Everyone knows the disclosure of ad tech data approaches.
However, most people are in no rush to do something about it.
That’s the latest finding in the Internet Advertising Bureau’s 2024 State of Data Report: How the Digital Advertising Industry is Adapting to the Privacy-By-Design Ecosystem (subscription required).
The IAB finds that 94% of survey respondents say they expect Google Chrome to eventually eliminate third-party cookies. However, only 42% believe that Google will do what it said and finish them off by the end of the year.
It’s like that scene from the movie Don’t Look Up. Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) try to convince the president of the United States (Meryl Streep) that there is a 100% chance that a comet will hit Earth. “Well, it’s 99.78%, to be exact,” says Randall. The president replies, “Let’s call it 70%, and let’s go ahead… You know… let’s sit back and evaluate.”
What you have to do? Will this comet created by the end of the third-party cookie, pending privacy legislation, and the inability to capture first-party data crash the world of digital ad tech? We asked CMI’s Chief Strategy Officer, Robert Rose. Watch or read his opinion.
Marketers listen but don’t act on third-party data conversations
Every few weeks, you get a reminder about privacy and data. Some are suffering, like new legislation in New Jersey and New Hampshire, and a proposed law in Maine could be the strictest in the country. Google is constantly offering new updates to remove third-party cookies in its Chrome browser, and even Microsoft is killing Edge, its browser that no one uses.
However, as the IAB reports, marketers and others know all this is happening, yet less than half believe it will happen this year.
If you’ve been reluctant to try the Google Privacy Sandbox initiative, you’re not alone. Eighty percent of marketers know about it, but less than 60% use it or plan to use it this year, according to the IAB study.
What gives? Why aren’t brands, companies and publishers doing more now to face the inevitable day when they can’t track advertising and other content across websites and platforms like they used to?
The IAB report suggests a few things, though it doesn’t spell them out.
It misses the point in data collection and analysis
First, marketers still assume that first-party data only applies to contact information, devices used, and transactions. The IAB survey found that consumer interests and preferences ranked last in first-party data collected this year. However, interests and preferences are the most important things to know. Like I said, give me the choice of collecting an email address or knowing the visitor’s intent and desire, and I’ll choose intent and desire every time.
Second, the IAB survey also points to a lack of measurement capabilities. It finds that 76% of brands and companies are now investing or planning to invest in new forms of multi-touch attribution systems because of privacy laws and what they call “signal loss”. Since they are just starting out or planning to invest, these brands don’t have the measurement tools to understand now.
First-party audience data helps you understand impact — the effect your content, marketing, and customer experiences have on audiences. However, Google Analytics, marketing automation, and other analytics tools measure consumption. You can tell in fantastic detail what content is being consumed and how much. But you can’t tell which, if any, yielded or influenced the customer to do the next thing they want your brand to do.
According to the survey, marketers are now rethinking their technology stacks to consider this development. However, the top four platforms they mentioned are website analytics tools. This is scary. I’m a fan of customer data platforms (CDPs), but they seem to be the sexiest data tool that no one uses.
Companies seem to understand anything to help them evolve that won’t require them to upend their existing content and marketing activities.
Commitment to a difficult but vital challenge
The IAB report states that the majority of companies are training staff on data privacy issues, dedicating teams to business transformation and leveraging external expertise. This is a positive sign. The key to success, however, requires urgency in this task.
It’s a big lift. Connecting your owned media properties – your website to your newsletters to your blog to your physical and digital events – into a single, data-rich source of first-party insights on preferences, intent, impact and success is NOT it is for the weak. It takes time. It takes persistence and a lot of patience.
But I can tell you this: If you get it right, it’s worth every bit of sweat and justice you put into it.
It’s like that comet in the movie Don’t Look Up. There comes more inefficiency, loss of data signals and increased complexity to reach people in different countries or states. It is not a “may-be” that is coming. A “it’s-already-here” is coming.
Marketing and content teams should prioritize improving first-party data in the coming months and quarters.
It’s nice — and refreshing — to see the IAB reinforce this, writing: “(P)rivacy by design is vital — not just for compliance but as a strategic imperative to do what’s in the best interest of consumers and strengthen our responsibility as industry leaders.”
I could not agree more. It’s also just good marketing.
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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
