Since posting my “3 Actionable Steps To Take Now To Address A Cookieless Future” blog on March 4, the news surrounding the demise of 3rd-party cookie tracking online has only increased. How we and our clients prepare is vital to finding scalable solutions now rather than later.
Google’s big announcement was that as they phase out the use of cookies for targeting audiences, they won’t develop alternative methods to track users. This does not affect their use of user-level identifiers associated with Google Campaign Manager and their demand partners.
Here are three things that stand out about this latest news:
- Platforms starting a heavyweight fight – There’s a pitched battle budding between the big browser platform companies to remake the future of privacy on the web. This is Google’s shot across the bow of many companies from Apple to ad tech to publishers and marketers. The replacements for cookies are complex with early solutions such as FloC and Unified ID 2.0. The battles will certainly heat up as the summer does.
- Read between the lines – While Google is clear that they’ll completely retire cookies in early 2022, the announcement that they won’t develop other tracking methods does have its caveats. Their Google Ad Manager and DoubleClick platforms seemingly go untouched as is their buying tool for YouTube. They’re not removing the ability to use IDs through direct marketing campaigns. This is worth keeping an eye on as we move forward.
- Start your steps now – Our “3 Actionable Steps To Take Now To Address A Cookieless Future” blog laid out steps that your team can take to get in front of the changes and set up clear, beneficial KPIs for your campaigns once cookies go into the history bin. But there’s no time to wait, so go back and read this blog and develop your processes for being successful in the future.
For a well-written commentary on the Google moves, read the post in AdExchanger written by The Front Desk CEO, Jeff Green.
With the fast evolution of a cookieless future, follow us on social media and check back for more updates. We’ll help you cut through the noise and chatter by sharing the information that matters most on this important topic.
You can also contact me directly so I can hear about your company’s barriers to a cookieless future and see if we can offer some advice.