Advertisers and Data Privacy with Cameron Horton, Attribution

The following was transcribed from a recent interview on The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlstr?m podcast.?

Today we’re going to talk about the coming data privacy changes that will affect marketers, such as third-party cookie and mobile device ID changes. These important methods of tracking and understanding users and their behavior are being modified, which is going to affect your marketing, advertising, and attribution. We’re going to discuss what marketers can do to stay ahead of this.

(Greg Kihlstr?m) There are a lot of changes related to data privacy that are either already in place or in the works, whether that's things like GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, or others throughout the world. At a high level, can you describe what is happening as a global trend in regards to data collection and the challenges this presents to advertisers?

(Cameron Horton, Senior Product Manager, Attribution ) I think this is a great place to start because I think most of us in the industry, or if you're working in this kind of martech situation, is we're seeing more and more restrictions and, I guess, protection of customer data in the marketplace. So, as you mentioned earlier with the GDPR, that's, kind of, the first step where these different industries, different governments, are starting to take a look and saying, “OK, we want to start protecting people's data and their privacy more.” So we're really starting to see that kind of crackdown of collecting that data but also the third-party cookies that you mentioned. So these are the third-party cookies that are really looking at user behavior and how you're interacting between different sites.?

So really what we're seeing now, as a whole, in the industry is that these organizations are getting more and more compliant, more privacy rules and really trying to protect the user more. And the challenge that this is presenting to advertisers is we're starting to see less and less access to this data. You know, before this data was used to Customize, let's say, advertisements for individuals. So let's say you are a sports brand and you wanted to present these ads to people that have looked at sports sites or have searched, then you can kind of present your ads to people that are more relevant. But with this data starting to become more and more restricted, it's harder and harder to get your ad in front of the right people and really start to see the returns that you were seeing before. So I think this is going to keep happening and we're going to see more and more restrictions, which I think is ultimately a good thing. We're protecting users' privacy and not having this data so readily accessible to everybody.

Browser cookies have been around since the early days of the Internet and often provide a useful function, but some of their usage, and particularly third-party cookies, placed on consumers’ devices have come under increased scrutiny. And already companies like Apple and Microsoft have taken some big steps to discourage and disable them. Google is next in line to do this, and many say that Google's actions will put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, for third-party cookies for good. From your standpoint, how are companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft solving for this issue? And what does all this mean for marketers who are relying on third-party cookies, and what are they going to need to do differently?

Looking at what Apple, what Google has started to do, where if you have an iPhone, you've definitely seen it, where you've seen these different apps where it pops up, where you say “Ask not to track.” So what we're seeing now is that crackdown of third-party cookies. I think eventually, just out of my own opinion, we're going to see them phased out. But this isn't really the end for advertisers, and it's not really an apocalypse where it's like, “Ah, we can't get this data.” I think, really, what we're seeing now is that you have to move to that kind of first-party method of getting this data.?

So what that first-party is and how it differs from third-party cookies is that, in order to access this kind of data where what users are accessing, what ads, so going back to our sports analogy, you can still – maybe "target" is maybe not the best word, but present your ads to people that are interested in sports. But you're just not able to use that third-party cookie where let's say if you're an advertiser, anybody can just kind of access these cookies, bring in the data. You now need to have that relationship with the individual advertisers. So these are the Facebooks, the Googles, the Twitters of the world, where you go to them and say, “Hey, I would like to access some user data because I want to make better ads and get them in front of people that actually care.” Because let's say if you don't care about sports, you’d never played soccer in your life, you don't want to see an ad for a soccer ball. It's not really useful. But the benefit here and what you need to do differently is getting this relationship with Facebook and Google, building out these integrations where you have to follow their privacy laws, how to use the data, and make sure that you're securing that data in a secure format.?

So really the access to this data went from very open-source, where anybody can access third-party cookies, to now being much more restricted through the individual companies. But you often opt to be validated, make sure, as I said before, to follow those privacy laws. So really these companies need to start either looking for solutions that have access to this first-party information or start building them themselves. Just the one kind of caution note around that is that it's quite difficult to build these integrations with Facebook and Google, where the APIs may be documented, but it is a quite lengthy process to get approved. So looking for solutions that have already gone through that, I think, is going to be paramount when third-party cookies are kind of done for good.

Let's talk about mobile device tracking as well. Similar to third-party cookies in how it's being approached, but considering how not only prevalent mobile devices are already but their increase and continuing increase in usage, losing access to this information is also critical for marketers and advertisers. What can marketers do to kind of stay one step ahead of this part?

What we're seeing with device IDs, I think, is very similar to the third-party cookies, where we're starting to restrict that data. And, really, I think it's a very important data point on how people are interacting with your ads. You know, what this was seeing is, if you had that soccer ball ad, maybe it was working great on the desktop but not so much the mobile. So that could lend you to show you saying, “OK, well, maybe we need to optimize for our ad for a mobile device and perhaps the image didn't scale correctly or it's kind of off.” So the fact that you're losing access to that kind of data is huge, especially with A/B testing and trying to figure out what's performing well and what's not.

So in terms of staying ahead of this as well, similar to that third party, is just going back to that first-party data. So having those connections with Google, with Apple, making sure that you understand and that you kind of follow the rules that they have in order to protect the customer's data, and having it so they can come in and you can still do your customer journey, your attribution, to see how mobile is playing a part of your customer journey. It's just now you’ve got to go through more secure methods. It's not so readily accessible like it was previously, like with third-party cookies.

