If Google Is Procrastinating, Why Can't I?

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Delay of the Cookie Demise 🍪

by Julia Giacoboni, Director of Product Marketing

Jingle All the Way could have been a pretty boring movie. Since Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) waited until Christmas Eve to find his son Jamie a highly sought-after Turbo-Man doll, we ended up going on a journey of holiday cheer, ISO of the best gift of them all.  

Of course, after an insanely magical day of Christmas chaos, he lucked out. However, life would have been a whole lot easier, if he didn’t procrastinate. 

Last week, Google announced it would be pushing back its plan to phase out third-party tracking cookies in Chrome until at least 2024.  

This means cookies could live to see at least another two years and marks yet another delay of the cookie demise by Google, which initially was slated to have already happened by now.  

Should we be surprised by this news? Not really—this is yet another setback in the cookiepocalypse timeline. Though it feels like Google is crying wolf about the end of cookies, cutting off from utilizing them is going to happen because it legally must. Many other browsers and tech (including fullthrottle.aiTM) are already living in a cookieless ecosystem. Other popular, well-trafficked search engines like Firefox already default to disable cross-site tracking cookies for their users and began doing so as far back as 2019. 

When you’re one of the largest companies in the world, there are a lot more bases to cover when making this big of a switch—from privacy experts and lawyers weighing in with feedback to developers building and testing Google’s Privacy Sandbox. So, waiting until everything is practically perfect does make sense. 

But I Want To Procrastinate Too!  

Fair point. Of course, it all worked out for Howard in his quest for Jamie’s Turbo-Man doll. It feels like the world revolves around Google. After all, they hold 65% of the worldwide browser market share, so they have the credibility to set the standard. However, don’t let their delay take the task of preparing for a cookie-free world off your own priority list. 

Channel your elementary school teacher/parental line: “If your friends jumped off the cliff, would you do it too?” Or in this case—not do it too? 

Our world of AdTech and online advertising is transforming—and a revolutionary change in users’ privacy is signaling a movement towards compliancy and transparency. These changes require refinements and updates to your way of collecting and utilizing data, specifically when it comes to powering your audiences—all of which can take time to enforce and include in your process. Don’t sit on this and have it come back to bite you when there’s little time left.  

Those That Win Don’t Procrastinate 

Spare yourself the last-minute runaround—remember these three reasons why you should continue to follow the cookieless path moving forward. 

  1. Waiting means you could run out of time. 
    • 2024 is two years away—that feels like a lifetime!  
    • If you’re holding off for Google to roll out solutions for their Privacy Sandbox, remember it is still in production and is bound to be under construction for a while. 
  2. Last minute work is sloppy. 
    • And what’s worse than doing bad work when it comes to audience, targeting, and marketing? Poor planning and efforts made in a rush can result in a lot of lost dollars, bad metrics, and unhappy clients.  
  3. Remember the future. 
    • Owning your own data never goes out of style. This is a change for good—and an industry-wide update that once it’s here, it’s here to stay. 

Put the Cookie Down NOW! 

The can has been kicked again down the road—but the end of the road is still in sight. While Google is delaying this rollout until they are 100% ready, it doesn’t mean others haven’t already prepared far ahead of this revolutionary change. Stick to it and stay the course. 

  • Focus on futureproofing your plans. 
  • This isn’t a Band-Aid, do the bare minimum situation. Comply—and thrive.  
  • Invest in refining, cleaning, and organizing your own data.  
  • If you’re currently using third-party cookie audiences as the base of your targeting, recognize that you are LOSING eyeballs on those ads. 
  • Ask your partners and vendors how they have prepared. 

How Is fullthrottle.aiTM Addressing the Cookie Demise? 

You’ll never see us sweat! Our future-proof tech and products have always seen the world as cookieless. The cookie demise doesn't scare us!

If you’re still waiting around thinking, “Mmmmm, these cookies!” just say this out loud to yourself: