Defining Cookies
Does your company website include a pop-up that says, “We use cookies to improve our user experience and analyze website traffic,” and asks the consumer to either accept or change their user preferences?
What does this pop-up actually mean?
This type of cookie isn’t the ooey-gooey chocolate chip kind; it’s a small file that websites send to consumer devices that the site uses to monitor and remember certain information about the consumer. Cookies know what’s in their shopping cart or even login information.
"Cookieless"
What does it actually mean?
When cookies go away, data providers and advertisers will need to rely on solutions that don’t use cookies to track users and their information.
For example, if a consumer is in the market for a new pair of running shoes:
With cookies, data providers can assume that they’re in the market for new running shoes. This is because they’ve been to websites searching for that type of product, belong to a running online forum, or may have purchased athletic clothing in the last 30-days.
All of that linking of data between sites and online actions is linked to a unique cookie and its identifiers. Without that cookie linkage, it’s for advertisers to assume if consumers are in the market for new running shoes.
How would it work?
The cookieless future will rely on other identifiers such as:
These identifiers aren’t as comprehensive as a cookie, and it is harder to link them across websites and apps. Therefore, you may only know when a consumer recently visited a running magazine website or visited a local running store. We would then have to assume from one of these actions
that they’re in the market for running shoes.
Later on, in this whitepaper, we will discuss various ways companies are looking to solve this issue using new types of identifiers and more sophisticated technology.
or other identifiers to link user actions.
Don’t be afraid of going cookieless!
Going cookieless (in the tech sense) isn’t anything to be afraid of.
While the third-party cookie will disappear from browsers, the first-party cookie that tracks basic data will not be going anywhere. This is the perfect time for brands (like yours) to get creative and innovative when it comes to advertising.
Innovative marketers and brands will see this challenge as an opportunity to come up with more clever alternatives and ads that identify with the masses.
The best thing to do is prepare your business by continuing to stay on top of the latest news and trends.
Knowledge on this topic is power.
Privacy Sandbox
Google announced in August 2019 that it would be phasing out the third-party cookies from its Chrome browser by the end of 2023.
In its place, they’ll push users and businesses to instead adopt Google’s proprietary “Privacy Sandbox.”
WHAT IS THE GOOGLE PRIVACY SANDBOX?
While there is no definitive answer yet, the Privacy Sandbox is assumed to consist of five browser Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Instead of the cookie that we all know and love, these APIs will serve as the replacement.
The goals of the Privacy Sandbox would be to:
While the concern for advertisers is how data will be collected on consumers, the future shows us that the consumer will be in the driver’s seat to pick and choose what data they provide to the organization.
Data Collection
THE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION:
Without the cookie, how will data be collected?
There is an alternative – it’s called first-party data. However, it’s not something many advertisers will have a lot of, so it’s not an infrastructure our company will fall on. This is more of an implication for conglomerates such as McDonald’s, Walmart,
and Coca-Cola.
We are adjusting to find a solution by working closely with our technology partners. One of the solutions that look promising is the framework being outlined by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The TradeDesk and LiveRamp have joined forces to develop an open-source and interoperable solution that is secure, privacy friendly, transparent, and independently governed. They call this “Unified ID 2.0” or “UID2”.
This new identifier aims not only to replace the cookie and enhance privacy/transparency but also to widen the reach of technology, spanning all digital channels. This is particularly exciting as it aims to operate in areas where the cookie currently falls short, i.e. Streaming TV, Mobile Apps, etc., all with a single ID.
Key Stats
86 %
86% of people stated that they felt growing concerns about their data privacy.
78 %
78% of people expressed concerns about the amount of data that was being collected.
68 %
Negative-growth brands are more focused on first-party data in a more traditional way such as optimized email (68%) & predictive marketing (57%).
46 %
Google’s Chrome browser represents nearly 46% of the US browser market share.
38 %
Source: HubSpot, LearnHub
Products
WHAT PRODUCTS DO (OR DON'T) RELY ON COOKIES?
Take a look at some of the most common products and services that rely on cookies and those that do not.
Do NOT rely on cookies:
Do RELY on cookies:
What Lies Ahead
Everyone is looking for a way to develop a new infrastructure that will not effectively restart the industry completely, but rather replace the mechanism with another ID that accomplishes similar targeting and measurement.
The industry is working together to create the best path or paths forward and nothing has been set in stone yet. We fully anticipate more testing across the industry and various platforms in the latter half of 2022. As mentioned earlier in this whitepaper, this is not something to be afraid of; rather it’s an opportunity to create excitement and innovation in the space. The perfect time to move away from relying on what’s been comfortable for so long.
Our team of digital experts continues to stay on top of the changes and vet new technologies to keep up with the ever-changing industry. We are committed to making sure our partners and advertisers are educated and prepared for any changes that arise.
