Brands are being forced to reconsider their dependence on third-party cookies. With the transition to a a future without cookiesMarketers face new challenges and opportunities.
Is this transformation simply about adopting new tools, or does it signal a deeper strategic shift in how businesses interact with their audiences? Aside from the technical challenges, there is the question of whether implementing a cookie-free strategy can provide a competitive advantage in a market where customer privacy concerns are increasingly prevalent. Additionally, generative AI has become a powerful tool for modifying programmatic advertising and optimizing marketing campaigns.
However, the future of AI goes beyond the immediate benefits, raising debate about how it will evolve and affect the industry over the next five years. Mateusz Jędrocha, CPO, presents The role of Adlook in managing a changing landscape, including emerging trends.
Marketing Technology: Can you explain what “cookie-free” means and how brands can succeed without relying on cookies?
Jedrosha: The term “cookieless” refers to the elimination of third-party cookies from the digital ecosystem. Success in a world without cookies implies that even if cookies disappeared, a brand’s marketing strategy, effectiveness and budgetary efficiency would remain intact. This transition requires adaptation from businesses, marketers and technology partners.
More importantly, the cookieless transition has caused advertisers and marketers to rethink their open web strategies. With the phasing out of third-party cookies and changes to Chrome, 65% of browser traffic may still rely on Google, but 35% of traffic is already cookie-free, presenting the same challenges we face now.
Overall, we recognize the cookieless transition as an opportunity rather than a risk.
Marketing Tech: Can a no-cookie strategy become a selling point for brands, or do consumers not really care about the use of third-party cookies?
Jedrosha: This is important, but it should be worded differently. Studies consistently show that users are concerned about how their data is collected and feel unsafe, often unsure about the reliability of “accept” or “reject” buttons. This concern is driving regulatory responses, leading to technological changes.
Rather than being a selling point, privacy is more about avoiding negative experiences or perceptions of a brand. For example, respecting confidentiality may not increase sales, but being perceived as evasive or dangerous could decrease them.
Most consumers don’t distinguish between third-party cookies and first-party cookies, and they shouldn’t have to. What consumers want is a fast, smooth website experience with relevant ads, as well as assurance that their data is being managed responsibly.
As privacy concerns rise and regulations tighten, brands must reconsider their data strategies. One solution is to collect less data and evaluate whether certain information, such as email addresses or detailed device data, is really necessary. These considerations influence how brands manage data collection.
Marketing Technology: Is there a concern that after 20 years of marketing and building long-term customer relationships, the loss of some tools could disrupt the flow of data, or is it more about a transition to different types of data collection?
Jedrosha: The deletion of third-party cookies, or more broadly the loss of signal, does not fundamentally change the relationship between a brand and its consumers. This relationship is much more than a third-party cookie or an IP address. Collecting first-party data, such as collecting email addresses with consent, will remain important, as will understanding purchasing behavior.
What brands should reconsider is how they use this data. Is an email address more effective for branding campaigns or for direct response and lower funnel activities? Retail media may be more relevant to these discussions.
What is becoming clear is that the focus on audience buying has eclipsed the importance of media and creative elements. With the loss of signal, we return to the basics – Media Matters, Creative Matters – which often have more impact than audience segments. Data segments built on third-party cookies can create an illusion of precise targeting, which is not always accurate.
A segment based on third-party data does not guarantee accuracy. Email addresses, for example, do not correspond exactly to individuals, because many factors influence whether the intended persona in a media strategy actually represents the targeted audience and reflects the real person receiving the message.
Marketing Technology: Are you suggesting that marketing move toward a more traditional approach to broadcast messaging, similar to static advertising like billboards or TV commercials, rather than relying on less accurate third-party data?
Jedrosha: It’s important to recognize that media and creative are just as crucial as audience targeting. In the industry’s quest for precision and one-to-one matches, some of these basics may have been overlooked. However, we don’t need to return to pre-digital basics: today’s tools have evolved.
The principle that media and creation are just as important as audience understanding remains unchanged. What has changed is the availability of advanced tools. We no longer rely solely on traditional media; we now have more accurate tools for open web marketing that don’t require user identification, allowing us to optimize content and creative strategies with comprehensive content understanding powered by AI , rather than simple keyword matching.
With advances in generative AI, simple keyword matching is no longer enough. AI improves our understanding of human content and behavior by discovering patterns that previous technologies failed to identify. For example, targeting young parents might include not only parent-oriented websites, but also automotive sites where they search for a large, safe SUV for their growing family.
This approach illustrates how we can get back to basics, but with today’s advanced tools, these principles can result in much more sophisticated, precise and effective marketing strategies.
Marketing Technology: Can you explain the role of Generative AI in the Adlook platform and what results users can expect, given the current hype around AI and the number of products that leverage it simply add?
Jedrosha: Generative AI is used in several ways at Adlook, many of which are common across the industry. It helps developers build products faster and more accurately, reducing errors, and helps marketing and product teams deliver high-quality projects in less time. Overall, generative AI accelerates operations at every level.
The Adlook platform algorithms, developed from our group’s extensive AI expertise, are a critical application of AI. These deep learning algorithms, like those used in Tesla’s self-driving systems, improve the accuracy of media buys. They enable Adlook to meet a wide range of KPIs, including media objectives and more complex objectives such as ad recall and brand awareness.
AI is key to solving challenges in the open RTB space, where auction request volume is measured in QPS (requests per second). AI evaluates bids in less than 100 milliseconds, ensuring optimal supply paths and placements while reducing human intervention and streamlining operations.
Adlook’s most recent advances in generative AI focus on targeting. With the Content GPT engine, advertisers can create audiences based on prompts and receive targeted URLs with explanations. This transparency reduces the “black box” effect, allowing users to refine their prompts and improve targeting.
This approach has produced great results in branding and mid-funnel campaigns, providing a scalable, cookie-free solution. It also significantly increases working media spend by removing the need for expensive third-party data segments, which can consume up to half of marketing budgets. As a result, more of the budget can be dedicated to actual media placement, thereby increasing efficiency and maximizing the reach of the campaign.
Moving away from an over-reliance on audience buying towards a balance between media and creative strategies refocuses marketers, encouraging them to embrace this approach as a viable solution.
Marketing Technology: You talked about how AI and Big Data have refined programmatic advertising. As this space becomes saturated, where do you see Adlook and its use of AI evolving over the next five years?
Jedrosha: The industry may be saturated, but there is still potential for companies like Adlook that offer unique value and methods within the marketing mix. When it comes to AI and generative AI, key focuses include the constant development of bidding algorithms to keep up with evolving signals, user behaviors, and new environments such as audio , digital signage and in-game advertising.
Targeting is another promising area as Adlook expands its Content GPT engine to pursue new use cases. Measurement is also key, especially as AI can help make sense of complex data and improve its accuracy. AI has the potential to reduce the cost of media mix modeling, making it more accessible to small businesses with limited resources.
Creativity is just as important, especially in making ads more engaging and personalized at scale.
The mindset shift around AI adoption is essential. Even if AI is effective, it can make mistakes that require human oversight. Finding the right balance between human supervision and AI control will be key to how AI is applied in various industries, particularly in marketing strategies. By automating routine tasks and optimizing processes, AI frees up time that allows marketers to focus on more strategic and creative actions that lead to long-term success. This balance will be key in how AI is applied across industries, including to improve marketing strategies.
(Photo by charlesdeluvio)
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