Cookie apocalypse spurs brand awarenes

Out for cookies: what does it take now for brands to stay ahead in the e-commerce age? The suggestions of Rachel Tipograph, multi-award winning young Digital Hero, delight creative brand strategists.

At our Worldwide Partners Global Summit, Rachel Tipograph's presentation was a special highlight. Here, of all people, a digital founder (of MicMac, the leading eCommerce acceleration platform for multichannel brands) who holds countless Young Digital Hero awards delivered "eye-opening material that reinforces the high importance of brand building in a post-digital age." That's how one enthusiastic attendee commented on her recommendations to focus more on brand awareness.

One of her theses is that the discussion and announcements by Apple, Google and co on cookies are not about privacy protection, but rather a war is being fought here for data sovereignty over firstline customer data.

But regardless of whether one assumes, like Rachel Tipograph, that this is a war zone of the giants or, like others, believes that it is a very effective marketing move by Apple to win over data-critical customers or is perhaps born of do-gooder ideology, one thing is clear: collecting thirdparty cookies will be a thing of the past as of 2022.

If e-commerce can no longer be optimized with cookies, brands will need their own data that they can evaluate in terms of customer preferences to design the optimal customer shopping experience - and they will need a new communication strategy: shopable media and channel diversification can help brands stay ahead of the game.

But most important will be to refocus on the brand itself and strengthen it across all channels - to build brand awareness and create a compelling brand experience across the entire user journey. And there needs to be a lot more brand communication again that focuses on the creative idea of a brand, both on and again increasingly offline.

With her proof of success for this strategy, Rachel won the hearts of all those who, like us, believe in the power of the brand and the creative idea, if it is implemented consistently in all channels.

Here is the link to the original talk.

Wächter & Wächter Worldwide Partners is a shareholder in Worldwide Partners Inc, the most important global agency network of owner-managed agencies. In this collaborative network, Wächter & Wächter Worldwide Partners learns a lot and works closely with specialists from all over the world, such as Rachel Tipograph.