Demise Is Near: Strategies for a Cookie-Less Future

It’s inevitable – with more and more consumers already aware of how their data is being used and abused, the cookie is destined for demise. In a recent analysis elaborated by dentsu X, we were thrilled to dive in the specifics of how to provide consumers with personalization convenience, access and ease while giving them value for sharing their personal data.

Intrigued? Check some selected takeaways here:

• A shift in consumer behaviour: With ad blocker technology penetration in the US currently at 38% for desktop and 25% on mobile, the majority of consumers now use the highest privacy setting across all their social media profiles. This happens alongside privacy regulation and legislation changes (GDPR, CCPA, reduced device IDs, etc.)
• Cookie tracking will not disappear overnight: Agencies like dentsu still monitor and continue to activate against billions of cookies worldwide. Google was also very clear they will not retire third-party cookies until their new Privacy Sandbox technology (still in development) solves for current important publisher and advertiser use cases.
• Be sure to prepare for a cookie-less future though: Companies will only be able to use cookies in smaller and smaller domains. As third-party cookies are a long used technology, the impact of their demise will be far reaching across activating, managing, and measuring digital media.
• Collect first-party data by offering valuable consumer experiences: Marketers must prioritize their ability to gather, own and manage first-party data, and shift their data ecosystems towards persistent person identity-based platforms. The most effective method to collect first-party data? Through owned platforms, so brands that have a well-established digital footprint have an advantage.
• Deliver experience beyond one-way exposure: Any brand that wants to succeed in the new world must explicitly (and transparently) offer consumer value – whether it is value of utility, entertainment or emotional wellbeing, to truly build consumer-centric brands that people want to engage with.
• Measure with cookie-free techniques: Advertisers need to look at incremental-based research pieces through the use of walled garden clean rooms. Those (such as with Facebook, Google or Amazon) would allow them to run a control vs. exposed test within a data safe environment broadened with Private Data clean rooms. 

Consumer consent for a stronger relationship between brands and advertisers with consumers requires trust and value. According to the above analysis, marketers still want to build relevant and engaging communications for their consumers, and that shouldn’t change, but the method by which they activate them, and measure the results, must. Keep an eye on our Marketing Bites for further insights on the subject.