Nicola Flannery, Manager in our Risk Advisory Department, discusses the often conflicting relationship between direct marketing practices and evolving privacy legislation, and addresses what steps can be taken now to be prepared for the ever looming GDPR implementation date.

The days of ‘traditional’ forms of direct marketing are numbered. Customers are more interested in their privacy nowadays, and do not always want to hear about targeted offerings. For organisations, the safe advice seems to be this: delete all the personal data from your CRM systems and focus on aggregated non-identifiable data to produce generic marketing campaigns. Do this now, or be subject to extortionate fines and the loss of brand and reputation.