A cookie-less world
Tracking tomorrow’s audience
The global demand for privacy has led to companies making changes to protect customers and their data. Consumers are concerned about how much data companies have on them and are less willing to provide retailers with private information. In 2021, Apple made changes to consumer privacy, disabling cross-application tracking and in 2022 Google Chrome will eliminate third-party cookies.
In the digital world, there are cookies, a code found in users’ browsers when they visit a website that captures the site’s configuration, language preferences, login information, or products found in your shopping cart. These allow marketers to collect user data and provide a targeted experience to internet users. This way, advertisers can improve the decision-making process and maximize the user experience.
These are the most common types of cookies:
First Party
Created and stored by the website a user visits to create a better user experience.
Third-Party
These are used primarily for programmatic advertising, since they are used for tracking online advertising.
What does all this mean?
By big corporations making changes to eliminate third-party cookies, it will be difficult for advertisers to make more precise digital buying and track the consumer journey. Based on different studies, this refers to targeting methods in which third-party cookies will begin to diminish in use until they ultimately disappear. This will therefore lead to buying and optimization processes being disrupted, especially for performance-oriented campaigns and custom audiences.
Research suggests that three actions are necessary to continue to succeed in digital campaigns without third-party cookies:
Prepare for sustained disruption
A strategy should be developed from the start so that the change doesn’t feel too disruptive.
Rethink ad measurement practices
KPIs will need to be rethought based on the strategy and the objectives of each campaign. Some metrics may become irrelevant or even disappear, digital ad measurement will become very challenging, and marketers should be certain of what they want to achieve from the start.
Adapt to a walled garden world
A “walled garden world” will emerge. Media investments should prioritize platforms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Direct media buys will be the way to go and there will be fewer cross-publisher programmatic display buys.
In our experience, one way to maximize digital media buys is by viewing the media plan with a 360 approach and continuing to consider the importance of contextual relevancy across channels. Local websites, now more than ever, will play a very important role in our digital media mix. However, due to this upcoming change to the industry, local platforms will have to strengthen their capabilities to stay ahead.
Based on various articles about the subject and our analysis, we recommend following the three actions mentioned above, including reevaluating the campaign strategy & KPIs and rethinking the media mix. This is not going to be an immediate change, but we must be proactive and start preparing to ensure a smooth transition when the time comes. Advertisers who wait until the last minute to analyze their strategies will have a harder time maintaining adequate performance levels and achieving the desired results.
To find out how your brand or company can benefit, contact us.