With the end of the cookie upon us (no matter how many delays Google announces), marketers plotting their way forward fall into one of two camps: planners or procrastinators.
But this isn’t the first time the industry divided itself in its approach to challenge. Six years ago, GDPR was the big issue and marketers were split almost 50/50 in terms of readiness. Just one month before GDPR took effect, only 52% of marketers stated that they were prepared for GDPR compliance. Have marketers learned their lesson since that time of confusion? Of course not!
In Sept. 2023, just 8% of marketers said they were “fully prepared” for the cookie crackdown. But cookies have never been a perfect solution: Audience targeting segments are only available on the 53% of the web that has third-party cookies or a cross-domain identifier available. Advertisers currently activating campaigns with third-party cookies are missing out because they cannot reach almost half of the web with their targeted advertising, including the most affluent consumers who use iOS and Safari.
To make the case for preparedness over postponement (despite the Google reprieve), let’s look at a few examples that prove that the end of the cookie doesn’t have to mean the death of effective targeting.
FinServ brand earns more impressions
A financial services brand, keen on raising awareness about its B2B small business solutions, partnered with a cookieless technology solution provider to reach key decision-makers and hit campaign outcomes.
The deals targeted a diverse set of small business owners, all identified via first-party data with no cookies enabled. The brand worked with the technology solution provider to optimize toward CPM and clickthrough rate (CTR) and continuously monitored performance to ensure target segments were scaling to and delivering on performance goals.
The solution delivered 100 million ad impressions, over three times the brand’s initial goal. This was possible through the ability to effectively identify nuanced audience targets, which resulted in a 60% lower CPM than the benchmark. Not only did the campaign deliver at scale, but also drove a 25% higher CTR compared to cookied deals.
Electronics brand outperforms while cutting costs
A world-leading technology brand needed to grow its already-large consumer awareness while cutting costs.
The brand activated three campaigns, each promoting a unique product. For each campaign, the brand compared the performance of a cookieless solution against cookied deals and tested the solution against their own first-party customer data.
The cookieless solution drove 325 million ad impressions across three campaigns saving an impressive 25% on data fees. This maximized the brand’s budget and campaign outcomes, ensuring dollars were spent on working media exclusively vs. third-party data.
Retailer wins big during the holidays
A big box retailer wanted to usher high-value holiday shoppers through its doors by driving awareness of seasonal deals, gifts and expansive product offerings.
The campaign leveraged cookie-free data segments to reach an audience of over 100 million shoppers, prospects and customers across the U.S. interested in holiday activities like baking, gifting, shopping and travel. With a focus on performance, the retailer directed its technology solution to optimize toward the most efficient deals and segmentation.
The campaign delivered 80 million ad impressions at a 28% more efficient CPM than traditional cookied deals. By optimizing toward performance, the brand secured a 58% lower cost-per-click.
Find your cookieless solution
To determine viable cookieless alternatives, marketers need to look for solutions that were created to be the next great targeting solution for advertisers, regardless of the cookie’s fate.
Any response to a cookieless future shouldn’t just respond to this one challenge, it should respond to the overall needs of any marketer by being scalable, performing well and by avoiding the accrual of additional fees—all elements that enhance advertiser campaign necessities. It should be a solution for today, and not for the cookieless tomorrow that keeps getting postponed.
Remember, this is not just about the death of the cookie. This is about creating a robust solution that allows you to have your cake and eat it, too.
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Airey Baringer is VP, product management at TripleLift where he oversees the data products team responsible for defining and executing the company’s product and go-to-market strategy, including TripleLift Audiences.
