By Emma-Jayne Owens, Managing Director, APAC, Blis
As the death of cookies continues making media headlines around the world, like me, by now you may have an extreme case of “ID-less-cookie-apocalypse” fatigue. Or, perhaps the impact of impending loss hasn’t been fully felt yet, or maybe there are other things to be thinking about before 2023.
Right now though, as you can see in our new e-guide and interactive calculator, advertisers in Australia are already missing out on 45% of the addressable mobile audience and 33% on desktop.
That’s huge.
It's no question programmatic turned us on to the ease of targeting at scale; finding the right people at the right time with the right creative. With reducing cookies and IDFAs across the industry, it’s fair to say this personalised approach is already more challenging as is the concern of less reach and engagement. Advertisers may still be finding enough impressions to deliver their campaigns, but have you considered how quality and results might already be suffering?
Your audience is out and about - are you reaching them?
Having faced one of the toughest and longest lockdowns in the world, Australians are well and truly out and about, ready to make up for the past two years.
According to the Blis Consumer Confidence Pulse, In May, despite about half of respondents feeling pessimistic about their own household finances and over 40% still feeling anxious about COVID, nearly a quarter of us will still prioritise travelling over paying debts or saving money. The good news is the trend for growing intent in spending, despite the uncertainties.
As Australians have found a way to leave some of the fears behind and get on with life, so too as an industry, we need to get to grips with how to start navigating change now. It is the key to continue finding and reaching high-quality audiences.
The point is, whilst advertisers may still be finding enough impressions to deliver campaigns, they could be missing some of the most active lifestyle groups who are naturally, more likely to spend. Think affluents, travellers and fast movers for example. They’re on the move and ready to spend more on products and services. If you’re relying only on IDs to target them though, you are missing close to half your audience
What’s the good news?
Identifying different behaviours across various lifestyle groups is crucial to re-evaluating your current media strategy - and understanding what people do and what they are interested in based on their real world behaviour is a good place to start.
Location data enables this understanding of behaviour and intent very well, but not on its own. In a privacy-first world, it makes sense to adapt and enhance movement data with other aggregated and anonymised datasets, such as household data, spending habits, content interests and lifestyle factors as it future-proofs your approach and won’t rely on personal data alone to find and reach the audiences that matter to you.
The mantra de jour is test, test, test - as many alternative advertising solutions as you can. Start now by discovering more about the people behind the percentages. Don’t let industry-wide ID changes lead you to give up on mobile audiences without first understanding how they can still be reached at scale.
What now?
Whatever you believe about the speed of impact of increasing privacy measures, it’s still a certainty that people are more likely to engage with ads that demonstrate a deeper understanding of what they might want. And that starts with a deeper understanding of the audience themselves.
Band-Aid solutions will only last so long. If you haven’t already, start asking questions of your advertising partners - with a focus on accuracy, privacy and future-proofed solutions that scale.
Accuracy is the key to the best use of location data. A solution that doesn’t rely on IDs is the key to finding and reaching audiences now and in the future. The ability to scale is the key to relevance and results.
As the numbers show, the ID-less future is already here. Time to acknowledge who’s missing and get them back on the plan.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
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