#Data Privacy

Google has found itself in hot water this year, and the punches keep coming. Hundreds of entities have lined up to sue the tech giant over the years, but a hit finally landed when a federal judge ruled Google a monopoly in September of this year. Further lawsuits have followed, and advertisers await with baited breath to see what comes of all this. Let’s do a quick check-in on the two major cases the Department of Justice has filed against Google and Alphabet.

In a stunning turn of events, Google has reversed the decision to remove third-party cookies from the Chrome internet browser. The “death of the cookie” has been top-of-mind for many years for its potential impact on digital advertising; what does this mean for the future of digital advertising? Are cookies going to stay for good? Let’s take a look at the entire picture to understand what this breaking announcement means for your advertising.

When the world’s third largest software company waves the white flag, people sit up and take notice. A few days ago (June 11, 2024), Oracle announced at an earnings call that it would be leaving the advertising industry after a string of expensive acquisitions, legal troubles, and a mountain of lost revenue. Let’s take a look at the context and see what advertisers can learn from this tech giant’s sad story.

Gen Z is growing up; they’ve been the transition generation for some time, and now more than half of them have reached adulthood. As their purchasing potential grows, it’s time to take notice of how, on what, and where the iGen spends their money so you can know how to better speak to their wants and needs. Let’s take a look at the data so you understand the youngest generation of adults and how their buying brains think.

Spam calls: perhaps one of the few universal experiences that can finally unite humanity with our shared annoyance. Whether it takes the form of an email, a text, or a good ol’ fashioned phone call, solicitous communication from companies is something we’ve come to expect in 21st-century America – but that might be about to change. The Future of Spam-Based Text Marketing Recently, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released their Report and Order on fraudulent text messages, requiring providers to block text messages that are “highly likely to be illegal”.

Genius Monkey recently made a blog post about Google’s modifications regarding its cookie guidelines for the digital marketing industry. But hold the presses! Google just announced that it was pushing back its timeline from 2021 to 2023 before they kill third-party tracking cookies, giving the brands a chance to plan for more privacy-conscious targeted ads. So, it appears that marketers may have at least two more years before the cookie cremation happens.

Over the last few years, there have been several changes to how browsers handle first and third-party cookies. And now it looks like it might be time to say goodbye to third-party cookies for good. Yet the largest internet browser, Google Chrome, just announced that it is delaying its rollout of removing cookie tracking from mid 2022 until mid 2023 in an attempt to make sure they get things right.

In the world of marketing, data is king. Marketers use an abundance of user data to gather leads, increase sales, and personalize the customer experience. These data-first strategies have proven highly successful at converting customers, which is exactly why data is king. Data-driven personalized marketing allows brands to target their campaigns at precise individuals rather than splash their messaging to random mass audiences. But with increasing awareness around data privacy recently, ad personalization has encountered a few road blocks, forcing marketers to change how they collect and/or personalize consumer data in the age of digital privacy.

While banks are an important part of our economy, they’re not the only component of the financial sector. Also included are real estate firms, insurance companies, and investment firms. Advertising for financial institutions can be challenging, as it’s always changing and very fast-paced. In fact, 51% of financial institutions report that their biggest challenge is keeping up with new digital marketing techniques. As technology evolves and customer habits change, the marketing strategies must change with them.