Tide Foundation pitches blockchain solution to digital advertising privacy woes
Now mega brands like McDonald's, Kelloggs, and Procter & Gamble, which Edwards notes have always been at "the forefront of making sure everything they spent was relevant", are leading a revolt against digital advertising in which fraud and wastage have become prevalent.
Last month, Edwards and Elnekave embarked on a global roadshow to meet the world's biggest adverting agencies, brands and data "vendors" in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris and Zurich to pitch the idea of Tide.
"The feeling we got from them is that they believe this is an inevitability. Consumers are going to want to monetise and control their data," Elnekave says.
"When we can demonstrate it and show them that you don't need to trust us because it's on the blockchain and it's real, then for them it became a priority."
Edwards said that in one meeting with an organisation that has "possibly one of the world's biggest databases", they "actively talked about changing their business model".
Dery is equally enthused about the prospect that blockchain will revolutionise the advertising industry.