What does this mean for marketing attribution, tracking, and analytics? How is this affecting how marketers think about their tracking and analytics?

I think the greatest impact of this is going to be felt by advertisers that were using these third-party cookies to analyze and track their ad platforms. However, here at Attribution, and I know with other attribution tools, we kind of saw the writing on the wall a couple of years back, where these kinds of cookies were starting to get phased out. So we went through great efforts to connect with these different ad platforms and start to build out integrations, make sure that our data warehouses and databases were all secured and met the requirements needed. So for us, with the deprecation of third-party cookies, because we kind of got ahead of this, we haven't seen too much of an impact for us, because we've always been a first-party data company. So we're able to still pull in this data. We're still able to provide you with that attribution analytics, with that customer journey.?

However, let's say you're an individual advertiser for soccer balls, again, and you're relying on this third-party data to see, “OK, what device types are people looking at my ads? What are their customer journeys? What are they touching?” Suddenly that pipeline's going to get cut off. So even with all these analytics, if you don't have that data flowing in, ultimately you won't be able to understand the impact of your ads and how your different channels are interacting. So it's going to become more and more paramount to start connecting with applications or attribution or any sort of data warehousing that connects directly to the advertisers. Because we can still pull in that data; we can still give you that customer journey, that first touch, last touch. But without it, you know, ultimately I think those other methods that rely on third-party cookies will just not be able to be effective anymore.?

As you mentioned, this is certainly a positive development for consumers and for their privacy, and that's a lot of what's driving this. But we also know, on the flip side, consumers also want and in many cases demand personalized experiences that are very much tailored to their needs and past behavior and thus to information that advertisers are able to glean about them. So what can advertisers do to balance these needs? And what can they do to move to more of a first-party data model, as you were describing, with less reliance on third-party cookies to enable a personalized experience?

Yeah, absolutely, so kind of focusing on that, so like you said, most users want that customized experience where it's more tailored to their interests like if you never had a soccer ball, you really don't want to see a soccer ball ad. You know, I even had it where I've been in Facebook and I go, “Why am I seeing this ad? It has nothing to do with me, like I don't like this.” It's funny. I think it is a very funny dichotomy, where we want our privacy to be protected, which is extremely important, but we still want to be given a personalized experience that kind of matches our needs.?

So I think the balance between getting rid of, or the deprecating of third-party cookies is a good thing because really anybody could access them. You know, it's challenging. Your data are not secured. It can be sold. We're moving to that more first-party. What you're able to do is you still get that personalized experience, but now you know that the data that you're providing to these ad platforms are secured. They're only giving it to validated partners, where they've looked through, said, “OK, how are you pulling this data? What are you using it for? Are you securing it correctly? So it kind of strikes that nice balance where you can start giving soccer players still soccer ads, while having the end user’s data secured and really being respectful of the data that you're collecting.

What impact does this have on the actual attribution itself?

Yeah, so I’d say, for applications or advertisers that are using third-party cookies, this is devastating. You know, it's basically like an oil pipeline that's been turned off, where that data's gone. You know, eventually, you're not going to be able to run because you're relying on third-party cookies where they've already started kind of going through restrictions and deprecation. I think the writing's on the wall, where eventually you won't be able to measure and you won't be able to do attribution if you're relying on these third-party cookies.?

However, for solutions such as ourselves that rely on first-party, what's been great, and the fact that we've gone through and we've spent countless hours building out these integrations, talking with Facebook, talking with LinkedIn, is that it really hasn't impacted us at all, because we've always been that first-party data provider, or had that data come in through that method. For us, because we wanted to keep that privacy and make sure that we're getting accurate data, for us it really hasn't changed the impact of our measurement or our attribution. You know, with the use of cookie blockers and stuff like that, we've seen a bit more where it's been a little bit harder to track. But ultimately, with this deprecation of third-party cookies, it really hasn't impacted our business or our ability to measure and attribute credit to these different ad channels.

Listen to the Episode

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About the Guest

Cameron Horton is Senior Product Manager at Attribution. He’s an experienced Product Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the computer software industry. Skilled in Scrum, Agile Methodologies, Marketing, Microsoft Excel, and Data Analysis. Strong product management professional with a Graduate Certificate focused in Digital Innovation Skills Certificate from Wilfrid Laurier University.

About the Host, Greg Kihlstr?m

Greg Kihlstrom is a best-selling author, speaker, and entrepreneur and host of The Agile Brand podcast . He has worked with some of the world’s leading organizations on customer experience , employee experience, and digital transformation initiatives, both before and after selling his award-winning digital experience agency, Carousel30, in 2017.? Currently, he is Principal and Chief Strategist at GK5A . He has worked with some of the world’s top brands, including AOL, Choice Hotels, Coca-Cola, Dell, FedEx, GEICO, Marriott, MTV, Starbucks, Toyota and VMware. He currently serves on the University of Richmond’s Customer Experience Advisory Board, was the founding Chair of the American Advertising Federation’s National Innovation Committee, and served on the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business Marketing Mentorship Advisory Board.? Greg is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certified, and holds a certification in Business Agility from ICP-BAF.?