Google may have given third-party cookies a stay of execution to 2023 – but the trend is undeniable.

Browser cookie deprecation, plus limits on mobile identifiers imposed by Apple amongst others, are limiting traditional  targeting methods used by advertisers.

In this video interview with Beet.TV, one ad agency executive says technology can come riding in to help.

Loss of signal

“Many marketers already made the choice to work with specific partners, lean on specific technologies, says Delphine Fabre-Hernoux, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at GropM’s Wavemaker.

“The burning questions we get today from marketers is more about the changes they have to make because of privacy.

“They see a massive pressure coming from all these changes related to privacy.”

“We’re going to lose lots of (audience) signals.”

After the identifier

The loss of those signals has emerged as the key advertiser challenge in 2020 and 2021.

One of the solutions mooted is a leaning toward first-party data, that which can be gathered from consumers with permission.

But, with some expecting the vast majority of iOS users, for example, not to opt in to tracking like location and app usage, finding users in the noise is getting more difficult.

Machines offer help

Hernoux sees a solution in artificial intelligence.

“The power of machine learning is really to build this layer of intelligence on top of a more limited amount of signals and translate that into something which is quite meaningful,” she says.

What kind of intelligence? That depends on the use case.

“It may be insight, it can be intelligence that is going to optimise media planning, but it can also be the predictive piece,” Hernoux claims.

“Everybody’s looking to really know where you need to put your media dollars to maximise the return on investment and contribute more to your bottom line.”

This video is part of the Global Forum on Responsible Media produced by Beet.TV, GroupM with the 4A’s.  This track on creativity, advanced technology and advertising is sponsored by IBM Watson Advertising.  For more videos on this topic, visit this page.  For more information on IBM Watson Advertising, please visit this page
The entire Forum can be watched on-demand here, and all videos from this project can be found here.