How the cookie crumbled: Marketing in a cookie-less world - Deloitte
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How the cookie crumbled:
Marketing in a cookie-less world
1. What’s happening? A summary • Personalisation will still be possible • Investment in audience data technologies
In January 2020, Google announced its with other currently available solutions (such as DMPs and CDPs) will not be
plans ‘to phase out support for third-party (such as first-party data, location and wasted, as there will still be multiple
cookies in Chrome… within two years’. In two time-based messaging, and contextual sources of audience data (even if first-
years’ time, all major browsers (Google targeting) across all the main digital party) that benefit from consolidation.
Chrome, Firefox, Safari) will have blocked channels (display, video, social, search).
• Advertisers are expected to benefit
the use of third-party cookies. This may
• Audience data will be available as first- from greater customer confidence over
alter the landscape for digital advertising
party (advertiser-owned) and second- time in consuming online content and
which currently relies extensively on
party (tech or publisher-owned) cookie purchasing online safely.
third-party cookie data for personalisation.
data, and will likely be supplemented
Businesses need to prepare and adapt
by clean, fully GDPR-compliant, and So, do not worry. In our view, this decision
to changes in personalisation solutions.
transparent non-cookie-based third- is best for customers and brands. Here we
However there is no need to panic.
party data. outline our key thoughts on the topic.
How the cookie crumbled: Marketing in a cookie-less world
In addition, content publishing
2. Cookies: Key concepts All types of cookies are intended to provide
organisations can make their owned
a targeted and/or personalised experience
data (collected through their first-party
What are cookies? to anyone using the internet, or to gather
cookies) available directly to marketers
Cookies are small pieces of code that are user behaviour for aggregated insights
that purchase advertising space on their
placed in your browser when you visit a into user behaviour. These are applied
website. This is second-party data from the
website. They usually contain at least two to various decision-making processes,
perspective of the marketers.
pieces of information – a site name and including those around user experience
unique user ID – but they may also capture and even product design.
other details such as website configuration
(e.g. language preferences), login details, or First-party cookies are used to understand
products added to a basket. the behaviour of visitors to a business
website, remember their preferences and
What are first- and third-party
cookies?
personalise the overall user experience
with the brand.
What are the
First-party cookies are cookies that are benefits of cookies?
owned, stored and dropped by the website First-party cookies can also be used to
domain that the user visits. These cookies remember for example the contents of
Both first- and third-party cookies
are used by the website owner to collect your basket on a website, the articles you
enable a person’s experience on
analytical data, remember preferences and last read or the progress of a video you
the internet to be personalised
provide personalised experiences. First- are watching. This data can be utilised for
with interesting and engaging
party cookies will not be blocked or phased personalisation of the website content and
content. Cookies ensure that when
out by Google. also for targeted messaging through paid
you revisit a website, you don’t
advertising.
have to alter the language
Third-party cookies are created and
settings, your basket is still there,
stored by organisations other than the First-party data, collected by first-party
and any preferences you have
one that the user is visiting. These cookies cookies, can be shared with or sold to other
shown are still in place. They also
are dropped by the website you visit but organisations as third-party data.
allow businesses to target users
are not necessarily stored or owned by
through paid advertising channels
the website or its parent company. They Organisations can benefit from aggregated
with products and messages that
are used for cross-site ad tracking, wider data collected by third-party cookies
are particularly relevant to their
audience profiling and targeting, and wider whenever their first-party data is non-
individual interests.
personalisation in advertising (especially applicable or insufficient. For example,
when prospecting for new users). Third- a telecom brand may be interested in
Third-party cookies are also used by
party cookies will be blocked or phased targeting individuals moving to a new
businesses to build an in-depth
out by Google on its Chrome browser home, but not be able to collect relevant
understanding of consumers and to
from 2020 to 2022, and have already been user data using their first-party cookies, so
target them better with advertising,
blocked by default within other browsers that behaviours cannot be tracked from
as well as understanding the
such as Safari and Firefox. their own website. In such circumstances
performance in general of their
purchasing third-party data may be very
advertising activities.
