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Marketing Tips
March 20, 2022
7
min read
Noam Yadin

A-Z guide to the cookie-less future

When it comes to digital marketing, acronyms and abbreviations are everywhere. In fact, the adtech market is famous for its love of acronyms. Sure, you’re probably familiar with SEO, you’ve heard of CPM and obviously you’re keeping an eye on your ROAS. But with the decline of cookies and the move towards new kinds of digital advertising, there are a host of new terms for you to get your head around. 


We decided to break down the most important and helpful abbreviations to help you to navigate the new challenges of digital marketing - think of it as your go-to cookies abbreviation dictionary. 

CCPA = California Consumer Privacy Act


The California Consumer Privacy Act is a new law that aims to protect the privacy rights of residents of California. The California Consumer Privacy Act will replace the prior California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. The new law, which will take effect in 2023, calls for companies to notify customers when their data has been shared with a third party, unless the company can prove that sharing is in the customer's best interests.

Companies also must obtain customers' express consent before sharing their data with a third party, which is why many websites are adding a consent management process: one of those popups that asks the visitor to consent for the website to collect their data via cookies.

CPD = Customer Data Platform


Very simply, a CDP is a large heap of customer data. It’s made up of customer data from multiple sources, including your company’s systems, third-party tools, offline interactions, and more. The CDP unifies those multiple data sources, turning the information into a single customer view.

As a central storage point from which all customer information flows, it is an essential tool for brands to have in their data arsenal. CDPs can be used for marketing and business intelligence. This software can be used to help companies better understand and support customers in real time, ultimately leading to higher levels of engagement and loyalty. 

Examples of CDPs include Optimove, Exponea, Listrak and Segment.

DMP = Data-management platform


Data management platforms are crucial tools that connect raw data sources with the information consumers give out when they’re using various platforms. From mobile phone apps to websites, they act as a gateway for the collection of data. They arrange raw data into a usable form that marketers can understand and take action on at scale. The DMP organizes and analyses the data for it to be used for targeted marketing, personalized advertising and content customization. The digital ad market’s obsession with audience data has made DMPs into the backbone of modern marketing. Digiday wrote a great article asking What is the fate of DMPs in a post-cookie world?


They argue that DMPs “have struggled to keep pace with intensifying regulation and how the likes of Google and Apple reacted to that scrutiny. And it’s not hard to see why. These DMPs were built on third-party data that was often collected and shared without a person’s permission that was often opaque and —ultimately — visualized poorly. The decline of Salesforce, Adobe and Oracle’s prototypical data management solutions bear this out. Once a must-have, marketers eventually soured on DMPs.


However, the new generation of DMPs (companies like Adform and Permutive) are building direct connections with publishers to find new ways for advertisers to understand and engage their audiences. 

DSP = Demand-side platform


A demand-side platform is an automated ad buying platform that automates the buying of ad inventory across a number of different publishers. The technology helps media buyers manage multiple ad exchanges and data exchanges, so they don’t need to go to each one individually. Basically, it lets advertisers consolidate the tedious process of buying ads, making these exchanges far more efficient. With DSPs, advertisers and media buying agencies can access ad inventory across display, video, mobile and search platforms, and place their bids automatically.


Examples of DSPs include Rocket Fuel, MediaMath, DoubleClick, LiveRamp, and of course Facebook Ads Manager.

FLoC = Federated Learning of Cohorts


FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) is Google’s current answer to cookies. Some commentators have puzzled over Google’s willingness to jump on the anti-cookie bandwagon and declare they are phasing out third-party cookies. Since Google rakes in such large advertising revenues from tools that use cookie-based tracking, abandoning these tools may appear to be self-defeating. However, in embracing the inevitable move away from cookies, Google is in a strong position to define their replacement. And at the moment, FLoC gives us an initial insight into what that replacement might look like. 


In essence, FloC replaces individual tracking with cohorts that can be targeted as a group. Users are grouped together based on shared interests and behaviours.


Wired wrote an article asking What’s Google FLoC? And How Does It Affect Your Privacy? In the article, they quote Bennett Cyphers of the Electronic Frontier Foundation who calls FLoC a "terrible idea". 


"The technology will avoid the privacy risks of third-party cookies, but it will create new ones in the process. It may also exacerbate many of the worst non-privacy problems with behavioral ads, including discrimination and predatory targeting."


GDPR = General Data Protection Regulation


Like CCPA above, GDPR is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy, this time from the European Union. The law came into effect in 2018, EU member nations have enforced internet privacy rules that give citizens of EU countries the right to request access to their personal data, and the right to demand that an organization destroys their personal information.

The EU introduced these laws in an effort to make sure that consumers are fully aware of what data is being collected about them, why it is being collected, and how it will be used.

PII = Personally Identifiable Information


PII is data that can be used to personally identify an individual. In the offline world, this includes personal information like names, addresses, Social Security numbers, emails and phone numbers. However, as technology develops, the scope of personally identifiable information also continues to broaden. PII now includes IP address, login IDs, social media posts, geolocation data, behavioral data, fingerprints and facial recognition. Whatever form it takes, and whatever technology is used to gather this data, PII is vulnerable to cyberattacks and must be carefully protected to avoid data leaks. 


SSP = Supply-Side Platform

A supply-side platform connects digital media owners and advertisers. The goal is to connect demand side platforms (DSPs - see above) with publishers and allow buyers to buy ads programmatically. Web publishers can use SSPs to organize and sell their advertising inventory, and manage the flow of revenue.

Examples of SSPs include Sharethrough, Google Ad Manager, MoPub and Wunderkind.


UID 2.0 - Unified ID 2.0 


Another emerging technology hoping to fill the cookie-shaped void. They work like this: when you visit a website, a unique identifier is created for you based on an anonymized version of your email address. This identifier is frequently regenerated, to ensure ongoing secure anonymity. The value of this anonymity means that there is no way the UID 2.0 can be linked to that user and their personal information in the real world.


Supporters of the UID 2.0 solution claim that technology also allows consumers to set their own personal preferences regarding how their data is shared. Another advantage of the UID 2.0 that is often touted is that it will provide users with greater transparency regarding the value of the data exchange. Consumers who opt in will understand that they are providing personal data in order to receive a more personalized browsing experience. This data exchange also allows publishers to provide free access to their websites, since their profits come from targeted advertising rather than content subscriptions. 


So there we have it - a breakdown of some of the leading policies, software's, and solutions that will come to define the post cookie internet. Hopefully this has helped to make sense of it all - but please get in touch to speak to our team of experts if you have any questions. Embracing the future of digital advertising is as easy as ABC!

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