premium financial products. Your content should solve real problems for your audience before asking for anything in return.
-
Building relationships with those who have audiences align with your ideal client profile
Rolex's longstanding partnerships with athletes, explorers, and artists exemplify this approach. Rather than merely sponsoring celebrities, they build authentic relationships with accomplished individuals who naturally embody the brand's values of excellence, precision, and achievement. When tennis champion Roger Federer wears a Rolex, it doesn't feel like an advertisement—it feels like a natural extension of his pursuit of perfection. Identify creators who have already earned the trust of your target market and develop relationships that go beyond transactional sponsorships.
From Rolex Magazine
-
Creating educational experiences that transform prospects into informed buyers
Sotheby's Wine offers masterclasses and tasting events that educate participants about fine wines while subtly positioning their auction and retail offerings. These experiences provide genuine value while naturally qualifying prospects based on their interest and engagement rather than demographic data. Education-based marketing creates a foundation of trust that targeting algorithms simply cannot replicate.
Quality will increasingly outweigh quantity as targeting precision potentially decreases. The businesses that thrive in this evolving landscape will be those that invest in creating genuine value first, building trust that persists regardless of platform algorithms or targeting capabilities. When customers actively seek out your expertise or offerings, precise ad targeting becomes far less critical to your marketing success.
3. The Golden Age of "Know, Like, and Trust" Marketing Is Back
If reaching new prospects becomes more challenging, existing relationships become proportionally more valuable. This shift makes the lifetime value of each client relationship even more critical to your business model. When direct targeting capabilities diminish, word-of-mouth and referrals rise in importance, making exceptional client experiences not just good service but essential marketing.
-
Invest in exceptional client experiences that naturally generate referrals
Ritz-Carlton's legendary service approach empowers every staff member with a $2,000 discretionary budget to resolve guest issues without managerial approval. This policy has generated countless stories of extraordinary service moments, from retrieving forgotten jewelry to fulfilling unusual requests. One famous example: staff members shipped a child's forgotten stuffed giraffe back home, along with a photo album documenting the toy's "extended vacation" at the resort.
These experiences create such powerful goodwill that clients eagerly share them, turning each customer into a potential marketing channel. For your high-ticket business, identify moments in your client journey where you can deliver unexpectedly remarkable service that clients can't help but discuss with others.
-
Create exclusive communities that provide ongoing value
American Express's Centurion (Black Card) community gives members access to a vibrant network of fellow high-net-worth individuals through invitation-only events and digital platforms. These connections create value that extends far beyond the card's travel perks and concierge services, making membership sticky and relationship-focused rather than transactional.
Peloton similarly transformed what could have been just fitness equipment into a thriving community where members build relationships with instructors and fellow riders. Consider how your business could create spaces—physical or digital—where clients derive ongoing value from their association with you and with each other.
-
Host events that naturally attract your target audience
Christie's auction house regularly hosts preview events that turn art appraisal into sophisticated social gatherings, attracting wealthy collectors while providing legitimate cultural value. Similarly, wealth management firm Morgan Stanley hosts economic outlook forums featuring renowned analysts, creating environments where high-net-worth individuals naturally gather while receiving valuable insights.
The key is creating events with intrinsic value that would attract your ideal clients even if you weren't selling anything. These gatherings establish your brand as a facilitator of valuable connections and insights, not just a provider of products or services.
-
Develop client advisory boards that deepen engagement
Enterprise software company Workday involves key clients in their product development through formal advisory groups, giving these clients both early input on new features and a sense of ownership in the company's direction. This approach transforms transactional customers into invested partners while providing the company with invaluable feedback from their most important users.
For your high-ticket business, creating formal structures for client input does more than improve your offerings—it deepens relationships with your most valuable clients by demonstrating that you value their expertise and perspective.
The old adage that it's easier to sell to existing customers than find new ones may soon carry even more weight in a privacy-focused world. When every new client acquisition potentially becomes more expensive due to targeting limitations, the economics of relationship nurturing become even more favorable. The businesses that thrive will be those that view each client relationship as the beginning of a long-term partnership rather than the end of a sales process.
Some Will Adapt And Some Will Be Left Behind
This settlement represents one development in an ongoing evolution of digital marketing and privacy rights. Targeted ad might be less precise. While not an immediate game-changer, it signals a direction that high-ticket businesses would be wise to prepare for.
Those who adapt early will likely gain competitive advantage as privacy regulations continue to strengthen globally. The era of unrestricted data collection may be gradually closing, but new opportunities are emerging for businesses focused on building genuine connections based on value and trust.
Like all market shifts, this creates both challenges and opportunities. The businesses that thrive will be those that see these changes coming and adjust their sails accordingly.
Want more strategies to future-proof your high-ticket business?
Subscribe to our High Ticket Insider newsletter for weekly insights on market shifts, optimization strategies, and case studies of what's working now.