4. Cookies are a tool, not the goal.
4
Right Person Right Time Right Message
5. But, cookies won’t work anymore
Safari and iOS purge first
party cookies after seven
days and blocks all third
party cookies by default
across desktop and mobile
devices.
Apple
Google Chrome
announces a cookie
policy requiring
developers to specify
which cookies are
allowed to work.
May 2019
Chrome
GDPR rolls out
consent policies and
limits cookie usage
for advertising and
analytics across the
European Union.
GDPR
May 2018 February 2019
Google announces they
will phase out support
for 3rd party cookies
over the next 2 years
January 2020
6. There are workarounds (for now) -- but no substitutes
6
Digitrust Universal IDLiveramp Identity Resolution
7. The market will continue to evolve
Source: eMarketer October, 2019
7
8. But the goal will remain the same
8
Right Person Right Time Right Message
9. So as we move forward, let’s focus on the right goals
9
Prioritize measurement
over all else
Maintain the status quo
Force reality to fit our
current tools
Reach the right person
at the right time with the
right message
Motivate consumer
action
Ensure tools adapt to
reality as it changes
11. 11
Three ways people use the Internet
answer questions | solve problems | pursue a passion
want to know
distraction | entertainment
need to know
news | current events
nice to know
INTENT
LIVES HERE
12. 80%
Organic Traffic
+40%
YOY Growth
94MM
Audience
Our brands help people across the country solve problems
millions of times a day
Revenue Monthly All-Hands
1 Update
mber 18,2019
HEALTH + FITNESS
INVESTING
PERSONAL FINANCE
HOME
FOOD
BEAUTY & STYLE
TECHNOLOGY
TRAVEL
BEVERAGE
LIFESTYLE
13. First-party data about content consumption fuels
everything we do
13
Consumers come to us (via search) to:
answer questions | solve problems | pursue passions
AGE
GENDER
TIME OF DAY
DAY OF WEEK
WEEK OR MONTH OF YEAR
GA IN-MARKET & AFFINITY SEGMENTS
SEARCH QUERIES
CONTENT CONSUMPTION
VALIDATE HYPOTHESES
UNDERSTAND AUDIENCES
TARGET CONSUMERS
CREATIVE MESSAGING
DEVELOP CONTENT
INFORM STRATEGY
INSPIRE PRODUCTS
DEVELOP MEDIA PLANS
DRIVE PERFORMANCE
CREATE COOKIE POOLS FOR
DATA PASS BACK
We then look at
patterns of intent by:
Patterns reveal
insights that we use to:
20. 20
“Reach Moms Worried About Germs During Cold And Flu
Season…”
Serve an ad if the user is….
• Mom
• Kids in the HH
If more scale is needed
• Female A25-44
🍪 Serve an ad if the user is….
• Reading articles on Verywell about
cold & flu, kids’ health, or other
closely related topics
If more scale is needed
• Identify other areas of our sites
where users who read about cold &
flu show up
• Identify other topics we see moms
likely to be reading
• Identify other topics we see people
reading about cleaning are likely to
be reading
21. 21
Demo matters….to a degree
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
Cold & Flu, Audience Composition
(by age and gender)
Female Male
Source: Dotdash First Party Data (August 2019)
22. The Cold & Flu audience shows above average interest in germ
control and kids’ health
Source: DotdashFirst Party Data (August 2019)
22
Housewares
Cold &
Flu
Infant
Nutrition
(+1.5x)
Nurseries
(+1.3x)
Kid Safety
(+1.5x)
Entertaining
(+1.3x)
Cleaning
Products
(+1.2x)
Toddler
Nutrition
(+1.5x)The Cold & Flu audience has unique interests come flu
season. Specifically, they show above average interest
in:
• Kids’ health. Such as immunizations, toddler health,
babies’ health, and kids’ nutrition.
• Cleaning. Specifically household cleaning products.
• Holiday entertaining. Such as Thanksgiving recipes,
Christmas recipes, entertaining, and holiday crafts.
23. Engagement far exceeded industry benchmarks, especially
within key topic areas
Source: DotdashFirst Party Data (August 2019)
23
• Outdoor Rooms 3.3X
• Doors and Windows 3.3X
• Personal Organizing 3X
• Housekeeping 2.6X
• Pest Control 2.7X
• Public Health 33X
• Cold Flu Overview 30X
• Allergies Overview 20X
• Holistic Health Overview 17X
• Asthma Overview 17X
• Everyday Wellness 4.7X
• Cold & Flu 4X
• Ear Nose Throat 4X
• Kids Health 3X
24. Interest in “Pandemic” content is particularly relevant…
24
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
1-Jan
3-Jan
5-Jan
7-Jan
9-Jan
11-Jan
13-Jan
15-Jan
17-Jan
19-Jan
21-Jan
23-Jan
25-Jan
27-Jan
29-Jan
31-Jan
2-Feb
NumberofUsers
Interest in Pandemics on Verywell Health
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Index
Relative Online Interest in Coronavirus
(via Google Trends)
Sources: Google Trends 01/01 – 02/02; Google Analytics 01/01 – 02/02; Verywell Health First Party
Data; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/health/coronavirus-pandemic-china.html
28. The opportunity
28
Focus on the Goals. Not the tools.
