In recent years, the handling of personal information has become stricter, and the wave of cookie regulations is gaining momentum around the world.
In the marketing industry, there is a need to consider marketing strategies that do not rely on cookies, instead of the current system that utilizes cookie technology.
In this article, we will explain the impact of cookie regulation on marketing and explain the future of the marketing industry that will change due to cookie regulation.
Impact of cookie regulations on marketing
A “cookie” is a mechanism that temporarily stores information when a user accesses a web page.
Cookies have been widely used in marketing because they can infer users’ interests and tastes from their web page browsing history, but the movement to regulate cookies is currently spreading worldwide.
Japan is no exception, and the amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act approved by the Cabinet in March 2020 have tightened the conditions for commercial use of electronic information such as cookies.
Although cookies are not subject to the Personal Information Protection Law in Japan, they may be subject to regulations if they are used in a way that is linked to a user’s personal information.
On the other hand, globally known personal information protection laws such as the EU’s GDPR and the US’s CCPA also target information that is not directly linked to personal information, such as browser identification.
In this way, Japan’s cookie regulations are considered to be less strict than those in the EU and the United States.
However, it is thought that it will have a significant impact on marketing that has relied on cookies, especially so-called “targeted advertising” that tracks users who have once accessed the site, and tracks users similar to a specific user.
Targeted advertising uses cookie information such as the user’s browsing history and behavior history.
Current targeted advertising relies on cookies, so if regulations advance and their use is restricted, it is inevitable that targeting accuracy will decline.
In addition, it is inevitable that platforms that use cookies issued by third parties called “third-party cookies” will be affected.
Support for third-party cookies was already being discontinued in browsers such as Safari provided by Apple, but in January 2020, Google announced that it would also discontinue support for third-party cookies in Chrome by 2022. We are making an announcement.
The wave of cookie regulation that is advancing around the world is drastically changing the way marketing works.
Reference article:
Why are cookies regulated? Explaining the basics of cookies and the background of regulations
How will cookie regulations change marketing?
Even if cookies are regulated, the acquisition of data itself is not prohibited.
However, information such as web page browsing history belongs to the user, not the company. Companies must be even more careful to avoid causing disadvantages to users.
However, users are now accustomed to services such as shopping sites and SNS that are optimized by cookies.
Cookies are also convenient for users because they save you the trouble of selecting and inputting the items you put in your shopping cart and your login ID/password again.
If you do not want cookies to be used, you can choose to use cookies yourself, such as by switching to private mode.
Therefore, even if the trend toward cookie regulations continues to advance, we will not see much change other than for companies that use targeted advertising or third-party cookies.
In fact, it is believed that the wave of cookie regulations will have a positive impact on the marketing industry as a whole, as cookie regulations will make it even more effective to create high-quality content that users want.
What is the future of the marketing industry that does not rely on cookies?
In the short term, the advancement of cookie regulations may damage the marketing industry’s profits.
However, in the long run, eliminating reliance on cookies and focusing on creating quality content will be better for target audiences, advertisers, and the marketing industry as a whole.
We are also making progress in building tools to replace cookies.
“Heartcore Biscuit” developed by Heartcore Co., Ltd. is one such product, which allows users to be identified without having to obtain personal information such as name or address.
This involves data analysis of a user’s past behavior history, and AI predicts what kind of information the user is interested in when accessing a specific site based on the past history.
The construction of new marketing tools that do not rely on cookies is likely to become more widespread in the future.
Reference: Heart Core Co., Ltd.
“Heart Core Biscuit, a next-generation solution to replace cookies that will no longer be usable”
summary
◆With the handling of personal information becoming stricter these days, the movement to regulate cookies is spreading worldwide.
◆In marketing, cookie regulations are expected to have a large impact on companies that use targeted advertising and third-party cookies.
◆Although the wave of cookie regulations may hurt the marketing industry’s profits in the short term, in the long term it will have a positive impact on users, advertisers, and the industry as a whole.