By Charu Shedha.
Sunday, 6th of June 2021
The fortune of the cookie: The future of Digital Marketing without third-party tracking.
Three is now a crowd. The days of third-party data tracking within the world’s most popular browser are over. After months of speculation, Google has finally decided to phase out the end of third-party cookies by 2022 and this will soon be the reality for marketers.
As ad-tech and mar-tech move to adopt new changes, there will be a range of tools for identification.
The growth of the AdTech world is highly dependent on their ability to use third-party products to follow the consumer behavior across the web and understanding their moods and preferences, and then by using digital media efficiently, they work on targeted advertising.
Personalization is the key here. For example Google, Facebook and Amazon do not need cookies, nor do they rely on them.
They are said to be the “walled gardens” where they carry lots of data on an individual scale which directly helps to make the targeting possible.
Now, what is a Cookie?
A cookie is a small piece of data stored on the user’s system by the web browser while browsing a website. Cookies help to create a user’s profile and behavior on the web.
They are specifically set by sites other than the one you are visiting (such as a third-party video provider, social channel or ad platform).
This gives advertisers insight into the consumer’s interests and preferences allowing them to float more targeted ads.
However, consumers have almost always been wary of this sort of targeting.
According to a study by Pew Research Center, 72% of the surveyors felt that most of the time they are being tracked by the advertiser, technology firms and other companies and 81% say that there are more potential risks than benefits.
So why is it a big deal now?
Tracking prevention is nothing new to a browser. Apple already had this in 2017.
However, there has been a renewed push for and a focus on privacy, especially since the European Union introduced its GDPR laws.
Google, previously benefited from third-party tracking, now recognizes the growing need for data transparency and user privacy, especially as concerns have been raised about its dominance in the digital ad space.
It will now require ad tech and mar tech solutions as robust as third-party tracking.
As the cookie crumbles…
Many digital marketing campaigns use online ads and retargeted ads which need data tracking to work properly.
Google not only killed the cookie but also the experience of a generation of marketers’ experience that revolved around third party tracking.
No doubt the crumbling of the cookie will enhance user privacy and security but it will leave a huge void in advertising capabilities, particularly those dependent on data-driven digital marketing.
These marketers are certain to lose revenue as a result of these huge alterations.
The change may choke off economic oxygen from advertising needed by startups and emerging companies.
Return of the first-party cookie
This is not the end of targeted marketing as the bastion of First-Party Cookie still stands tall in the game.
First-Party cookies, stored by the website or domain one is visiting, will now become the holy grail of advertisers.
While Second-party data tie-ups can be leveraged for marketing, and advertisers can see placing the apps at the center of their data strategy. This can help IPhone’s IDFA and Android’s ID for advertising and retargeting.
On the other hand, contextual advertising is not affected by the new laws. It only takes the user’s first-party data into consideration and is a privacy complaint.
Google’s Privacy Sandbox
Privacy Sandbox aims to strike the right balance between advertising revenues and a user’s right to privacy. Google wants the Privacy Sandbox to be private by the default ecosystem.
This involves three central initiatives:
- Replacing the functionality of cross-party tracking.
- Disabling third-party cookies.
- Mitigating privacy reducing alternatives
Google Chrome has offered Privacy Sandbox technology for interest-based advertising (FLoC), where groups of people with common interests could replace individual identifiers.
This approach effectively hides individuals “in the crowd” and uses on-device processing to keep a person’s history private on the browser.
Looking to the future
We can expect a greater emphasis on one-to-one relationships that are more personalized and relevant.
The increased focus on privacy is a welcome change and the new technologies coming up will improve user experience protecting user privacy.
Digital Marketing will surely see a huge shift in AdTech and Mar-Tech sectors in the coming future around these changes.
Great piece.
Thank You.
Great insights on the topic. Anyway I don’t use chrome 🙂