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The Cookie Crumbles: Preparing for a Cookieless Future

Mike Legacy
Mike Legacy - Lead Digital Developer

Mike excels in web development and leadership, bringing exceptional problem-solving skills and a client-focused approach. His expertise spans industries such as healthcare, engineering, and hospitality, ensuring the success of every digital project he undertakes.

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It’s been a long time coming. This year, Google plans to phase out the use of cookies on Chrome. With these changes, the marketing landscape is set to undergo a major shake up.

Since their inception in the 90’s, cookies have been the hallmark of digital advertising, allowing marketers to track users across websites and deliver personalized ads based on their habits. Growing concerns about security and privacy have led to stricter regulations, forcing Chrome to follow suit.

How can this be combatted or handled by marketers and brands?

First-Party Data Collection: The New King

Without third-party cookies, it will be pivotal to focus on data collected directly through interactions on branded websites and other digital platforms. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it creates opportunities for brands to offer value to their users in exchange for their data, such as personalized content, loyalty programs and exclusive offers.

What if your brand doesn’t have many channels for collecting user data?

Contextual advertising is your new best friend.

Contextual advertising does not rely on user behavior at all. Instead, it serves ads based on the content of the website itself. For instance, if a visitor is reading an article about travel, they may see ads for luggage, airlines or hotels. This method doesn’t rely on tracking or understanding individual user habits, making it a more privacy-friendly alternative to traditional targeted ads.

At first glance, this may seem like a step backward for the industry, especially for those accustomed to the highly personalized, data-driven ads enabled by cookies.

After all, contextual ads lack the precision of behavior-based advertising, where ads are tailored to specific user interests. However, advancements in AI-driven contextual targeting are reviving this strategy. These innovations allow for a more nuanced approach, with AI analyzing the content of a page and determining the most relevant ads, even if they aren’t based on individual user profiles. As such, this approach is gaining traction as a way to meet the needs of both advertisers and privacy-conscious consumers.

As the industry adapts to this new landscape, Google’s Privacy Sandbox is sure to play a key role. Google Privacy Sandbox is a suite of technologies, built to allow brands to make use of targeted advertising without the need of cookies.

One of these new tools is the Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). Here’s a snippet directly from the FLoC website explaining a bit about how it works:

“The Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) uses an open source technology that looks for clusters of similar information. In this case, it’s used to create cohorts of people based on their web browsing activity. For example, one cohort can be thousands of people who have recently visited websites about gardening and travel overseas; another cohort can be a group of people who have recently visited sites about art supplies, cooking, and hiking. Your browser uses the FLoC technology to determine which cohort corresponds most closely to your recent web browsing history.”

These tools are still in their infant stages, and it’s too early to say what new tracking method will reign supreme. What we do know is that we’re going to have to get creative to compete in this privacy-first era, as we move forward into a cookieless future.

Key Takeaways: What Now?

We’ll keep this simple. Here’s your path to navigating a cookieless future.

Prioritize First-Party Data Collection

  • Build strategies to gather customer data directly through your website and apps.
  • Offer value in exchange for data, such as personalized content, loyalty programs, and exclusive offers.
  • Focus on creating trust and transparency with your audience.

Leverage Contextual Advertising

  • Target ads based on website content rather than user behavior.
  • Use AI-driven contextual tools to improve relevance and precision without compromising privacy.

Explore Google’s Privacy Sandbox Tools

  • Stay informed on technologies like Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC).
  • Test new group-based targeting methods to maintain advertising effectiveness.

Adapt and Innovate in a Privacy-First Era

  • Embrace creative, privacy-compliant approaches to stay competitive.
  • Monitor developments in privacy regulations and emerging advertising tools.
The cookie is crumbling, but your strategy doesn’t have to.

This is not an advertisement, and solely reflects the views and opinions of the author. This website and its commentaries are not designed to provide legal or other advice and you should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on its content. Additionally, unless otherwise stated, neither 9Rooftops nor the author is involved in, or responsible for, the marketing or promotional efforts of the individuals or entities discussed.

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