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Explore strategic insights from Kevin Amos, Brunner Partner, Chief Media and Data Officer.

Perspectives from Kevin Amos | Brunner

Partner, Chief Media and Data Officer

Kevin Amos

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<h2>Benefits of Third-Party Cookies for Effective Marketing</h2>Keep in mind that third-party cookies offer big benefits — and not only to&nbsp;marketers. For example, they enable advertisers to personalize ads based on a user’s browsing history, interests, and demographics. That makes ads more relevant to the user. When you can target more precisely, advertisers save media dollars and customers find what they’re looking for.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In addition, data from first-party and third-party cookies give brands insights to help improve the user experience on websites. Web analytic tools help website owners understand how users are interacting with their site, which helps them improve site performance&nbsp;Google’s mission has always been to provide searchers with a simple platform to review information. Because of this simplicity, Google continues to receive nearly 80% of its revenue from online advertising. If Google knows that a consumer wants to buy a product, Google provides brands with that knowledge and brands then bid to put their product in front of someone who wants to buy it.&nbsp;That’s effective marketing.<h2>Effective Cookieless Alternatives to Consider</h2>With third-party cookies here to stay, what becomes of all the work to develop alternative ways to target and track key audiences? Was it all that wasted effort?&nbsp;Not quite. With the <a href="https://www.brunnerworks.com/perspectives/the-rise-in-data-privacy-and-its-impact-on-your-brand" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">increasing focus data privacy and security,</a> third-party cookies remain under constant attack. In addition, the ability to leverage cookies is dropping. Safari and Firefox deprecated cookies in 2017 and 2019. About 40% of Chrome users are opting out of cookies. That means, a significant swath of the internet is already not using third-party cookies.&nbsp;From a common sense perspective, we recommend evaluating which cookieless alternatives may meet your marketing needs and using the ones that do. Brunner team has developed partnerships with companies that offer cookieless solutions already built in. The following options provide ways to track and target audiences without using third-party cookies.

As part of exploring alternatives to cookies, we’ve also looked internally to find solutions. For example, Brunner created its own campaign tracking variable, BZ_ID, to tie media spending to conversions. This helps us provide clients with data that’s essential for analyzing the success of a campaign.<h2>Recommendation: Review How your website uses cookies&nbsp;</h2>Now is prime time to review how your brand’s website is currently leveraging cookies.&nbsp;Consider the volume of users opting out of third-party cookies through other browsers and cookie consent banners, or <a href="https://developers.google.com/privacy-sandbox/cookies/prepare/overview" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chrome’s upcoming changes</a>, and do some housekeeping.

<ul><li>Run an audit of your site’s cookie use. This can help you determine if you have any third-party cookies that could impact site functionality if blocked. Review plugins that pull in maps, videos, or social posts. Pay close attention if you serve personalized content based on cross-site behavior. You can also leverage Chrome Developer Tools like the Privacy Sandbox Analysis Tool to help you see where you have cookies that may be impacted by the update.&nbsp;</li><li>Remove or adjust unnecessary third-party cookies. Make sure you only have SameSite=None denoted on the cookies that require it and mark any necessary cross-site cookies as secure. Remove any unnecessary third-party cookies if they impact site load when blocked.&nbsp;</li><li>Review your site’s privacy policy and cookie consent banner or opt out settings. Now is a great time to refresh your settings and ensure you’re in compliance with local regulations. At minimum, make sure you have a cookie policy that clearly outlines how you use any information and give users a clear opportunity to opt out of the sale of any information. Sites needing to adhere to GDPR regulations will need a cookie consent banner requiring user opt-in.</li></ul><h2>Ready for a Common Sense Approach to Cookie and Cookieless Options?&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2>With third-party cookies and cookieless options here to stay, the targeting landscape will continue to evolve. We’ll learn more about how Google plans to give Chrome users make “informed choices” across their web browsing. And advances will continue on the data privacy front, where users now have tools to block cookies and can remove or control their data.&nbsp;The Brunner team is tracking these advances so we can guide our clients to use the best targeting and tracking tools to get products and services visible to the right audiences, at the right time, and at the right price. That’s just great marketing to good people.&nbsp;If you’d like to learn more about options for your brand, please get in touch. We’d love to chat.&nbsp;Editor’s note: This article was originally published in October 2023. It has been updated to reflect third-party cookie developments in 2024.

When Google announced in 2020 that it would drop third-party cookies, the news triggered two main reactions — concern about how to measure marketing efforts and a rush to develop alternative ways to target key audiences and track how they engage.&nbsp;&nbsp;Last month, Google’s decision to keep cookies unleashed another round of reaction. The search engine giant announced that instead of deprecating third-party cookies, it would “introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time.”&nbsp;Immediately, Google’s about-face was met with comments along the lines of “It’s all about Google making more money” or “Google broke its promise” or “This is bad for your privacy and good for Google’s business.”&nbsp;Google is unlikely to roll out their privacy sandbox in a way that blocks their own analytics tools, and the upcoming changes should not directly impact site reporting. We recommend continued monitoring. Cookies leveraged for site tracking and analytics tools measuring on-site engagement of direct and organic traffic can be impacted by any cookie consent tools.

When Google announced in 2020 that it would drop third-party cookies, the news triggered two main reactions — concern about how to measure marketing efforts and a rush to develop alternative ways to target key audiences and track how they engage.&nbsp;&nbsp; Last month, Google’s decision to keep cookies unleashed another round of reaction. The searchRead more&hellip;" 

Targeting and Tracking Options for a Not-So-Cookieless Future

With Google Keeping Cookies, Marketers Need a Common Sense Approach to Targeting and Tracking  2

With Google Keeping Cookies, Marketers Need a Common Sense Approach to Targeting and Tracking

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