• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 25, 2024

Just days after Google scrapped plans to do away with browser tracking cookies, I received the first of what I expect to be many case studies boasting the results of new, "cookieless solutions."

This one came from none other than the Havas Media Network, which conducted an A/B test for an anonymous U.S.-based pharmaceutical brand using two variants: one with conventional cookies and another using a cookieless solution developed by demand-side platform Viant.

The cookieless version, which utilized Viant's proprietary household ID to target consumers, delivered 100% reach of the pharma brand's target audience, and 93% unduplicated audience reach.

Obviously, Havas and Viant could not have anticipated that the timing of their news would coincide with Google's decision to retain cookies, but it certainly seems to take away some of the impetus for the news.

That said, I think Google's false alarm has actually been a good thing for the advertising industry overall, and for the consumer-data dependent ad technology sector in particular. Here's my reasoning:

1. Cookies began as a simple shortcut for publishers and consumers enabling a more frictionless way to exchange browser data giving people access to web sites and pages, but the secondary use case of tracking and targeting consumers with advertising made the ad industry lazy, and created unfettered frequency that effectively killed the golden goose.
2. The threat of a Google cookie-terminating deadline accelerated the industry's push to innovate solutions, and while many like Viant's are a little black boxy, they nonetheless have pushed the envelope for ad tech to develop more sophisticated means of tracking proxies for consumer ad exposure.
3. It also helped shift attention back to old school contextual targeting -- you know, using the content an anonymized consumer is accessing -- as a proxy for their intent, interests and possible behaviors.

I hope the industry doesn't begin sliding on that last part, because I believe it is integral to the underlying value exchange between advertisers, agencies and publishers.

Meanwhile, cookieless targeting innovation remains important for other reasons, including the fact that Google might ultimately decide to pull the plug again, or regulators or lawmakers might order it to do so. Also, Google's cookies are not the only consumer tracking game in town, and we've already seen the effects of Apple's privacy initiatives, various forms of browser anonymization technologies, and ad blockers, so there is a constant need for research and development for a next generation of consumer tracking data and technology.

Or as Havas Media Network CEO Greg James stated in this morning's announcement with Viant, it demonstrates "our ability to succeed without sacrificing performance or audience privacy."