Customers expect brands to recognize them, know their interaction history, and anticipate their needs. Meanwhile, privacy regulations and the looming deprecation of third-party cookies have emphasized the need for a proprietary identity graph for most brands. The speed, variability, and value of different data types and sources are forcing marketers to step back and rethink their approach.
Marketers are increasingly prioritizing first-party data to target consumers. Worldwide, 36% of marketing professionals expect that customer purchase history will be their most valuable source of data once third-party cookies are gone. Meanwhile, 32% see social media profiles as key, and 31% plan to rely on website registrations. ExchangeWire spoke to experts about their predictions for the year ahead.
The open web and the walled gardens
Piotr Banaszczyk, CEO, Clearcode: “In years gone by, digital ad spend was often shared between the open web and the walled gardens of Google and Facebook. As a result, many large publishers and media companies have built walls around their valuable first-party data and created walled gardens of their own.”
Sophie Toth, co-founder, The Women in Programmatic Network: “Verified and actionable data will be the most precious currency on the open web, and publishers and content creators will use open data to power more efficient and profitable efforts.”
Joshua Campanella, Programmatic Lead and Client Director, SCMP Advertising: “In 2023, first-party data strategies will continue to evolve and be a focus for media buyers. More premium publishers will follow SCMP in exiting open marketplaces.”
E-commerce perspectives
Kowshik Komandur, AVP at OnMobile Global Limited: “Third-party cookies might be going away, but not the tracking. First-party data is going to be a big part of the cookie-less future.”
Pravin Menon, Chief Marketing Officer, Veranda Learning: “While we will lose out on a large database to target our audience, all is not lost. Content marketing gives us a far better audience profile and leads at much less cost.”
Kiran James, Associate Vice President, Marketing and Product Management, Muthoottu Mini: “We have been working with our agencies to ensure we have the right set of media mixes as we approach 2023, and we have successfully developed campaigns through API integration with our partners.”
Khushboo Gandhi, Founder, QueenBee Digital: “From a digital advertising perspective, the privacy of customers will become of prime importance. First-party data will have more weightage, and advertisers will strive to bank on this potential.”
The common thread across every prediction is ownership. Talk to our team about turning your first-party data into an advantage in 2023.