Updates on Third-Party Cookies in Chrome & Rise’s Approach to Resilient Targeting

For years, companies like Google, Firefox, and Apple, along with CCPA and GDPR legislation, have been rolling out changes and policies for a more privacy-focused digital landscape. These ongoing updates have long reshaped how brands connect with their audiences, driving a shift towards more privacy-conscious solutions that redefined the demands of effective digital advertising. 

Since announcing their initial plans to deprecate third-party cookies (3P) in Chrome in 2020, Google has been back and forth, then up, down, over, and under on when this would become a reality. Now, with their latest 3P cookie update, there's a clear opportunity for marketers to take charge and gain control of changes to come.

What Are Cookies, Again?

Cookies are small data files stored on your browser by websites, traditionally serving as the foundation for online tracking and personalized advertising. They help websites remember your preferences, track browsing activity, and customize content based on your interests.

First-party cookies (1P) are created by the website you're visiting and are used to enhance your experience by storing login information, language settings, and items in your shopping cart. 

Third-party cookies (3P), on the other hand, are set by external domains and are commonly used for cross-site tracking, ad targeting, and measuring the effectiveness of campaigns.

What’s Google's Latest Update on Third-Party Cookies?

To address privacy concerns while maintaining advertising effectiveness, Google proposed a new solution: a prompt that enables users to set their privacy preferences across all Google browsing experiences. For users who don't disable cookies, third-party tracking will remain available in Chrome. 

Nonetheless, industry regulators continue to maintain that their proposals are anti-competitive. While Google will continue to develop proposals through its Privacy Sandbox, regulators are still urging Google to offer solutions that do not allow itself an unfair advantage.

So, What Do We Do? 

Google’s recent update hasn’t changed our commitment at Rise to user privacy and creating meaningful engagement with our clients' audiences. Third-party cookies have always been less reliable identifiers and inadequate for accurately determining intent.

People search for a wide range of topics and consume diverse content, driven by various motivations. While some are seeking specific items or solutions, many are simply exploring their passions, gathering information, or staying informed. Additionally, with cookies often being deleted and the data they capture frequently incomplete or inaccurate, it becomes challenging to fully understand the intent behind every interaction. 

This simply can't be said enough, but it all comes back to the data. The next step for marketers today is to find resilient solutions that cut through the chaos to:

• Reach real people, not just cookie-based identifiers

• Target and activate individuals directly throughout the user journey

• Leverage advanced audience and analytics models

How Can Rise Help?

At Rise, we've developed a proprietary data stack that remains resilient in the face of evolving targeting challenges. It can be used across all media touchpoints and further enhances the value of our clients' own data. Our approach is also fully transparent with clients and compliant with privacy standards.

Home Is Where the Data Is

Rise is part of Quad, the marketing experience company that is one of the largest direct mail and catalog providers in the U.S. Our household data includes more than 3 billion continuously re-validated data points, all anchored by physical home addresses. Unlike email addresses or phone numbers, each person only has one home address, making it a stable and reliable data source on which our entire data stack is built. 

This resilient identifier allows Rise media to consistently reach 260 million consumers, 92% of the U.S. population, and 97% of U.S. households.

Wait! There's More!

From there, we take that resilient data and help our clients unlock the full value of their own first-party data by integrating it into our data stack. Then, we layer on audience insights from contextual-based partners to reach the most relevant and highly valuable audiences. 

By tying our data and our clients' data back to households and enriching it with contextual data points, we provide powerful, privacy-compliant targeting to strategically connect with audiences across digital, traditional, and all addressable media channels. 

Since our data stack is extensible, open, and platform-agnostic, we can layer in customer interests and passions, allowing us to create highly relevant, granular audience segments. 

Rise Delivers Growth Without Compromise

If you have any questions about how these updates might affect your business or need assistance in adjusting your strategy, please reach out to us. We're here to support you and ensure your marketing efforts remain both effective and compliant with the latest industry standards.