In what situations would you implement a 'Consent Mode' approach in GTM, and how would it influence tag firing?

You would implement a 'Consent Mode' approach in Google Tag Manager (GTM) in situations where you need to manage user consent for cookies and data collection, particularly to comply with privacy regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act). Consent Mode allows you to adjust the behavior of Google tags (e.g., Google Analytics, Google Ads) based on the user's consent choices. When a user provides consent for analytics cookies, tags associated with Google Analytics will fire as normal, collecting data about the user's behavior. However, if a user denies consent, Consent Mode modifies the behavior of these tags to respect the user's privacy. Without consent, tags will fire in a privacy-safe manner. For Google Analytics, this means that cookies will not be used to identify the user, and only aggregated, non-identifying data will be collected. Google Ads tags will also adjust their behavior to avoid using cookies for personalized advertising. Instead, they will use aggregated data to measure conversions and optimize ad campaigns. Consent Mode relies on two key consent signals: 'analytics_storage' and 'ad_storage'. These signals indicate whether the user has consented to the use of cookies for analytics and advertising purposes, respectively. You typically use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) or a custom consent banner to obtain user consent. The CMP or consent banner sets the values of these consent signals using the GTM API. The consent signals are then used to control the firing of tags. Tags are configured to respect the consent signals by setting the 'Consent Settings' in the tag configuration. For example, if a tag requires 'analytics_storage' consent, it will only fire if the user has provided consent for analytics cookies. In addition to controlling tag firing, Consent Mode also provides conversion modeling. Conversion modeling uses machine learning to estimate conversions that cannot be directly observed due to consent restrictions. This helps to fill in the gaps in data and provide a more complete picture of marketing performance. It’s also possible to modify the default consent state before the user interacts with the consent banner. This allows setting a default consent state based on the user’s region.