By Jason Warner, Director, UK and EMEA, SBS
After seeing the recent news from Google, many marketers may have breathed a sigh of relief. Following years of back and forth on the issue, the tech giant finally announced that it would be keeping the cookie afterall.
Since Google’s first announcement in 2020, the ever-present threat of the loss of third-party identifiers has loomed over the industry. Hours of discussions and thousands of words have tried to illustrate what a world without this attribution tool would look like.
While these discussions have been taking place, an alternate marketplace of identifiers and targeting technologies have sprung up, giving marketers a range of new ways to reach their audiences without the need for cookies. At the same time, privacy regulations globally have become more stringent, while other browsers such as Safari and Firefox have removed third-party identifiers. While Google may have changed the direction of travel, the destination has stayed the same – an advertising ecosystem that puts privacy above all else.
Sitting still and continuing to operate as if the cookie will continue to be effective in the long term is not an option for advertisers. Now is the time to be putting the building blocks in place for a world where the cookie is no longer universal.
A clean slate
While there have been twists and turns in the road to third-party cookie depreciation, most brands or agencies at some point will have started to test or implement solutions. However, that doesn’t mean they are fully ready. Back in May, with the alleged deadline for cookie depreciation getting rapidly closer, it was revealed that only 20% of UK marketing teams felt prepared. This latest announcement shouldn’t feel like a chance for advertisers and agencies to sit back, but instead lean into finding the mix of targeting tools that are most effective for them.
To find out which combination of solutions works best however, marketers will first need a streamlined and highly efficient tech stack. Marketers that take the time to analyse their current programmatic stack and cut bloat will gain great visibility on which cookieless solutions are driving the most effective results. This is even more vital for those marketers executing cross-channel campaigns.
Getting Granular with Data
Successful advertising in a post-cookie world relies on one thing: data. There are a range of potential sources of insights that are available to marketers and privacy-safe – as long as collection and storage is carried out in a compliant way.
First-party data, zero-party data, and contextual data, for example, can all play a role in closing the attribution gap and delivering to audiences with highly targeted advertising. However, to create an effective data strategy, marketers must keep these four strategies to keep in mind:
Harness deterministic data
Deterministic data matches one-to-one with users. This means marketers can rely on this data, which includes things such as email addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, usernames and customer IDs, to effectively reach consumers. Having a stringent and privacy-focussed system for collecting and utilising this data will be increasingly important as less of the web becomes addressable by the cookie.
Integrate data
Marketers must ensure that all information and data providers are onboarded to their DSP. This allows for more comprehensive data availability throughout their campaigns.
Synchronise first party data
By taking the time to synchronise all first party data across channels, marketers will be better able to target and personalise their advertising efforts.
Integrate online and offline data
By bringing together all data sources, marketers can enable better cross-channel targeting. It’s important to create and implement usage rules for both first and third-party data across online and offline channels.
Concentrating on the fundamentals
With the array of tech innovations available for marketers to test and implement, it can be easy to lose sight of the basics. In tackling a landscape with reduced impact from cookies, having a solid base of advertising fundamentals is vital.
The made-for-advertising (MFA) scandal from earlier this year highlighted how often marketers are throwing their spend away on low quality inventory that can have poor viewability or be drowned out by other advertisers. By targeting premium ad slots, marketers can be sure that their spend will drive interaction. Through close partnerships with quality publishers and other partners, marketers should look to employ a highly curated programmatic approach to ensure their ads are seen by their target audience.
Similarly, advertisers and agencies cannot forget the impact of strong creative. The fact that eye-catching creative drives engagement is no surprise, but to truly cut through to consumers, marketers should harness cutting-edge ad formats, such as interactive ads. AI can also revolutionise creative, by allowing marketers to generate hyper-personalised ads rapidly and at scale.
Now the shockwaves have passed from Google’s latest announcement, it should be clear to all advertisers and agencies that even if the cookie isn’t cut off completely, its power will diminish over time. Now is the time for marketers to start applying a strategic mindset to planning for this new privacy-first future – those that take action now, will quickly find themselves ahead.