Know your audience and the signals they provide.
Be User and Product first, align with what and why they want it.
Cookie-based targeting is, and always has been, just a tool, not the ultimate goal.
As the tool's usefulness erodes, the goal still remains!
So let's all remind ourselves of the actual goal: reaching the right person, at the right time, with the right message
Industry & legislative shifts mean reliance on cookie targeting necessitates missing out on reaching a large and growing group of people
There are ongoing concerns about accuracy of the data
There are real costs that using these ad tech intermediaries involves, requiring scrutiny about when it's worth the cost
So why is this even a problem?
The need for measurement can trump the need for reaching the actual goal, unfortunately
The whole business is set up this way, and change is hard. It takes work, time, and commitment to change processes, assumptions, and the way we even frame the questions
Maybe a quote here from Thomas Kuhn about paradigm shifts
Our data underpins everything we do.
We don’t need our readers personal information.We know what they want based on what they read on our sites.And what they need is all that matters.
First party data signals —> inform decisions
Whether it is to validate a hypothesis, deepen understanding of an audience, uncover new audiences, develop branded content, inform channel planning decisions, inspire new products, drive performance, or leverage intent insights outside of Dotdash properties.
Next I’ll walk through 3 examples of our content being empathetic and there for our users
Our data underpins everything we do.
First party data signals —> inform decisions
Whether it is to validate a hypothesis, deepen understanding of an audience, uncover new audiences, develop branded content, inform channel planning decisions, inspire new products, drive performance, or leverage intent insights outside of Dotdash properties.
Commerce- - q3/q4 2019 = $600MM+ in transactions for partners
Next I’ll walk through 3 examples of our content being empathetic and there for our users
Intent-driven audience
In this context, how does Dotdash pursue the actual goal?
Intent targeting, content consumption patterns, the nature of our audience, the way we organize our content
We get nuanced audience-level insights that go beyond the brand level (looking at the taxonomy level)
Each individual is a beautiful weirdo, but audience level insights help us find the commonalities that can often reveal truths about a topic area that would otherwise go unnoticed
Performance proves it works
Give a specific example--cold & flu
The ask:
Reach moms worried about germs during cold & flu season
The cookie-based translation:
If the user is ID’s as likely to be a mom, serve them the ad.
If the user has young kids in the HH, serve them the ad.
Or sometimes (usually due to need for scale or simplification of targeting) it even gets down to: If the user is a woman 25-44, serve them the ad.
The Dotdash translation:
If the user is reading articles on Verywell about cold & flu, kids’ health, or other closely related topics, serve them the ad.
If more scale is needed, where else do our users who read about cold & flu show up on our site?
What other topics are moms likely to be reading?
What topics are those focused on cleaning reading? What else do they read across Dotdash?
Women are the core cold & flu audience.
Women drive 64% of organic US traffic to our cold & flu content.
W25-54 have above average interest in the topic.
One in two cold & flu searchers are W25-54.
ALL THE AUDIENCE YOU AREN”T REACHING W COOKIES
“Dad, why do I see ads for jeans days and weeks after I already bought a new pair?” asked my 17-year-old daughter recently, “it’s not like the salesgirl at the Free People store follows me to my car after I make a purchase asking me if I want to buy the same item.” I try to explain to her that this is a data-driven targeting technique that has proven to be effective, but she cuts me off with “Dad, I think they just don’t care what I think or feel. It’s annoying, it makes me angry and I think they should know that!”
Once again, the “mouths of babes” got me thinking: maybe she is right. Data doesn’t care, technology doesn’t care, digital ads don’t care; people care and maybe we as an industry we have forgotten this.
We can’t let tools take priority over goals.
As the industry (and the world!) continues to change, we must remain open to bringing in additional tools and changing some of our thinking in order to maintain a focus on the goals.
Change is hard, and won’t be accomplished through a rejection of existing in absence of something new.
This isn’t about dismissing cookies, but about ensuring that we’re adapting and prepared to deal with the future.
There are ways to know your audience that can complement cookie targeting.
Intent-based content and audience
Other approaches that allow you to build your own understanding of who comes to you and why, to guide giving them what they need