What do data clean rooms really do—and why should every CPG leader care?

In this episode of Applied Intelligence, I sit down with Puneet Gangrade—one of the leading voices in privacy-enhancing tech and data clean room adoption.

We unpack how clean rooms are transforming everything from retail media to supply chain visibility, and why every brand, publisher, and platform needs a long-term clean room strategy.

Puneet also breaks down:

• How clean rooms evolved from pharma to ad tech

• The hidden role of cryptography and trust engineering

• Non-media use cases (QSR, loyalty, inventory, finance, CPG)

• Why the real challenge isn’t tech—it’s politics, intent, and trust

• What it takes to scale clean rooms (hint: org design and full-time owners)

• The future intersection of AI + privacy—and what to watch out for

This is a must-watch if you care about data-driven growth, privacy, and cross-party collaboration.

Timestamps:
00:00 – The Hidden Revolution Behind Data Clean Rooms
02:10 – What Clean Rooms Really Do (And Why Everyone’s Confused)
06:20 – Privacy Meets Personalization: The Cryptography Shift
10:30 – How Amazon Quietly Opened the Clean Room Floodgates
15:00 – The Wildest Use Cases: From QSRs to Airlines
24:50 – Building Trust Without Sharing Data
31:00 – The Question That Determines Every Clean Room’s Value
35:00 – The Politics No One Talks About in Data Collaboration
40:00 – Turning a Pilot Into a Scalable Clean Room Engine
46:00 – Why Clean Rooms Are Replacing CDPs
52:00 – The One Skill Every Modern Marketer Needs
56:00 – How Reallocating Spend Drove 10% Extra Revenue
1:02:00 – Why Every Cloud Platform Is Rushing to Build Its Own
1:08:00 – The Tension Between AI and Privacy That Keeps Puneet Up
1:16:00 – The Rule That Defines the Future of Data Collaboration

🎙️ Guest: Puneet Gangrade , LiveRamp

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Watch the Full episode ⁠here.