How are cookies used? useful for prospecting new users within a
Cookies are used to collect user data, target audience.
which can be on both an aggregate and
anonymised level, such as clicks on page, However, not all third-party audience
pages viewed, engagement elements, data is generated by third-party cookies.
and also on a PII (personal identifiable Organisations may gather granular user
information) level, such as device IDs, data using first-party cookies within
names, addresses, passwords and credit their websites (e.g. through a detailed
card numbers. personality and behavioural questionnaire,
or tracked consumption of news articles
in different subjects), then aggregate
the data within audiences and offer it
for sale to marketers for targeting and
personalisation.
2How the cookie crumbled: Marketing in a cookie-less world
3. Third-party cookie data: What are the pros and cons?
Pros Cons
Third-party cookies allow ads to be ‘hyper- Data privacy is an issue. Users have no
targeted’ or personalised for individuals visibility about which companies are
even when they have not yet engaged with processing their data, beyond those that
the advertiser, providing a more engaging own the websites they visit. The GDPR
and relevant user experience across includes cookie consent mechanisms, but
the internet, and encouraging discovery once users have consented, they have little
of targeted products or services. Data or no visibility about which organisations
technology companies aggregate user data are directly collecting their data. From
through third-party cookies, and these are a user perspective, this can lead to
widely available at market rates. hyper-targeted and persistent messages
by unknown – and sometimes perhaps
disreputable – organisations, which can be
seen as invasive rather than helpful
and interesting.
3How the cookie crumbled: Marketing in a cookie-less world
4. What will happen now? The main For publishers Short-term implications
implications from the change Large digital publishers typically generate In the short-term there will be minimal
a large proportion of their revenue by impact on digital marketing, as Google
For consumers partnering with third-party data providers has set a two-year timeline for phasing
The ban on third-party cookies will who collect data via their pages. With the out the use of third-party cookies on
give consumers more control over the third-party cookie ban, this will no longer the Chrome browser. Targeting and
data they share with companies online. be possible, possibly resulting in a large personalisation through third-party
Consumers will be better able to manage loss of revenue for digital publishers in the data on both owned media (on-website)
and understand which companies short term and requiring them to develop and paid media (advertising on other
capture their behavioural data, since new strategies for revenue generation from websites and channels) may continue for
they must give explicit consent for it to the large audience data they produce. the time being. However data privacy and
be collected: this should avoid cases of transparency have been brought into
‘hidden’ data collection. The downside is For demand side platforms (DSPs) and focus, and there will be more visibility for
that personalisation of a web experience ad tech providers in general consumers about who collects their data
(outside a specific brand’s owned website) Many DSP vendors will need to revise and how it is used. There is a need for the
could become less common, with more their strategy for the marketability of their entire digital community at all levels to find
irrelevant or ‘boring’ ads being shown. products, which typically emphasise the solutions that allow the same (or similar)
However consumers who have visited the availability or differentiated use of third- levels of personalisation and targeting that
website of a specific brand are still likely to party data for targeting, in response to the third-party cookies have been providing,
be targeted with personalised messaging threat from media giants such as Google whilst also addressing concerns and the
from that brand (or other brands owned by and Facebook, which offer their first-party new mandatory practices around privacy,
its parenting company). audiences free-of-charge for targeting transparency and data ethics.
within their media buying platforms.
For internet users in general
The universal block on third-party cookies The appeal of DSPs should not be
will lead to greater rigour in data privacy for
all internet usage. Other browsers including
diminished drastically. Most of them
enable granular targeting and campaign “The downside
Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari have
already announced or implemented a
management through other parameters
(e.g. site whitelists, content categories, is that
ban on third-party cookies.. This will
give internet users much greater clarity,
keywords, location, time-of-day and day-of-
week, device and browser, and first-party personalisation of
confidence and assurance when using
the internet, especially about who they
audiences), as well as the vast access to
inventory through partnering ad exchanges a web experience
are giving their data to and what those
companies are doing with it.
for display and video advertising.
