Web cookies have been a mainstay of the internet and user data collection, in one form or other, for decades.
Third-party cookies, in particular, are an important part of the travel marketer's strategy to understand more about those who might be interested in services.
In short: a cookie appears when web pages feature content from external websites, such as banner advertisements.
They give a brand the potential for tracking a user's browsing history and are often used by advertisers in an effort to serve relevant advertisements to each user.
But hold the excitement for a moment: Chrome (Google's web browser) is planning to stop third-party cookies by 2022 (extended from its original date), throwing open the floodgates of despair from those that have reaped the benefits of such a handy system.
It's a complex problem that every marketer in travel will face over the coming 18 months or so, unless they start preparing now for a new range of approaches to understanding and being able to personalize their message to customers.
As Gloria Ward, vice president of identity strategy at
Acxiom
, explains in an interview for PhocusWire Pulse: Travel Marketing Tactics this week, where there is concern about the demise over one discipline, opportunity to do things in a better way are emerging.
The full interview with PhocusWire's Kevin May is included below...
PhocusWire Pulse: Travel Marketing Tactics - That’s the way the web cookie crumbles