In the 2002 film Minority Report, moviegoers were first made aware of the dystopian potential future of commercial privacy invasion. In the early Internet era, this science-fiction depiction of real-time delivered advertisements based on widespread third-party data collection shocked. Sadly, over the past two decades, advertisements based on personal data have become the norm, and most of us were unaware of this. Lastly, Internet users are resisting this kind of data collection, which will open up new opportunities for marketing budgets, which could be very beneficial to events.
What Are Cookies and Why Are They Important?
You spend a large portion of your life online. You use email and messaging platforms as you move from website to website and app to app while you are online. Most of the time, those experiences are free. So, who is paying for this and filling the coffers of some of the world’s largest corporations? Much of the internet, including social media, email, and content creation, is made possible by advertising. Ad agencies, on the other hand, adore this technology. It gives them useful information so that they can send messages to the right people.
The technology known as “cookies” is used to track users. Cookies are small pieces of data that are saved in your browser and track your browsing habits. There are many different kinds of cookies, such as authentication cookies that are used to log into a website, first-party cookies that only track what the user has done on the server they came from, and others. We’ll concentrate on the most popular, contentious, and significant variant, the third-party cookie.
Tracking cookies from third parties are used to gather long-term information about a user’s browsing activities over time. Activities like how much time you spent on various websites, what you bought online, and any biographical information you may have provided online are all included in the data that is collected. Advertisers can get a clear picture of who you are and what interests you by using cookies from third parties. However, users who believe that these kinds of cookies violate their privacy have also sparked a growing opposition to their use.
What Has Changed Regarding Cookies?
As it became clearer that cookies were used a lot, their popularity decreased. The third-party cookie became a clear threat when users realized who was behind the ads that followed them around the internet.
Since Apple’s Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) in 2020, which by default blocks third-party tracking via cookies, browsers have begun to block third-party cookies. By the end of 2023, Google’s Chrome browser intends to eliminate this tracking form, which will have an impact on over 3 billion internet users, and Mozilla Firefox will follow in 2022 with its “Total Cookie Protection.” All of this adds up to one of marketing’s most valuable tools, on which they spend an estimated $566 billion annually.
Event Can Benefit from the End of Cookies
The end of cookies from third parties makes it possible for first-party data collection to become the new standard. A type of 1:1 relationship between an organization and a user is first-party data collection. Even though these kinds of relationships have online applications, they more closely resemble the relationship between an event attendee and the event itself than third-party cookies ever did. At events, information about registration, RFID, tracking, facial recognition, and even surveys after the event are all forms of first-party data collection.
“Events allow you to really get to know your audience. Dahlia El Gazzar, the founder of Dahlia+ Agency, stated, “You get to know what makes them tick rather than what gets them to click.”
Events will be more comparable to online investment opportunities because relationship-driven first-party data collection will soon be the most effective marketing paradigm. Events become increasingly appealing as users fight back against the invasiveness of online advertisers. At least when it comes to events, those who register, accept a name badge, and are willing to network enter into a social contract of visibility.
“Events are a great way to get people interested in learning more about their goals and motivations. Cookies from third parties are merely presumptions regarding motives and purpose. Mark Kilens, Airmeet’s CMO, stated, “Events are more direct in their ability to gain true signals from buyers and prospects.”
Position Your Events
for the New World As online user behavior changes, there are a lot of important lessons for event planners to learn. The world’s growing concern for data privacy is one of the most powerful lessons. Facebook’s primary source of revenue has been impacted by this shift toward improved data privacy. Additionally, it has necessitated adaptation of Apple and Google browsers. Your event’s use of data and data policies may need to be updated to meet current standards given that some of the world’s largest businesses are forced to make significant changes. Data privacy presents both a risk and an opportunity to stand out in the marketplace. Now is the time to review your policies and procedures in order to be transparent, consistent, and secure, taking into account everything from variations in local laws to on-site photography to how you acquire and store data about attendees.
Event Tech
Refresh Required Now that the conflict between first-party and third-party data collection appears to be over, event planners face tech stacks as their next challenge. Prioritize data collection that easily integrates with their own tech stacks and the tech stacks of their external stakeholders if events planners want to increase their relevance and break out of their small organization silo. A complete integration with CRMs and Martech tools, which serve as a single point of truth for sales and marketing teams and serve as the foundation for all of their decision-making, is probably required for this.
“Events offer a deeper understanding of preferences because they are right there in front of us. We’ve been so reliant on cookies from third parties. Six Data Enriching Options “We just have to pay attention,” said Greg Bogue, chief experience architect at Maritz Global Events. “A planner’s foundation for increasing the amount of data they collect from attendees is data collected in the right way and connected to the right technologies.” This requires going beyond the registration data and surveys after the event. Planners must create an event that produces the most useful signals in order for marketers with a lack of insight to truly benefit from what events can offer. The data collected provides a more complete picture of attendees’ preferences because they are given options and tracked for their actions.
Attendee preferences can be gleaned from badge scanning and other tracking technologies. However, if events are purposefully designed to learn more about audiences, none of these technologies will provide you with actionable information.
Planners who are smart already know how important event data is for improving events over time. Realizing that this first-party data helps all of their stakeholders achieve their objectives is the next step. There has never been a better time to intensify your efforts to gather data at your event and to share the insights you gain with your partners.