Adding research bite to a cookie-less world

Interim ABG Chairperson Elda Choucair reflects on the impact of cookie changes on the advertising industry and research plans with IPSOS

Ad tracking and consumer privacy are very much in the spotlight as the industry prepares for a ‘cookie-less world’, which will have profound effects on the future of the digital advertising industry.

Third party cookie tracing has become a way of life with advertisers benefiting from accessing audiences at scale, and the clear correlation between data and revenue has led to a whole ‘performance marketing’ culture taking root.

However, consumers face privacy costs when their information is used, often without their knowledge or consent, to track and target them with ads.

This has led to Safari, Firefox, Apple and Google blocking third-party cookies by default to protect users’ privacy.

So, what next? The industry is now pursuing a number of technologies, some that are old approaches being revisited and some that are entirely new. All attempt to bridge the loss in capabilities this will lead to when to measurement, tracking, targeting and insight collection. These include a number of ID solutions, the Topics solution proposed by Google, usage of Data Cleanrooms, and Contextual technologies just to name a few.

This is all happening at the same time that Web 3.0 solutions begin to become adopted including Blockchain applications in media and data and of course various platforms being developed all leading to a closer integration of physical and virtual worlds.

Loyalty Research Center and Rep Data recently released their new eBook, A Cookie-less World: The Shifting MarTech Landscape, during the ACG 2022 Intergrowth Conference.

It found that recent trends toward a ‘cookie-less world’ have led to structural changes in what actions, systems and channels are most effective. This has resulted in reallocation of marketing budgets, technology adoption trends and an emphasis on primary data that has separated leaders from their competitors. Specific findings include:

• Among both B2B and B2C respondents, marketers are reprioritising market research, such as panels, surveys, and Voice of Customer (VOC) initiatives to identify contextual segments.
• Marketers are making an average of five changes to their technology stack to address cookie-less gaps in identity, including more than 75% turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) use cases.
• Leaders are experiencing the most pressure across social media and search. Rather than decreasing spend in these channels, marketers are doubling down on the most impacted areas.

For the above reasons, the ABG research committee has teamed up with IPSOS to conduct a holistic study about this topic in the region.

The research aims to capture the point of view of subject matter experts on the changes taking place in the data sharing policies in a cookie-less world and assess the level of impact it has on advertising and marketing strategies, then the study will be complemented with a quantitative consumer research to measure the level of awareness, concerns and actions taken by consumers to protect their data and reactions to targeted advertising. The findings of the study will be made available to our members once completed.

We welcome perspectives on this topic and are keen to gauge the level of readiness to change “back up plans”, as we navigate through the uncertainty.