A 360 Degree Solution

In 1994, the “cookie” was born for quite a simple reason, which differs vastly from its capabilities now. When it was created, it intended to allow for the automation of logging into websites by remembering the users and their login details to improve user experience as well as make online shopping easier by remembering what was added to the cart.

However, since the early days of the web, they haven’t just been integral to identifying and authenticating website visitors. Cookies have been the backbone of the digital marketing industry for a long time. Publishers have relied on 3rd party cookies to monetize their content by selling targeted ads.

Due to growing privacy restrictions on the web, on March 3rd, 2021, Google announced that Chrome will deprecate 3rd party cookies. At least 150 bn big online advertising businesses are now relying on 3rd party cookies. This will disrupt the digital marketing industry forever, with vast restrictions on current targeting, tracking and real-time personalization capabilities.

Again, what is the “cookie”?
A small text file which is sent from the website you are visiting to your browser. Your browser then processes and stores this file. These text files (cookies) help websites remember information about your visit. They also monitor your information and send this back to the website from your device the next time you visit.
This might sound alarming, but cookies can be helpful and are generally easy to find and delete—if needed.

First-party cookies – created once you visit a website, the website host creates a cookie intended to improve and streamline your experience while browsing said website. These cookies contain information such as your IP address and the data you enter on the website. These cookies are not shared with anyone and are only accessible by the website host (owner).

Second-party cookies are first-party cookies with the difference that those are sold/transferred from websites A to B for ad targeting, usually done through a data partnership/alliance.

Third-party cookies are a whole different entity. They are looked upon as “unnecessary cookies” due to privacy laws. Their main functions are retargeting, ad serving and tracking. These cookies track you across the whole web, gather pieces of information about you and then stitch them together to assist advertisers in trying to personalize ads just for you.

DSP, DMP, SSP, and RTB are all essential terms in digital marketing. They all revolve around cookies and RTB (Real-time bidding). All of these terms are widely used in Programmatic. Again, Programmatic is automated media buying based on an auction house bidding buying model. You set the price you want to pay, and if it is high enough, you win the corresponding ad slot, and your ad is automatically placed and shown to the user within your target audience.

A DSP (demand-side platform) is used for buying ad inventory, while an SSP (supply-side platform) is used to sell ad inventory. A DMP (data management platform) collects user data on a website or ad campaign activities. All these platforms use cookies, specifically third-party cookies. These systems have been a game changer in how we operate in digital marketing and measure our ad campaigns throughout the past ten years or so. Until now, they provided what we call a tailored experience or ad personalization as these cookies provide us with information about what kind of content you view and your interests; thus, advertisers can show you specific products that are similar or based on your interests.

Due to growing privacy changes, consent forms and legal activities around the cookie – the effectiveness of DMPs will be harmed, as DMPs typically rely on 3rd party cookies to get their data. Reduced tracking means that the advertising associated with the data will begin to become less targeted.Once the 3rd party cookies are no longer active on Google Chrome, all digital marketing as we know it will change for a long time. No one knows the best solution, but we believe that CDP should be a central part of every company's tech landscape to make marketing more relevant and improve the accuracy of the targeting involved in various types of advertising.

The dream – a company not only knows each of its existing and potential customers but also builds personal relationships with each one individually. It happens at scale, in a time-saving manner, increasing profit and business sustainability.

How? Consumers generate a lot of information every day. If the data is made easy to accumulate, manage and use - it has immense potential for your business. The ability to zoom in on data at an individual level, analyse at scale, and communicate both individually and in groups, all while increasingly using automation to save time.

That cannot be done without a Single Customer View (SCV) mindset and approach. The goal is to collect as much customer data as possible while adhering to GDPR regulations. The pinnacle – lots of “Golden Records”, i.e. rich customer profiles. More detailed customer profiles lead to more effective marketing communication (analytics, planning & activation), resulting in better customer journeys and stronger relationships.

Question many of us have – is it even possible to source, clean, and store data, then analyse and use data for much-improved targeting and activation? All without spending too much time and resources?

Yes! Not overnight, as it takes reorganisation, time and money. That is if the company has a platform that makes adding data sources easy and reliable. That makes data warehousing easy, allowing easy and safe access to data used for analytics, marketing and customer journey improvements. All with little or even no heavy IT support.