Why Hong Kong's media future belongs to secure data collaboration

Hong Kong’s high-density, retail-driven media landscape is at a critical crossroads. As third-party cookies fade and privacy rules tighten, traditional digital advertising is losing its edge. To thrive, our industry must move away from centralised data silos and toward secure, privacy-first, decentralised collaboration.

This shift is driving a fundamental change in how we handle data. The focus today is on secure, privacy-by-default data collaboration, which allows brands, retailers, and media owners to collaborate continuously without ever moving, copying, or pooling their raw customer information.

WPP Media Hong Kong is leading this charge through a first-in-market partnership with DFI Retail Group’s retail media arm, DFIQ. By leveraging WPP’s Open Intelligence for Commerce with InfoSum’s decentralised infrastructure, this alliance establishes a powerful framework for secure collaboration. It allows brands to safely match online marketing activities with offline transactional insights from the yuu rewards network and retail banners such as Wellcome, Mannings, and 7-Eleven.

This solution offers a clear, declarative vision of how secure data collaboration can reshape Hong Kong's marketing ecosystem.

First, it unlocks offline wealth. In our retail-dense city, most consumer journeys happen offline. Secure data collaboration acts as a neutral ground, letting brands securely match online ad signals with offline purchases, without exposing the underlying customer’s personally identifiable information (PII).

Second, it achieves closed-loop measurement. Connecting ad spending directly to real-world sales is the ultimate goal. By forming secure alliances, local media owners, utilities, and smart-mobility providers can give advertisers concrete proof of business impact.

Third, it delivers precision over demographics. In iOS-dominant Hong Kong, cookieless tracking is failing. Instead of reverting to basic demographics, secure data collaboration enables privacy-safe, behaviour-based lookalike targeting without relying on third-party cookies.

Finally, it guarantees data sovereignty. Decentralised private data networks eliminate data liability risks. Brands can collaborate on data while retaining sole data controller status inside their own secure, isolated cloud instances.

"The future of Hong Kong's media landscape doesn’t belong to those who hoard data, but to those who collaborate securely," says Kenny Ip, vice president, media and partnership management. "By combining the privacy-first architecture of secure data collaboration with our unique local retail density, we can turn privacy regulations from a hurdle into our greatest competitive advantage."

Kenny Ip, VP, media and partnership management at WPP Media Hong Kong and Richard Knott, SVP APAC at InfoSum

Richard Knott, SVP APAC at InfoSum, believes this shift is inevitable. "We are moving past the era of stockpiling and centralising data," Knott says. "Embedding privacy into data strategies isn't just about compliance. It is about unlocking smarter and more responsible innovation. The brands and media owners that establish these secure private data networks early will be the ones best positioned to understand and reach the cookieless consumer."

As Hong Kong prepares for a cookieless future, the transition to active collaboration will rely on collective participation. The infrastructure is ready, and the next step is for the wider ecosystem to begin connecting the dots.

This article is sponsored by WPP Media Hong Kong.