How Marketers Are Navigating Data Protection and Privacy: Insights from Hugh Dixon
Data protection and privacy have become central concerns for modern marketers navigating an increasingly regulated digital landscape. Long gone are the days when behavioral data could be freely harvested to drive hyper-personalized campaigns. In a post-GDPR world, and under mounting public scrutiny, the same tactics that once fueled growth now risk reputational damage and legal consequences. As a result, marketing teams are being challenged to do more than sell, they must build trust.
Few know this transformation better than Hugh Dixon, Marketing Manager at PSS International Removals, a U.K.-based company specializing in overseas relocations. In recent years, Dixon has had to overhaul how his team collects and uses data, balancing business goals with a new era of accountability.
We sat down for a candid conversation about how marketers adapt, what happens when you can’t track like you used to, and why trust, not tech, might be the new competitive edge.
Hugh, when GDPR and all these privacy laws started getting serious, what was your gut reaction? Did it feel like someone had just come in and yanked your toolbox away?
Dixon: I’d say it was a bit of a wake-up call. You get used to certain tools — retargeting, email segmentation based on behavior, automated flows — and suddenly you’re told, “You can’t do that anymore unless you’ve got consent.”
It forced us to slow down and rethink how we approach people. You can’t just blast people with tailored offers unless they’ve said, “Yes, I’m okay with that.” It was frustrating at first, but in the long run, I think it’s made us better.
Everyone talks about personalization like it’s this marketing holy grai. But when privacy laws got tighter, what did that mean for how your team operated? What did you really have to stop doing?
Dixon: One campaign we had to pivot involved targeted emails based on previous moves or inquiries. Initially, we were using tracking and data points from visitors to tailor offers.
But with GDPR tightening, we realized that kind of profiling without clear consent was no longer acceptable. So we shifted to a more broad-based, opt-in approach. It wasn’t as instant; the targeting took longer, but it also meant we were building trust instead of risking it.
Okay, this might be a bit of a boring nuts-and-bolts question, but how did your actual day-to-day process change? Did you suddenly have legal sitting in on your marketing meetings? How did data protection and privacy become part of your world?
Dixon: It’s much more structured now. To keep everything in line, we use a combination of legal guidelines and frameworks like the GDPR checklist and privacy impact assessments.
Every campaign, from email marketing to social ads, goes through a review process where the legal team and I ensure everything is compliant. This wasn’t as structured a few years ago, but now it’s part of our regular workflow.
Let’s say a new CMO is stepping into their first big role, they’re excited, they’re ambitious, and they want results fast. What would you tell them about privacy before they get caught in the weeds?
Dixon: Be proactive. Build your campaigns with privacy in mind, not as an afterthought. Don’t wait for the next regulation to catch up with you. Stay ahead of it.
