Google’s New Path: Cookies Are Here to Stay
Last month, we hosted a special event for marketing leaders about how to navigate the changing realities of working with data. Our panel for Discussions on Data talked about how deeply the industry has now built itself around data-driven insights, targeting, and measurement – and how those practices might be threatened by things like the Digital Services Act, regulation from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, and Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies.
A recurring theme of the evening, though, was that we’re only possibly losing cookie access. First announced in 2020, the plan had been postponed so many times by Google that it had become almost a running joke in the industry.
And sure enough, just as we were hitting send on an report reflecting on the insights and advice from our expert panel that evening, the news came through that Google is taking a ‘new path’ – keeping cookies alive alongside the Privacy Sandbox tool that the search giant had intended to replace them.
Understanding the Impact of This Decision
But it’s important to note that this isn’t quite the ‘U-turn’ that some in the media are making it out to be.
Yes, cookie functionality will remain active in Google Chrome, which, with a 60% market share, sets the tone for all browser-based online activity. But the promised option to opt-out of cookies entirely puts the browser more in line with Safari, which offers cookie functionality but leaves it disabled by default, with the result that marketers now effectively treat Apple’s browser as cookieless. And it seems clear that Privacy Sandbox remains Google’s preferred solution – future wrangling over it with UK regulators notwithstanding.
Navigating the Uncertain Future of Marketing Data
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this change, then, is not that we’ll get to keep cookies after all, but that the future of marketing data really is highly uncertain. We don’t know how Google will implement the opt-out. We don’t know whether they’ll take another run at deprecating cookies when the dust has settled on the new plan. And we don’t know how the balance of influence will shift between marketers who want data access, tech firms that hold that data, and digital advocacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation who will see a combination of cookies and Privacy Sandbox as the worst of both worlds.
Action Points for Marketers
So while the joke that Google may or may not be determined to deliver the death of cookies no longer quite works, the action points from our new report still stand: how we work with data does need to be an area of active and ongoing evaluation and evolution, the interests of our audiences do need to be prioritised in how we target them, and we do need to aim for quality over quantity when we build data strategies.
If you’ve been asking yourself how to take the next step with marketing data in a context which feels too unpredictable to make good decisions, I encourage you to read the report, ‘Beyond Disruption: Navigating the Future of Data Marketing’, or get in touch for a chat about how we can consult on a roadmap for long-term success.
And as for Google’s timing, making our summary of the state of play slightly out-of-date immediately before the report’s publication? Well, sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.