--- title: Getting prepared for ad targeting without Cookies description: The changes to using cookies that should come in 2024 bring challenges and opportunities to forward-thinking marketers. Read more today. image: https://18digital.ca/hubfs/Blog_images/Cookies.jpg --- [![White out landscape](https://18digital.ca/hs-fs/hubfs/White%20out%20landscape.png?width=500&height=177&name=White%20out%20landscape.png "White out landscape")](https://18digital.ca/) [![original - landscape-1](https://18digital.ca/hs-fs/hubfs/original%20-%20landscape-1.png?width=500&height=182&name=original%20-%20landscape-1.png "original - landscape-1")](https://www.18digital.ca) - [Home](https://18digital.ca) - Services - [Digital Strategy](https://18digital.ca/digital-strategy) - [Marketing Operations & Automation](https://18digital.ca/marketing-automation) - [Data & Analytics](https://18digital.ca/data-analytics) - About Us - [About 18 Digital](https://18digital.ca/about-us) - [Contact Us](https://18digital.ca/contact-us) - Resources - [Downloads](https://18digital.ca/downloads) - [Blog](https://18digital.ca/blog) - [Contact Us](https://18digital.ca/contact-us) # What will a cookie-less world look like? The changes to cookies that should come in 2024 bring challenges and opportunities to forward-thinking marketers.  [Learn More](https://18digital.ca/contact-us) ![hero-jobbies-7](https://f.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/395201/hero-jobbies-7.svg) # Getting prepared for ad targeting without Cookies [Barry](https://18digital.ca/blog/author/barry) Mar 19, 2024 11:32:49 AM For the past few years, to address mounting privacy concerns, Google has warned advertisers that they plan to eliminate the ability to use 3rd party cookies for anyone using Google Chrome to browse the web.   But what does this mean for advertisers? Well, in Q3 2023, over [78% of programmatic ad buys](https://www.emarketer.com/content/advertising-still-looking-ingredient-replace-cookies) in the US used cookies to target users, a market worth $221bn in 2023. These are ads purchased on platforms like Google Content Network, AdRoll, StackAdapt and others where audience targeting is based on attributes determined by users' interactions with the content they browse. As the chart below illustrates, some sectors are more progressive in finding an alternative than others. Notably, it is verticals such as insurance, financial services, and retail where customer relationships are well established and are best positioned to adapt to change. ![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Gi9G1jnRyCdz07kuPyV-ztm8O3UN2r4y6IPRs24n-ddXPfOlPLl0SEb74-OSZXtbqrQGGNdjlxcRo8Uj2TDgqLQrrd0RvHdhNj12vH4lwq9gCY_eLnhCTfFGQIYbwQEecCpNA-wbxvkPAISyvIAO1mU) Removing the ability to target and sell to this many users should give marketers cold sweats.  David Ogilvy once said, “The more informative your advertising is, the more persuasive it will be.” So, removing the ability to target ads effectively to the right audience eliminates the ability to be informative to the right audience. This brings into the play the quote from John Wannamaker: “​​Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.” So, what should brands and agencies do? First of all, don’t panic. Although Google has stated Q3 2024 as the timeline for disabling cookies from 100% of browsers, not only has this deadline been pushed back from 2022, but Google’s [Privacy Sandbox](https://developers.google.com/privacy-sandbox/overview)–its toolkit for the cookieless world–was only released in July 2023. This suggests that they aren’t ready yet and will likely find significant pressure from brands to extend the deadline (don’t forget Google’s ads business generated [$65bn in revenues in Q4 2023](https://abc.xyz/assets/95/eb/9cef90184e09bac553796896c633/2023q4-alphabet-earnings-release.pdf)). Secondly, start thinking about how your first-party data is set up and structured. Are you compliant with data protection and privacy laws? Then, start thinking about utilizing data to target and prospect effectively once you can’t rely on third-party cookies. Have you set your CRM up effectively so data can flow quickly and efficiently between platforms and automate as many processes as possible?  Ensuring you have a clear strategy will mean that effective ad targeting can still happen when cookies are removed from browsers. Finally, start thinking laterally about the overall customer experience and all touchpoints. Developing a marketing automation engine that utilizes first-party customer data to target ads, send timely emails, and post on social media has been proven to deliver more engaged customer interactions by 3.7x compared to email alone. Get in touch today for more details about this. Changing to a cookieless world will be painful for many brands and media planners. Still, it also allows skilled marketers to deliver more relevant, informative ads to prospects, inevitably producing better results and happier customers. 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All Rights Reserved. | [Privacy Policy](https://18digital.ca/privacy-policy) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Barry", "url" : "https://18digital.ca/blog/author/barry" }, "dateModified" : "2024-03-19T17:49:52.605Z", "datePublished" : "2024-03-19T17:32:49.000Z", "headline" : "Getting prepared for ad targeting without Cookies", "image" : [ "https://18digital.ca/hubfs/Blog_images/Cookies.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://18digital.ca/blog/getting-prepared-for-ad-targeting-without-cookies", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://18digital.ca/hubfs/Logo%20variants/Name_only.png" }, "name" : "18 Digital" } } ```