Google has announced that they will be phasing out the use of cookies in two years. This is causing some major anxiety for marketers and brands around the world. Cookies are the foundation of programmatic advertising, and without them, the industry fears they will no longer be able to effectively and efficiently reach the right audience.
While these fears aren’t necessarily unfounded, they’re perhaps a bit short-sighted and tunnel-visioned. Let’s discuss what the removal of cookies means (and doesn’t mean) for digital advertising.
But first…
What are cookies?
If you weren’t familiar with cookies before, the GDPR made you very aware. (Or, at least, you became familiar with pop-up cookies alerts and and that clicking “accept” would make them go away quickly!) '
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on a user’s web browser in the form of text strings. These text strings reveal details about a user’s online behaviors, browsing history and other preferences.
Are cookies bad?
It depends on who you ask, but we’re on Team Cookie (for the most part, we’ll explain further in a bit). And not just because we’re marketers.
Cookies not only provide measurement data for the website/marketers, they can also help to create a better experience for the user. Cookie data is used for shopping carts and quick checkout options for ecommerce sites. Cookie data is used for saving user preferences, allowing for more customized and personalized experiences. Cookie data is used for delivering more relevant ad experiences, and thus removing the noisy crap that users don’t want. See, it’s not just brands and marketers that benefit!
But cookies are limited. Since they’re stored on a single device or a single browser, they might not be 100% accurate. Let’s say there’s one computer being used by everyone in a family. Cookie data might show extremely broad and even contradictory data because Mom, Dad, Teen, Tween and Adolescent all visit very different sites.
User IDs can present a much more accurate picture. A user ID is generated when a user logs onto a site or social network, like Facebook or Instagram. Tween isn’t going to use Facebook from Mom’s account (although, Mom and Dad might be very interested to get into Teen’s social accounts!). But I digress, back to the Google cookie issue at hand.
What does “phasing out the cookie” actually mean?
Google is removing third-party cookies from their Chrome browser to make way for their Privacy Sandbox API. Google will still store individual user-level information in their browser, but if outside ad tech companies want to use it, they’ll have to do an API call to the Privacy Sandbox. They won’t receive any specific user-level information, but will receive data for personalization and measurement.
Essentially, one-on-one targeting and messaging is what’s going away, but conversion tracking and targeting groups with similar behaviors or interest will still be available (in theory, anyway).
This will impact Google’s Doubleclick business, Google Display Ads and published using Google Ads to sell their ads.
What won’t be affected?
Since they run on first-party cookies, ads served on Google.com and YouTube.com will mostly be unaffected. Additionally, any company or site that has their own audiences and direct-to-consumer relationships won’t suffer, and actually may come out on top. That means media companies, publishers, large ecommerce sites, and to close the loop on my previous user ID ramble, social networks.
So what should I do now?
With what we know today, there are a few things you can do to prepare for this change in 2022:
Build first-party data
Start collecting your own data about your customers and buyers. You won’t have the volume that Google was able to offer, but over the next two years you should be able to amass a good amount of useful data.
Of course, you’ll have to make it worth your customer’s while to provide you with their information. Ecommerce brands have an advantage here, but that doesn’t mean non-ecomm can’t find a hook, such as launching a digital product or service, or even coming up with an ecommerce offering or tie in.
Rethink targeting and optimization
Killing cookies will put a serious damper on retargeting campaigns. Sure, they’ll still be available on Facebook, Instagram and some other sites with first-party data, but they’re be limited across Google’s network.
This will require some thinking for omnichannel and holistic campaign strategy, and will perhaps result in some testing on new channels or techs, or even going back to more traditional channels (I can see the Ad Industry headlines now “Resurgence of Promotional Handbills Causes Global Spike in Litter”!).
Relax and enjoy a real cookie
How about a fancy chocolate covered macaroon? Or a tried-and-true chocolate chip? Or maybe a crumbly, buttery shortbread? Or what about the less-popular-but-listen-up-I’m-here-to-tell-you-most-delicious oatmeal raisin?
Whatever cookie makes you crumble (the right answer is oatmeal raisin), don’t get too worked up. Google is still working on the details and building the Privacy Sandbox. We’ve got two full years, and the industry’s smartest folks are on it (money’s at stake, a lot of money, of course they’re on it!).