Marketing Briefing: Why Google’s cookie deprecation cessation has CMOs focused on consumers who will ‘protect their privacy’

Google provided few details in its blog post last Monday, but what’s clear is that even though Google isn’t planning on crumbling third-party cookies, the company will give consumers the choice to do so. For marketers and media buyers, the expectation is that even if Google isn’t the one actively doing the crumbling that the crumble will ultimately still happen. 

“Despite Google’s reversal in plans, my expectation is that consumers will still be seeking options that protect their privacy,” said Laura Knebusch, senior vice president of CPG marketing and consumer experience at Georgia-Pacific, in an email. “We have spent the last four years, identifying the right privacy safe approach for our brands including building our first-party data, increasing our mix with contextual targeting, and experimenting with retail media and other solutions. We believe we have found ways to be effective and efficient at reaching our target even without cookies and will continue to pursue the right mix of data sources.”

Despite Google’s delays and recent pivot, marketers at the CPG giant don’t see their efforts as wasted energy. That’s not only because they expect consumers to opt out of third-party cookie tracking in favor of privacy, but because the looming deadline of a cookie-less future had the industry focus on needed – and pressing – improvements.

“I think if anything else, what it’s helped us do is focus on building better audiences and usage of better data in general,” said Paras Shah, director of digital marketing at Georgia-Pacific, adding that it’s “business as usual” for the major marketer. “These changes have really pushed the industry forward in improving the data in general that feeds a lot of the audiences.” 

While there have been many questions over the years about marketers’ preparedness (or lack thereof) for life after the third-party cookie, the focus on first-party data strategies as well as the rise of retail media in recent years may not have happened as quickly were it not for the continually looming deadline. Google’s latest decision likely won’t change much for marketers who have made those areas a priority given the expectation that many consumers will opt for privacy over being tracked. 

“There is a road map for this; we’ve already experienced this with Apple,” said Matt Wurst, CMO at vertical video platform Genuin, adding that marketers need to recognize that Google’s pivot isn’t a course correction but simply changes who will make the decision to crumble cookies with the onus on consumers rather than Google. “With consent coming to the forefront, marketers should still expect 50% or more, [something like] 70% [of cookies] will be gone just as we saw with iOS,” Wurst said.

With the expectation that consumers will opt out of cookies, marketers efforts over the last few years to test alternative identifiers as well as invest in first-party data, retail media and diversify ad spending, to name a few, will continue. 

“Sometimes you can become too reliant on these tech giants to market your business,” said William Gasner, CMO of influencer marketing platform Stack Influence. “Google ad accounts can get suspended for no reason. Same thing with Meta. Basically what we’ve learned over the years is that pure reliance on one system is never a good and sustainable model to grow your business. We’re now always in that mentality. We’re always trying to diversify ad channels, trying to have different things. Google, making this announcement, it’s just one of those reasons why we’re not purely reliant on that.” 

Moving away from reliance on Google makes sense to Raj Nijjer, CMO at payroll platform Symmetry, as Nijjer said he has “switched my strategy to as much owned- and first-party media as possible.” The latest announcement from Google doesn’t change that for Symmetry, he added.

3 Questions with Dustin Hinz, CMO at Firestone Walker Brewing Company

Gen Z reportedly drinks less than previous generations. How are you navigating?

It’s still a small percentage of the business. You don’t want to over-correct into a small area of the business where everybody’s piling in. Right now, [non-alcoholic beverages] are estimated to be about 5% of total alcohol sales or beer sales. If all 9,000 breweries jump into 5% of the business with non-alcoholic [beverage offerings], that’s a hyper fragmented diluted marketplace.

Where does experiential marketing fit into your strategy? 

We have strategic activations with premium partners, local partners and programs, and then a program that we call the non-premise. The non-premise is where people are getting together. When you think about motorcycle shops and barber shops and record stores and, how are we coming together? 

What would you say is the biggest challenge facing marketers today?

It’s the fragmentation of media and the moving goalposts of the algorithms that a lot of the platforms have in place. Our media teams and our buyers are constantly sorting out: How do we connect our brand with the right customers in the right places at a competitive level? The democratization of these platforms has made the marketplace more cluttered than ever. — Kimeko McCoy

By the numbers

As digital advertising and marketing continues to look for ways to make ads more personalized, marketers are looking for ways to marry online and in-store experiences in hopes to shorten the gap between product discovery and purchase. That said, new research from Walmart and Morning Consult, a business intelligence company, reports emerging trends in this space around curated product recommendations, multi-tasking while shopping, online and offline experiences and price value propositions. See below for key insights:

• 38% of shoppers would always want a virtual personal shopper available to them; for both Gen Z and parents, that number jumps to 50%. 
• 20% of Gen Z shoppers and nearly a quarter of early adopters believe shopping primarily through entertainment and social media platforms will make their shopping experience more convenient and enjoyable. 
• Shoppers want tech solutions for efficiency: 49% desire a store-path mapping app, and 50% are interested in phone-based self-checkout, in store. — Kimeko McCoy

Quote of the week

“Both companies [Google and Apple] are avoiding direct responsibility for the decision of whether an identifier is present by making ‘consent’ the fulcrum of user choice and availability of the third-party cookie.”

— Charles Manning, CEO of mobile measurement business Kochava, when asked about Google’s latest cookie shift and how it compares to Apple’s moves.

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