When the concept of browsers deprecating third-party cookies was proposed in 2020, organizations began preparing their marketing and advertising infrastructures to adapt to the change. Now that some third-party browser cookies may be here to stay, how should brands adjust their strategies?

Background

In 2020, the strategy of going “cookieless” started to gain traction following the news that browsers would phase out third-party cookies. This was sparked by intensifying data privacy concerns and the introduction of global regulations requiring user consent for cookie tracking. Since then, organizations have been on a mission to audit, refine, and—in many cases—end their reliance on third-party cookies.

Prior to 2020, marketing and advertising teams across industries relied on third-party cookies to learn about their customers for effective targeting, measurement, personalization, and more. A shift in these operations would require reimagining an organization’s data structure and madtech—the unification of martech and adtech—platforms to focus on first-party data, which is more difficult to obtain and keep secure but has the potential to provide greater business value in the long run. Solutions such as Privacy Enhancing Technologies, or PETs, which include data clean rooms, Conversion API, and more, helped answer the call, as did countless other technology platforms and accelerators developed by industry leaders to drive first-party data acquisition and prevent signal loss while maintaining digital trust.

Signal loss

Now that third-party cookies are not, in fact, leaving some browsers, leaders in various stages of their data transformation may be feeling some confusion about their cookie strategy. The answer is simple: By continuing to prioritize first-party data ownership and avoid third-party cookie reliance, brands can maintain a much fuller view of the customer in the long-term, and their marketing and advertising efforts can stay resilient—regardless of how and where the cookie crumbles. This announcement only solidifies the guidance we’ve emphasized since the 2020 shift—that focusing on first-party data keeps you in control of your own destiny, rather than beholden to any vendor or browser’s decision regarding their third-party cookies.

Even with some third-party cookies remaining, signal loss continues to be a prevalent and central challenge for organizations to address. Because some browsers have made third-party cookies opt-in only, or removed them all together, marketing and advertising teams will never have a complete view of the customer by relying on this data alone, and will lose critical data signals for targeting, optimizing, and measuring marketing effectiveness. 

There is an argument to be made that targeting customers for whom you only have a partial view is just as faulty as targeting those for whom you have a 0% view. From a customer’s perspective, receiving the wrong targeted messaging may be equally or even more ineffective than not being reached at all. It might even damage the relationship. This is why harnessing first-party data and becoming an insights-driven organization is essential to future-proofing your marketing and advertising operations—and to delivering more satisfying, memorable, and personalized customer experiences.