Privacy & Identity: Why It Matters

Why it matters — Because advertising requires cross-context activity, measuring effectiveness requires both contexts to contribute data in order to understand whether an ad was effective. But without third-party cookies traveling with the user from one domain to another, the browser infrastructure to measure ad effectiveness is no longer. The good news, measuring ad effectiveness is still possible without third-party cookies. It just looks a little different.

Why it matters — "Do Not Track" (DNT) seemed like an easy solution that the industry and regulators could agree on and implement. However, the details and competing commercial interests were complicated, and eventually, after much hand-wringing, the solution was abandoned in 2015 by browsers, the ad industry and trade organizations alike. Yet, similar conversations are happening now around data use, user consent and where control for both should sit. If we look back at the lessons of DNT, it helps to inform the issues facing industry and solutions being proposed today.

Why it matters — CHIPS offers the technical integration of third-party cookies but with the privacy protections of site-scoped access to data, permitting first parties to work with vendors to manage their first-party data with reduced risk of data leakage, but how do they work and when should we ask for a side of CHIPS?

Why it matters — ID Solutions are the hot topic in digital advertising in preparation for the deprecation of third-party cookies. Learn about their limitations so you can consider a portfolio-based approach that addresses the gaps left by ID Solutions.

Why it matters — According to a joint study by TripleLift and AdAge only 69% of marketers have implemented solutions that solve for privacy and identity -- in part, this is due to a lack of knowledge of which solutions exist and are applicable to their use cases. With 2023 closing in on us there’s an urgent need for buyers to start laying the groundwork and doing discovery on solutions that fit their media execution needs. The Prepper Playbook for Advertisers provides some general guidelines and battlecards to kickstart the conversation.

Why it matters — The advertising industry has a massive stake in the deprecation of third-party cookies, and unfortunately, there's no silver bullet. While the alternatives offer the media industry attractive solutions, we need to understand the core design decision of each proposal to separate the essential statement of each proposal from the technical consequences of its thesis. In this piece, we look at the design decisions and how they balance protecting user privacy while preserving the value of personalized advertising.