Navigating Our New Cookieless World: Where Should You Start?

Third-party cookies have been essential to marketers since the creation of them in the early 90s. So much so that, the majority of marketing and customer experience leaders globally (75%), rely on them to inform campaigns, support greater brand awareness, and better plan and execute for the future. Now, as we look ahead to the official demise of cookies by the end of 2024, what’s next? What should marketers be thinking about (or already doing) to navigate this new world? What should they leave behind?

As this cookieless reality comes into view, below are my top recommendations on how marketers and advertisers can navigate the transition effectively.

1. Up the ante when it comes to contextual targeting Consumers now expect brands to make personalized and meaningful connections with them, which is completely warranted given the number of advertisements they’re exposed to each day. As consumers become more educated on data privacy and cognisant of how their data is being used, advertisers should consider what their investments look like across mediums that aren’t cookie dependent and are less intrusive, such as out-of-home (OOH) media. In fact, consumers have begun to favour in-person media channels over online platforms, with OOH and digital out-of-home (DOOH) ranked in the top five channels in 2023, and for good reason. Think about it – OOH doesn’t interrupt someone’s day or an action they’re trying to take, it’s the only media channel that’s seamlessly integrated into people’s everyday lives. DOOH’s place-based marketing capabilities, for example, allows brands to reach consumers in relevant, contextual environments, such as in or near office buildings, malls, gas stations, gyms, restaurants and more. DOOH can be activated in numerous, relevant ways, but most importantly, the channel can effectively reach people outside of their homes and digital devices, when and where they’re out in the physical world.
2. Diversify your marketing channels now to avoid future risk In 2023, 45% of marketers were using at least half of their marketing budgets on cookie-based activations. With over three quarters of leaders expecting deprecation of third-party cookies to impact their business, a diversified, omni-channel approach that integrates a variety of mediums and prioritizes first- and third-party data insights through channels like OOH and DOOH, to name a few, is crucial to maintaining a competitive advantage. The decline of third-party cookies may prompt marketers to consider alternative measurement methods that can tie a user to any action. As a result, more traditional, trusted channels such as OOH are being assessed under a fresh, new lens. In the online world, cookies help customize web experiences based on audience data. In the DOOH world, however, advertisers can use anonymized GPS data, a non-PII source, to understand consumer movements in the physical world while respecting privacy. This data reveals insights about where audiences go, how they spend their time, and the paths they travel, allowing technology to activate DOOH media in sync with these routines for maximum impact. Through programmatic audience targeting strategies that leverage first- or third-party data, brands can easily build target customer segments (say repeat customers, frequent travelers or gym goers, for instance) and tailor their ad campaigns to ensure relevance. So, knowing OOH is a channel that’s never relied on cookies to track an audience, yet still presents marketers with efficient, privacy-safe ways to reach their desired customers, more advertisers should consider how they can diversify their media mix with channels like OOH, sooner rather than later.
3. Stay in the loop on privacy and data protectionA major learning from this shift is that advertisers need to stay up to date on privacy and data protection, especially when a large portion of marketing budgets are spent on channels that have been historically over-dependent on third-party cookies. While data concerns are not new, marketers have the time to adjust and plan for how they can continue to reach consumers in a privacy-safe, yet effective way before the end of this year.Data privacy should also continue to be top-of-mind when planning media campaigns and budgets, whether exploring more traditional methods or new and emerging technologies. Third-party cookies won’t be the end of data concerns, and as other mediums are questioned, marketers need to stay on the pulse and ready to offer alternatives and solutions to continually stay connected with consumers.

So, as we look ahead to the end of the year, marketers need to ensure that they are prepared for this shift and consider potential alternatives or pivots to their media plans. This year will continue to present new opportunities and challenges, and getting ahead of it will be the key to continued success. How are you adapting in 2024?

Written By: Scott Mitchell, Managing Director, Vistar Media (Canada)

Vistar Media is the home of out-of-home – providing brands, marketers and media owners with the world’s first truly intelligent platform for buying and selling OOH. Vistar hosts the world’s most extensive digital out-of-home inventory globally, offering the scale, data and expertise that allow brands to capture a better kind of attention. With a full suite of platforms to choose from – demand-side platform, supply-side platform, ad server and Cortex CMS system – Vistar has built the world’s largest marketplace for OOH transactions. Headquartered in New York, Vistar has a presence in more than 20 countries, working with hundreds of brand marketers and media owner networks to power an OOH that’s both timeless and future-proof. For more information, visit www.vistarmedia.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.