As Cookies Crumble Marketers Hunt for Yuletide Solutions

As Santa readies his sleigh for his annual global gift-giving adventure, he does so knowing that a many of the homes he stops by he will be fueled by milk and more importnatly cookies.

Much like the jolly fellow in red, digital advertising has been fueled by cookies. But the cookie is crumbling, or at the very least is going to taste quite a bit different this time next year.

The industry like children on Christmas morning is eagerly awaiting what shiny new technology will replace the tried-and-true cookie.

A top contender in this digital stocking is none other than Google, surprising or perhaps unsurprising, given its 2019 introduction of Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) as part of the Privacy Sandbox initiative.

FLoC holds the promise of collecting user data and grouping individuals into cohorts with similar interests. Marketers can then target these groups with tailored ads, offering an identity solution nearly as precise as third-party cookies while respecting user privacy, according to proponents. Yet, critics argue that Google's implementation is a strategic move to consolidate its dominance in the search and advertising realm, with minimal actual privacy improvements.

Despite the ongoing debate, Google's FLoC is now active on many Chrome browsers as they undergo testing. However, this is where you'll likely find it, as most other major browsers, including Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Safari, DuckDuckGo, Vivaldi, and Brave, have chosen to block or abstain from adopting Google's FLoC tracking technology. Notably, publishers like The Guardian and online services such as GitHub are also resisting the new tracking tech, with WordPress contemplating making “disable” the default FLoC setting.

Even government regulators in the EU are expressing skepticism about Google's FLoC. As we navigate the post-third-party cookie era, marketers and advertisers find themselves in a situation not vastly different from before FLoC's debut—searching for answers. The future of identity and tracking appears to involve a blend of first-party data and various unaffiliated tracking tools, including Project Rearc, IdentityLink, UID 2.0, and yes, FLoC.

While industry players grapple with these changes, collaboration and adaptation are crucial. The immediate future demands a multi-faceted, multi-tool approach, with advertisers relying on a variety of options as the industry navigates its choices.

Much like Saint Nick we are all in for a wild ride, so buckle up, as we may be on this journey for a while.