(outside a specific
For advertisers
Other ad tech or ad buying solution
providers, such as social platforms, will brand’s owned
As an immediate effect after the
implementation of the ban, most third-
need to adapt their standard tactics
on collecting user data on advertisers’ website) could
party audiences (those whose data is
collected via third-party cookies) will
websites for performance tracking and
targeting. Until now these have been become less
diminish in size due to cookie expiry, until
they are no longer sufficiently scalable for
implemented through the insertion of
cookies on websites. It is unclear at this common, with
most media buying activities. This means
that advertisers will need to develop new
point what will be the implication of
the third-party cookie bans for ’cookie more irrelevant or
strategies for prospecting and rely more
heavily on other tactics. Advertising data
piggybacking’ or other indirect ways of
appropriating or transferring first-party ‘boring’ ads
processing and selling organisations will
need to develop new ways to collect and
cookie data usually practised for
ad serving. being shown.“
aggregate audience data that do not
require third-party cookies.
4How the cookie crumbled: Marketing in a cookie-less world
5. How to manage the change? Our recommendations.
There is no need to panic. The changes are not due to be implemented until 2022, and Google has yet to provide details about what will
change. There are other examples of technologies that were discontinued with little to no impact on advertising performance, such as
Flash, and the market evolved and adapted adequately to avoid disruption. In the meantime, there are a number of practical things you
can do:
01 05
First and foremost, amplify your owned Apply ’unusual’ personalisation tactics.
data: improve first-party data collection. A Campaigns applying deep personalisation
precise, careful and thorough implementation of through clever geo-targeting and time-parting
data capturing mechanisms will ensure robust (often called ‘moment marketing’) typically
data is available as granular input for targeting generate high engagement and even lead to
and personalisation of users who have already advertising awards, but are still not widely used
engaged with your brand. But bear in mind that in the industry!
starting early is key, as you may need time for
06
data to build up sufficient data volumes.
Stay tuned for clean third-party audiences.
Not all third-party audiences rely on cookie
02
Implement best-in-class cookie consent data. Some of them are already available for
management solutions, if you haven’t already targeting, such as VisualDNA, which aggregates
done so, to ensure that your first-party data is its audiences in a transparent manner based
fully compliant with regulations and future-proof. on direct personality quizzes. More of these
Also, clearly communicate to your customers non-cookie-based third-party audiences should
how you process and protect their data, to emerge within the next two years after the third-
increase trust. party cookie ban.
03 07
Explore second-party data from tech leaders. Use the opportunity to rethink your
Google and Facebook, for example, offer marketing tech ecosystem. Take the chance
aggregated but granular audience data collected to re-strategise your data and tech ownership,
across their respective platforms (including so you can obtain the most control, visibility and
Google Search, YouTube and all websites within usability of your own data. First-party data is now
the Google Display Network, and Facebook and more important than ever, and owning all your
Instagram) through their respective media buying data will act as a safeguard in the event that you
platforms (Google Ads and Display & Video 360, need to change agencies or tools, which could
and Facebook Ads Manager), completely free of otherwise result in loss of data.
additional charge (unlike third-party data).
08
Enjoy higher expected returns from the
04
Explore second-party data from publishers. elevated customer experience, based on
The main publishers typically offer display, greater customer trust, coupled with cleverly
video and native buys overlaying their owned personalised messages to reach them when they
data, when contracting directly or through are most likely to do business with you!
programmatic private auctions.
So times are changing, but one person’s problem is another’s opportunity. There is time to adjust to the changes and the benefits from
the increase in consumer trust they will generate. With our deep understanding of consumers and the data, technology and vendor
landscape, Deloitte Digital will be leading clients through this transition, helping to optimise current activity, introduce new systems and
processes and elevate the customer experience.
This publication has been written in general terms and we recommend that you obtain professional advice before acting or refraining from action on any of the contents
of this publication. Deloitte LLP accepts no liability for any loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any material in this publication.
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