By Kristin Neubert,Media Director
You get a cookie, and you get a cookie! Everybody gets a cookie!
If you remember a previous blog post of ours, “No More Cookies? Other Sweet Ways to Target Audiences,” we wrote that Google had recently announced plans to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome. Well, that didn’t quite come to fruition the way we thought it would, so we’ve got more to say.
According to Anthony Chavez, VP of the Privacy Sandbox at Google, they’ve reversed their previous decision and decided to continue offering users a third-party cookie choice in Chrome. Chavez said they won’t be releasing their “standalone prompt for third-party cookies” and that “users can continue to choose the best option for themselves in Chrome’s Privacy and Security Settings.” This means that users are able to manage cookie settings through Chrome’s existing privacy tools, which offer a manual opt-out process.
But … why?
Good question! It most likely has to do with legal pressure from a judge’s ruling that Google illegally monopolizes online advertising. Simply put, they’re trying to get ahead of a potential court-ordered breakup, and the previous idea of removing third-party cookies would make customers even more dependent on Google.
Just in case you forgot: Let’s go over what third-party cookies are
Cookies are snippets of web code that are downloaded onto your computer (or tablet or phone) when you visit websites. First-party cookies are downloaded by the site being visited, and these allow customers to stay logged into web accounts and save their shopping cart. Third-party cookies are created by different sites than the one being visited, and they collect data that allows advertisers to do things like target and personalize ads to you. This data could range from age to gender to search history and historical behavior.
What does this mean for advertising?
Google’s privacy-first approach was consumer-focused, as the general public has become more privacy-conscious about the tech industry. But that approach was negatively impacting advertisers, and the removal of third-party cookies would have made it harder for advertisers to track the web activity of potential customers and use remarketing strategies. Google’s Privacy Sandbox was meant to be a less intrusive solution for targeted advertising, but for now, it appears Google will focus on Privacy Sandbox APIs.
Moving forward
Before this turnabout, we were taking a proactive approach to ensure our campaigns transitioned easily into the cookieless landscape—suggesting tactics such as sequential messaging, weather triggers, and social engagement to first-party data collection and device ID lookback. The urgency to make these adjustments is no longer there, but we still believe that split-testing cookieless tactics versus cookie-based tactics might provide useful insights for improving performance.
The only thing that doesn’t change is change
Still confused? We get it—the digital media landscape is constantly shifting. But EPIC can help! Just reach out with any questions you have about cookies (or any other delicious sweets). We’re here to figure it out and get you a solution that works for you.
