The Adlucent Approach for a Cookieless Future

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January 4, 2024, will forever go down in digital marketing history as the start of a cookieless future. On that day, Google commenced the initial phase of removing third-party cookies, affecting approximately 30 million users worldwide. 

While this milestone is anything but small potatoes, it’s not the first significant shift in digital marketing, and it won’t be the last.

As your performance media agency partner, we understand that losing third-party cookies is top of mind for digital marketers – especially regarding campaign performance.

But losing third-party cookies isn’t the first significant industry shift we’ve seen, and it won’t be the last. 

With over two decades of industry experience – consistently confronting and conquering numerous industry transitions – we are committed to helping you navigate this latest challenge with the same adaptability and innovation. 

In fact, we’ve been prepping for the loss of third-party cookies for a while now.

So join us in this comprehensive guide outlining how we will partner with you to navigate this transition effectively across various channels, including paid search, paid social, and programmatic advertising.

1. The Basics
   • What Are Cookies?
   • What is First-Party Data?
   • What is Third-Party Data?
   • The Loss of Third-Party Cookies + Why It Matters
   • The Importance of First-Party Data
2. Our Foundation for Success in a Cookieless World

THE BASICS

Before diving into all the details, let’s go back to the basics. 

What are Cookies?

• An internet cookie, often simply referred to as a cookie, is a small piece of data stored on a user’s computer by a web browser while the user is browsing a website. Cookies are used to remember user-specific information and preferences, such as login credentials, shopping cart contents, and site preferences.
  
  They serve various purposes, including enhancing user experience, tracking website usage, and personalizing content. Websites commonly utilize cookies for tasks like session management, user authentication, and tracking user behavior for analytics purposes.
  
  Cookies fall into one of two camps: first-party data and third-party data.

What is First-Party Data?

• First-party data is user information that is collected directly from your audience and customers through interactions with your brand’s website, social media profiles, and other digital assets. 
  
  Whenever a user interacts with your owned channels, cookies are stored to track various details such as their shopping cart items, past purchases, and login credentials.

What is Third-Party Data?

• Third-party cookies are pieces of data that are created when a user visits websites other than your company’s website. That data is then stored in the users’ web browser and follows them as they continue to surf the web. 
  
  Digital marketers use these cookies to track users’ online activities across different websites, allowing advertisers to create detailed user behavior and preferences profiles. 
  
  This tracking enables the delivery of targeted ads that are more likely to be relevant to the user’s interests.

The Loss of Third-Party Cookies + Why It Matters

• Due to growing privacy concerns and changing regulations, Google made the decision to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome by mid-2024. The loss of third-party cookies presents a significant challenge for digital marketing, impacting various crucial aspects of advertising strategies.
  
  Without these cookies, marketers face obstacles in tracking user behavior across different websites, hindering their ability to target specific audiences effectively and personalize advertising campaigns.
  
  But fear not; your Adlucent team has your back.

The Importance of First-Party Data

• With the loss of third-party data, Google emphasizes the importance of first-party data as a critical path forward.
  
  Unlike third-party data obtained from external sources, first-party data is inherently more trustworthy and compliant with privacy regulations because it is collected with user consent and originates from direct interactions.
  
  As privacy regulations increase, the strategic value of first-party data rises, empowering businesses to maintain trust, comply with regulations, and deliver effective personalized marketing experiences in a privacy-conscious manner.=
  
  And spoiler alert – we know a thing or two about optimizing first-party data.

Our Foundation for Success in a Cookieless World

When approaching a cookieless future for your campaigns and channels, we will follow “A.C.T.” 

Together, we will audit your current process, connect 1st-party data, and test new strategies. 

Audit

• Let’s Assess Your Third-Party Cookies: As your trusted partner, we know your campaigns inside and out. But if you have other channels we do not manage, ask our team about ways we can partner together to pivot third-party strategies to first-party.
  
  Once you have a full picture of what channels, campaigns, and tactics rely on third-party cookies, we will work with you on next steps.

• Uphold Data Privacy Standards: Our team already has this covered, but if you have any questions, we are here to help. We are trained to adhere to today’s data privacy standards and prioritize transparency and compliance with international data privacy regulations, including GDPR and CCPA.
  
