How can the industry move to a model that transacts on accuracy as a common currency? And what are the differences in managing data in Asia vs. the U.S.?

The notion of retail media supporting brand-funded ads on retail sites drives Criteo's growth, with a focus on brands "monetizing their assets" such as site traffic, placement and customer data through the retailer.

Parsec Media is measuring consumer attention and other metrics in real-time, highlighting how much money is wasted in "under exposure and over exposure" of ads, said CEO Marc Guldimann.

Two-thirds of European brands said programmatic ad spending increased following their respective implementation of GDPR.

This "stamp of approval" by industry lead organizations expands globally in other areas based on specific countries.

"It's always good to have a rocket scientist on staff," said Adam Solomon, Lotame's new CMO. "You never know when you might need one."

Ecommerce in-app campaigns seem to generate the most conversions from 4:30 p.m to 11 p.m. in the U.S. Internationally, certain countries peak earlier in the day. Later in the evening ties in with prime-time television, which suggests people sitting on their couch watching TV have a phone close by.

"We took that notion of transparency that allies to data and the platform and also apply it internally," said Sara Livingston, the new head of operations at Narrative.

A simple data glitch is just the beginning as companies push the boundaries of permission-based marketing and customer match from companies like Adobe, Google, Bing and LiveRamp.

Western Union's partnership with Safaricom enables cross-border money transfers for the company's mobile wallet users, who number approximately 28 million. More transactions mean more customer data.