To Be Tracked or Not To Be Tracked: Part II, Living in a Cookieless World

By Zachary Krassin, Digital Marketing Director

Google Chrome has announced the removal of third-party cookies in 2022. To help paint the picture, third-party cookies are the reason why the shoes you looked at three weeks ago are still following you as you browse the internet. They allow advertisers to track your activities on the web and then serve you targeted ads. While Safari and Firefox have already blocked these third-party cookies, when it comes to market share, Chrome is currently the leader. So this transition for Google Chrome offers big implications, including how marketers locate and serve ads across web browsers.

LIVING IN A COOKIE-LESS WORD – WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?

With the blocking of third-party cookies, websites will no longer be able to send cookie files to prospect’s computers to keep track of who you are. This also means that ad networks cannot figure out who you are and serve you targeted ads. So how will advertisers serve ads to prospects as they browse websites?

Newer technologies are being tested that are meant to allow advertisers the ability to target specific demographics like age, sex, and location, while at the same time ensuring these prospects remain anonymous. One of these technologies, the Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC), is a proposed browser standard that will enable “interest-based targeting” without giving away key unique identifiers. Instead, prospects are associated with a “cohort”, or a group of people that share certain qualities and interests. Each person’s individual browsing history will be kept confidential, however, the browser itself will be able to view the history and assign a prospect to one of these cohorts.

LIVING IN A COOKIE-LESS WORLD – WHAT CAN WE DO?

Digital agencies and tech companies will be the most prepared for this shift in ad tracking because data is the core of our business. There is a significant amount of testing being done behind the scenes to align on tech needed to enable targeting/retargeting users, on measurement of ad delivery and performance, and how to capitalize on the interest-based targeting (for example, when you visit a website, Chrome will tell that site that the visitor is part of Cohort A and then it’s up to the website to know that Cohort A is interested in DIY projects, home renovations, looking for a home, etc.).

KEY REMINDERS

Mobile advertising alone makes up 40% of total ad revenue. This is expected to increase over the next few years to 50%. Digital marketing is still a company’s strongest path forward to increased returns and still offers a number of ways to find and serve ads to prospects. As we continue to navigate these changes, there are certainly a few things to keep in mind.

–   Contextual targeting will become a very powerful targeting tactic. Advertisers will still be able to target prospects as they browse the web for searches and articles that are in context with your campaign.
–   1^st party data will be extremely valuable, so utilizing data companies that farm and analyze data will be a powerful solution for inventory. These solutions include Private Marketplaces (PMPs) and CTV/OTT solutions.
–   Monitoring your campaigns to analyze performance will be important. As well as recognizing that while CPMs and CPCs may go down in costs, attribution metrics such as CPAs and CPLs will inevitably increase.

As additional details continue to roll out we will update this blog. To learn more about how we can help market your business, please contact us today.