The lead up to the end of advertiser tracking cookies has been a rollercoaster ride to say the least. Announced toward the end of 2019, Google stated that it will be eliminating the infamous 3rd party tracking cookie from its Google Chrome Internet Browser.

For those of you who are not digital marketers, The tracking cookie is a code that is tagged to your browser activity and lets advertisers know that you have visited a certain website or added an item to your shopping cart and much much more! Basically this code lets advertisers know where you have been and what you’re interested in so that we can serve you more targeted advertisements. The way I always explain this to people in a way they can relate to is the “cookie” is used when you look at a really nice pair shoes and then everywhere you go online you see advertisements for that same pair shoes or that brand. This is called “Re-marketing”  and it is one way in which the cookie is used.

Cookies however go way beyond merely re-marketing and are used in a number of additional ways to target users that have become more sophisticated over time. The announcement of the end of cookies on Chrome is the result of an ever changing landscape in digital marketing which has recently centered on users right to privacy. This started way back when the GDPR (General Data Practitioner Rules) emerged in the United Kingdom on issues centering around internet advertising and privacy.

Our neighbors across the pond are always a little bit ahead of us when it comes to being creeped out by the uncanny ability to target advertisements and they raised alarms to UK government officials who established the GDPR. Since the internet operates around the globe , these policy changes affect the United States as well and how information is stored and used. Over the years policy changes that were implemented regarding the GDPR eventually lead to Google announcing the end of 3rd party cookie, which was supposed to be implemented at the end of 2021.

Now plans have yet again changed the death of cookie has at least for now been postponed until the end of 2023.

What does this mean for advertising? 

Not much to be honest. Yes it will disruptive to several areas of advertising, mainly e-commerce and re-marketing. However, the reality is that Google and other tech giants have been ahead of and ready for this change for some time now. There will always be ways in which advertisers can target relevant traffic behind the scenes. So while I am glad we have a couple more years to come up with  more solutions, trust me, google is also working on these solutions that will appease the general public while still generating massive revenue for themself and some for the regular advertiser.