The survey of client and agency-side marketing practitioners found that 52% have some data protection measures in place, but that they need to strengthen these, while 35% stated they have a comprehensive, ethics-based data protection strategy already.

Globally, 14% of marketers claimed to have no data protection in place at all – rising to 23% for respondents in the Asia region.

Almost half of respondents ( 45%) expect tighter regulation on advertising and marketing in 2020, with 88% agreeing or strongly agreeing that digital privacy will become increasingly important.

The survey also explored what steps marketers are taking in response to regulation such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), with 57% saying they are ‘readdressing consent management practices in light of privacy regulation’. For some, according to the research, this is leading to investment in ‘consent management platforms’ to collect and store customer consent data.

Additionally, two-thirds of respondents ( 66%) agreed or strongly agreed that consumers will take greater control of their data this year.

David Tiltman, vice-president content, Warc, said: "In this final chapter of our Marketer’s Toolkit 2020, we've taken a closer look at the regulatory drivers affecting marketing activity. Whilst provisions around data protection are now in place for the majority, there is still work to do."

Warc’s Marketer’s Toolkit 2020 report is based on a survey of almost 800 client and agency-side practitioners globally and 10 interviews with chief marketing officers.