[Video #1] Will Retargeting Die Without 3rd Party Cookies?

When you run a business, reaching the right customers with your offers is one of the fundamental requirements for success. All of the uncertainty around whether this will still be possible when Google switches off 3rd-party cookies is obviously a worry — especially as things are moving fast and it is difficult to keep up with the news. We can’t all be experts.

Luckily, we have experts on hand so you don’t have to be one. Laurie da Silva and Richard Johnson are hosting a new series of snackable videos on The Cookieless Future. They give a point-by-point breakdown for newcomers and more detailed explanations for those familiar with the subject. Watch the first video now, which talks about whether the end of cookies means the end of advertising. And, if not, what is set to replace them? Get to know more about advertising without cookies.

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[Full transcription below]

Laurie da Silva:

“Will retargeting die without 3rd party cookies? How will we advertise products and services on our websites to potential buyers without them?”

Of all the recent news to come out of Silicon Valley, the most shocking to advertisers and welcomed by individuals who value their privacy, was Google’s announcement that they would no longer support 3rd party cookies on their Chrome browser.

[00:00:30]
Richard Johnson:

Considering Chrome has a global browser market share of over 60%, marketeers didn’t understand why the company would jeopardize its $180 billion a year income by eliminating individual tracking data that cookies provide. But, as their Chief Executive explained in testimony before the US Congress, people don’t like to feel that they’re being tracked around the internet.

Laurie da Silva:
[00:01:00]

That raises the question internet marketers are now asking themselves. “Will retargeting die without 3rd party cookies? How will we advertise products and services on our websites to potential buyers without them?”

Richard Johnson:

The answer is no. Retargeting will not die. Instead, it will evolve while providing technology driven privacy guarantees for individual consumers. And, evolution will be driven by the concept of cohorts. In simple terms, cohorts refer to a group of people who share similar interests and are prone to frequently visit particular websites.

Laurie da Silva:
[00:01:30]

The key is nurturing these cohorts with both group-based and individual-based approaches in advertising. This means using Artificial Intelligence, like Deep Learning, that will help you market to cohorts, effectively replacing the need for cookies.

Richard Johnson:

Here’s how it works. Currently, your targeted audience is identified as an individual by a 3rd party cookie, which allows for cross-site tracking between an advertiser and a publisher.

Laurie da Silva:
[00:02:00]

So, when 3rd party cookies on Chrome are gone, your audience will still be addressable when they belong to a cohort or an interest group. These are individuals with common defining characteristics or website behaviors.

Richard Johnson:

Take for example, an individual who wants to buy a new laptop, mouse, and keyboard. And, this individual only browses on the website shopnow.com. Deep Learning will provide insights into their patterns of behavior and intent to buy more than just the laptop by recommending additional relevant products.

Laurie da Silva:
[00:02:30]

Technology will then assign its individual to a cohort of a laptop lover who intends also to buy a mouse or a keyboard. The future ads they see will still be personalized, while maintaining the privacy of individual consumers.

Richard Johnson:

With the demise of the 3rd party cookie, the browsers will control the privacy preserving technology that allows it to target an audience in a group-based approach. This introduces a higher probability of adaptation by the advertising and marketing communities, and the potential to scale upwards.

Laurie da Silva:
[00:03:00]

To sum it up, your future customers will be addressed by on device interest groups. This group-based approach will be supported by web browsers, or subsidiary technologies replacing 3rd party cookies for individual identification and cross-site tracking.

Richard Johnson:

This will be made possible by using sufficiently powerful technologies such as Deep Learning and Advanced algorithms, to give you comprehensive and future-proof solution.

Laurie da Silva:

So, to answer the question, “Will retargeting die without 3rd party cookies?” The simple answer is no, and it doesn’t have to be difficult either.

[00:03:30]
Richard Johnson:

You can find more detailed answers to this and other questions at blog.rtbhouse.com. Stay tuned for more updates, and thanks for watching.

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