zeotap Launches ID+ Universal Identity Initiative

Mobile user data specialist zeotap has launched an initiative called ID+, promising to help counter the challenges posed by the phase-out of third-party cookies and other platform identifiers, as well as the regulatory landscape, by establishing a 'universal identity'.

Launched in 2014, zeotap helps telecom operators draw out mobile customer data for use in ad targeting; while its customer intelligence platform helps brands connect and convert their first-party data into actionable customer intelligence. The new solution, ID+, aims to provide a privacy-compliant mechanism to overcome identity resolution challenges arising from ID fragmentation, cookie restrictions, and regulation across the world.

The system is based on off-line identifiers, valid across 'all platforms and channels', can be used as a standalone first-party identity layer, and is available to connect with all other ID solutions. Every ID+ record has consent traceability embedded, with data protection ensured through a security measure that replaces sensitive account and card information with a non-sensitive identifier.

Already adopted by twenty organisations, ID+ has been launched initially as an extension to zeotap's identity resolution solution, built on its marketing identity graph, but the company aims to grow the solution across platforms, channels and geographies. Projjol Banerjea (pictured), co-founder and Chief Product Officer, comments: 'The launch of ID+ is a major step for zeotap and an industry facing an uncertain future. For a 'universal ID' to gain widespread adoption and claim true universality it needs a multilateral governance model. Nobody wants to see one duopoly give way to another'.

The firm, which is based in Germany, with additional operations in India and the US, is online at www.zeotap.com .