  By instituting precise opt-in mechanisms, we empower your users to manage their data preferences, ensuring your brand maintains trust and respect for user privacy.

• Ensure Transparent Data Practices: As user behaviors shift toward privacy-conscious decisions, we will help you look for areas where you can educate users about data usage, offering them control over their personal information and building a framework that respects their privacy choices at every digital touchpoint.

Connect

• Enhanced Customer Profiling: We will optimize your first-party data to create detailed customer profiles based on interactions with your website, app, or other owned channels.
  
  This includes analyzing behavior, preferences, purchase history, and demographics. These insights can inform personalized marketing strategies and content tailored to specific audience segments.
  
• Leverage Amazon and Retail Media Networks: If retail media networks are already part of your marketing mix, your brand is one step ahead in prioritizing first-party data. If not, talk to your Adlucent team to see if it is a good fit for your company’s goals.
  
  Amazon Advertising leverages the platform’s vast repository of first-party shopper data, inherently less dependent on third-party cookies. By tapping into Amazon’s detailed consumer insights, you can craft highly targeted advertising campaigns within its ecosystem.
  
  This rich data source also offers valuable insights that can be applied across other channels, enhancing cross-channel marketing strategies with deeper understanding and precision in targeting.
• Our Tech Helps You Optimize Your First-Party Data: As you know, we are nerds when it comes to data. So here’s how our team of data scientists can leverage our proprietary tech to make the most of your first-party data.
  
  Are you interested in expanding your tech stack? We would be happy to tell you more. Reach out to your team today.
  
  
  • AURA^TM:
    • With AURA^TM, we break down data silos to connect your first-party data sources and unlock customer and product-centric insights like customer churn and customer lifetime value that fuel your business.
  • Adlucent Index^TM:
    • Adlucent Index^TM integrates seamlessly with programmatic platforms, using advanced algorithms to analyze user behavior and preferences and ensuring ads are delivered to the most relevant audiences.
      
      With Adlucent Index, we enhance ad relevance and performance, all while upholding privacy standards in the digital advertising ecosystem.
    • And did we mention – Adlucent Index^TM also integrates with Meta’s Conversion API (CAPI), ensuring you maximize first-party data in paid social channels.
  • Deep Search^TM:
    • Thanks to the Deep Search^TM Adlucent Pixel, we can continue communicating with your website and integrating your first-party data for better insights.
  • Model Driven Planning^TM:
    • Model-Driven Planning™ uses advanced AI and machine learning for precise attribution and minimal disruption. This cross-channel technology aligns first-party data with your business objectives, enabling effective channel and media mix decisions, efficient budget allocation, and continuous improvement to boost performance, reduce costs, and maximize ROI.
  • BEACON^TM:
    • If you haven’t heard yet, BEACON^TM is our technology that facilitates the implementation of enhanced conversions in Google Ads via BigQuery and the Google Ads API. This tool improves measurement accuracy with first-party customer data.
      
      It is a privacy-safe way to supplement existing conversion tags by sending hashed first-party conversion data, such as email address, name, home address, and or phone number, from a website to Google.

test

Simply put, the time to experiment is now. Together, we will build strategies resilient to future changes by experimenting with new attribution models and AI-driven campaigns while maintaining a continuous testing approach. 

With third-party cookie deprecation fully taking effect by the end of 2024, there’s no better time to adjust campaigns, test, and tweak to ensure a smooth transition when the phase-out officially happens.

As we continue to test and learn, you’ll be the first to know about winning tactics and strategies.

Charting the Course Together

As we embark on this journey, you can count on Adlucent as your partner. We pledge to navigate these changes alongside you through education, collaboration, and a commitment to strategic agility and technological innovation. 

We aim to co-create strategies that align with your brand’s unique needs and set new benchmarks for success in a cookieless digital marketing landscape. The shift towards a cookieless future is here, but together, we will redefine the digital marketing paradigm. 

The future is cookieless, but it’s bright with opportunity. Let’s prove outperformance has no limit.

Cara Ferguson

With over 19 years of experience, I am a seasoned expert in digital marketing, specializing in paid search, social advertising, programmatic, and retail media. At Adlucent, I lead the Practices team, driving innovation, setting industry standards and training the next generation of digital marketing experts. My leadership fosters a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning, contributing to Adlucent's status as a digital marketing powerhouse.