TALKING
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COVID may be the acronym of 2020 , but the truth is that the last few years have been littered with a slew of these , each signalling doom for digital marketing in its own way : GDPR , ITP , ETP , CCPA , IDFA .
After all this , we ’ ve finally reached the ultimate acronym : RIP . And it ’ s got nothing to do with the pandemic .
The third-party cookie apocalypse is upon us . Though it ’ s not until 2022 that its long-foretold death will happen , marketers need to start preparing for its loss today . It is the canary in the coal mine for the challenge CMOs will face in the future : A loss of data coupled with the need to increase digital advertising to remain competitive through a period of rapid Digital Transformation .
The way the cookie crumbled best targeting . The cookie also wasn ’ t designed to serve as the legacy foundation of the modern digital ecosystem by allowing brands to buy publisher inventory yet is used to do so . Correlating to devices , rather than the consumer , does not allow for a personalized experience .
Upwards of one-third of the data companies used to collect is already gone because other browsers like Apple ’ s Safari and Mozilla ’ s Firefox have already closed off access . For many , it ’ s a welcome change . The demise of the cookie is a huge opportunity to establishing more direct and meaningful relationships with consumers .
Preparing for a first-party data future
So how do brands futureproof themselves for a postthird-party world ?
Third-party cookies have come under more scrutiny lately as consumers are increasingly concerned about privacy and with personalization being a crucial part of the customer experience .
According to the Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey 2020 , seven in 10 respondents nominated privacy as a major concern for them . 87 % also wanted more control and choice over the collection and use of their personal information . Additionally , more than half of us ( 52 %) state that companies are generally impersonal and feel a wide gap between expectations and delivery .
Unlike their first-party counterparts , third-party cookies enable cross-site data tracking for a technology solution that may have originated from one domain but collects data from many . They follow us around for the purpose of cross-site tracking and are critical for providing a smooth web experience , on a specific domain , for a specific brand or technology .
Such capabilities have made it easier to display more relevant advertisements to more relevant audiences . But for all their uses , third-party cookies have been an imperfect tool for marketers and have led to several recurring problems , such as wasted ad spend and wasted time in incremental frequency capping and suppression activities .
By way of first-party data .
First-party data is a collection of events and information collected directly from customers , by your brand , based on what they ’ re doing and how they engage with your product , app and website .
It ’ s data that ’ s given with consent and is more accurate than third-party data sources . It ’ s the data your audience is giving directly to you . This gives you the
First-party data is a collection of events and information collected directly from customers .
power to analyze how consumers interact with your brand so you can improve the experience you ’ re providing , both holistically and individually .
2020 was a watershed year for the transformation of the importance of first-party data because brands came to realize that with this information , they can govern data use according to customer consent and not have personalization of the customer experience suffer as a result .
Third-party cookies are time-bound and domainspecific , so advertisers have to constantly dialdown KPIs and adjust their expectations for the
The move towards first-party data means brands will have to reimagine parts of the customer experience . If businesses can collect and activate first-party data , the
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