Is contextual advertising the best bet in the cookie-less future? 

As the world moves into a cookie-less future, advertisers and marketers have consciously started experimenting with new models of digital marketing. Unequivocally, contextual advertising has become a top-notch advertising tool ever since Google, The New York Times, The Trade Desk, and Oracle have started using it as a way to serve targeted ads without relying on third-party cookies. It is quite interesting to see Facebook working on developing ‘Facebook News Feed Contextual targeting’.

As part of the e4m TechTalk, Dimpy Yadav, General Manager - Xaxis India, defined how contextual advertising was re-emerging for delivering relevant and targeted messages to India’s audiences. Briefing in layman’s terms, is a form of targeted advertising in which ads are placed on web pages depending on the content of those pages, rather than the data collected from the consumer’s online behaviour. 

Besides looking more into the data and numbers available which are immensely circulated across digital platforms, we tried to find out what’s the way ahead for marketers after the death of third-party cookies? We spoke to marketing and advertising experts on how contextual advertising help marketers in the coming years and how marketers would compensate for the overall loss in revenue the brand suffers after the eradication of third-party cookies.  

Aligning with First-Party Data

As Google announced to phase out third-party cookies by 2024, the marketers have started looking for the best alternatives to target the consumers ahead. Discussing how first-party data can help marketers after the removal of third-party cookies, Siddharth Dabhade, Managing Director, MiQ India, said, “The AdTech industry has been preparing for this eventuality for years now as Apple, Safari, and Firefox have already disabled cookies. At MiQ, we innovate to build privacy-centric audience graphs that tie together multiple, holistic views of identity that are not only reliant on cookies.” 

Moreover, we’ve seen a lot of organisations using authenticated targeting approach by getting explicit consent from a user to use their data - this appears as a pop-up on the homepage or login screen and enables brands to personalise their campaigns for their existing users and customers by gathering first-party data.” Talking further in the discourse of other alternatives available so far, Siddharth shared how contextual and geo/location-based targeting is the way ahead for brands in the cookieless world.  

Commenting more on third-party cookies, Ravi Kumar, Founder, and CEO, MadHawks, said, “Third-party cookies limit your ability to control how and which of your information is used by the websites you visit. While large platforms such as Google and Facebook may have strict privacy policies and data-sharing controls for users, many unscrupulous websites can collect more information than users want to share. The removal of third-party cookies will only limit or regulate the flow of information between users and websites. The system will be replaced by a Google Ad Centre. The Ad Centre will allow internet users to choose which ad categories they want to see.”

Further mentioning some additional pointers to make targeting audience in a post-third-party-cookie world more interesting and effective, Rajeev Pandey, Director of Global University Systems, said, “Embracing data transparency and focusing on quality over quantity can bring more creativity in the content. Also, collaborating with partners to find innovative solutions can help the brand target the right audience.” 

Contextual advertising is the future

Discussing more on how contextual advertising can become the best alternative to third-party cookies, Mitesh Kothari, Co-founder, and Chief Creative Officer, of White Rivers Media, said, “Contextual targeting helps us understand the consumer sentiment and deliver content in a highly relevant environment. There are multiple advanced contextual targeting tools as well now that rely on technologies like natural language processing and image recognition that allows potential customer identification and pertinent content delivery.”

Following the McKinsey report on how the deprecation of cookies will lead to an approximately $10 billion loss in revenue, Siddharth further described how cookie depreciation will impact key brand metrics across channels, He said, “Virtually every channel brands use today will be impacted by the deprecation of cookies, including the measurement data. Household reach, IP-based conversions, footfall, incremental lift, ROAS, and CPA all currently rely on cookie-based attribution for measurement of the interlocking key between channels. A single solution to cookieless measurement is unlikely, Authenticated IDs, clean rooms, in-app measurement, attention, brand surveys, and TV measurement–is important to explore multiple solutions that solve for multiple identifiers and to continue to push innovation in measurement through strategic and collaborative partnerships.” 

He mentioned that contextual targeting is an alternative to demographic targeting that targets users based on their passions, habits, and interests. By targeting users based on interests, affinity audiences include users across demographics, making it more inclusive than demographic targeting. Girish Ramachandra, Founder & CEO, Shopalyst added that Brands will get access to newer forms of targeting on media platforms - which could be based on cohorts instead of individual identities. Targeting relevance combined with contextual personalization will be the cornerstone of success for brands.

Other alternatives

Apart from discussing various alternatives for the cookieless future, marketing experts focus on conscious advertising as an option ahead. Krishna Iyer, the Director – Marketing at MullenLowe Lintas Group, said, “In terms of traffic, conscious advertising can attract a wider audience that shares the brand values and beliefs. This can lead to more organic traffic and word-of-mouth referrals, as loyal customers share their positive experiences with others. As for conversion, it can help in two ways. Firstly, it can attract consumers who are more likely to convert because they share the brand values and are more likely to identify with the messaging. Secondly, by building trust and a stronger connection with the audience, brands can increase customer loyalty, leading to repeat business and higher conversion rates.”

Roshan Kunder, Head of Marketing & E-commerce - India at NAOS, Bioderma, added, “By incorporating conscious advertising practices into marketing strategy, brands can create more effective and impactful campaigns that not only resonate with their audience but also drive business results. Conscious advertising can be one tool in a brand's marketing arsenal to help them adapt to these changes and create more effective and impactful advertising campaigns.”