What Google's cookie saga means for marketers
Google isn't fully ditching cookies yet, but you should stop relying on them anyway.
Ben here — CEO of Nudge, an analytics and content intelligence platform that's changing the game for marketers.
Growing up in New Zealand, with a dollar in my pocket I could buy a HUGE Cookietime cookie from the school canteen. These were glorious cookies: crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside, and packed with chunks of melty chocolate.
If only these were the type of cookies we’ve been discussing lately.
Instead, marketers' minds have been on the continuing saga from everyone’s favorite tech monopoly: the fate of the third-party cookie in Chrome. Google's latest attempt to appeal to regulators involves letting users “opt out,” similar to Apple’s move with App Tracking Transparency. In effect, rather than killing cookies in one fell swoop, they’ll let the market kill them slowly.
Is this so different from eliminating cookies altogether? Not really, but now Google doesn't have to be the one pulling the trigger. (Separately, it's an elegant product solution: users can stay opted in if they want, i.e. if websites provide them with enough value.)
Currently, we’re stuck between two worlds: the old and the new. We've seen how a post-cookies world might play out in the case of Meta, which has managed to navigate Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) changes by embracing AI. In anticipation of the cookie apocalypse, brands have also started using new attention metrics to optimize their strategies and resonate with users on a more fundamental level.
Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” If we’re to listen to Gretzky’s sage advice — and if history is any foreteller — marketers must embrace the new world of privacy-first, AI-driven analytics.
Here’s my hot take on how to do this:
1) Rather than investing in legacy cookie solutions — which are fragmented across browsers and losing accuracy by the day — adopt privacy-preserving methodologies for tracking and measurement.
2) Capitalize on AI/ML opportunities now, not later. Attention metrics and AI can provide a path for brands to build their own models of performance — models that simultaneously respect user privacy and drive results. (Just like Meta has done; in fact, this approach has helped them achieve 22% year-over-year growth.)
As always, a key ingredient is adaptability. In today's digital landscape, the only constant is change. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
The AI Hype Matrix maps the latest AI news stories across an unimpeachable scale of Hype (everyone is talking about this!) and Fear (will this kill my career? Will this kill EVERYONE?). Here’s this week’s rundown.
In “Big AI” headlines this week, NVIDIA’s chip delays are having ripple effects across global markets, Microsoft and OpenAI’s relationship is officially in “complicated” territory, and Google really doesn’t want to talk about that Olympics Gemini ad.
And, if you’ve ever wanted your digital assistants to sound a little less robotic and a little more like Judi Dench, you may be in luck: Meta wants to bring celeb voices to its AI offerings.
Speaking of innovations nobody asked for, Taco Bell has plans to expand its AI drive-thru voice tech, and yet another startup is trying to make AI wearables happen with an eavesdropping pendant dubbed the “Friend.” Because who doesn’t want a clingy AI bestie hanging on their every word?
AI-savvy freelancers to the rescue
As business leaders get tired of begging their in-house teams to watch that “AI for efficiency” webinar, some are turning to tech-savvy freelancers instead. A recent Upwork study highlighted that businesses are increasingly leveraging freelance talent to boost various aspects of operations — with 45% of leaders saying freelancers have more than doubled organizational agility and 40% indicating they’ve significantly enhanced the quality of work outputs.
Osum’s awesome research reports
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The multi-sensory marketing challenge
Marketers tend to be a little two-dimensional when it comes to sensory engagement — audio and video are the go-to avenues. But even in digital spaces, creative marketers can evoke sensory experiences through vivid descriptions, interactive elements, and strategic use of imagery and sound. This week’s challenge encourages you to think beyond traditional boundaries and explore how multi-sensory marketing can enhance brand recall and emotional engagement.
Suggested prompt text:
"Describe a marketing experience for [short description of your product] that engages all five senses. How would you implement this in a digital space?"