Google paused third-party cookie deprecation (again), but what is the real takeaway? It was never just about cookies. Keith Petri, CEO, Lockr by Viant, writes about why future-proof identity strategies matter more than ever.
It turns out that the great cookie collapse was more myth than meltdown.
After years of hand-wringing, white papers, rushed product road maps, and millions poured into cookieless alternatives, Google’s latest move to pause the deprecation of third-party cookies has officially landed.
Yes, cookies are sticking around—for a portion of traffic.
And you know what? That’s fine. But let’s be clear: It never mattered that much anyway.
If you’re still clutching your pearls or clinging to your Privacy Sandbox fantasies, it’s time to move forward and put that energy into real, future-proof identity solutions. We’ve got work to do, and the future favors the builders.
Cookies Were Always a Tool—Not the Strategy
Cookies should be viewed as just one ingredient in a more sophisticated recipe. A true strategist doesn’t crumble when an ingredient runs out; they innovate. Great marketers, like great mixologists, know how to keep the experience smooth regardless of what’s on the shelf.
Imagine building your marketing strategy like crafting the perfect old fashioned.
Cookies are the bitters—essential for depth but useless on their own. A proper cocktail requires balance: whiskey for substance, sugar for structure, citrus for a spark, and maybe a cherry for flair.
In marketing terms, that’s quality seed data, a full-funnel approach that ties awareness to action, smart sequencing, first-party signals to guide delivery, and real-time measurement to adjust the pour.
One ingredient doesn’t make the drink. One signal doesn’t make the strategy. And let’s be honest—no one orders a glass of bitters.
The idea that the end of cookies would “destroy” digital advertising was always misguided. If anything, it exposed how complacent too many players had become. A real mixologist doesn’t panic when one ingredient runs out; they get creative and elevate the craft.
Cookies may still linger on parts of the web, but the most successful advertisers know better than to build a campaign around one ingredient.
After all, entire ecosystems like Safari, Firefox, CTV and mobile apps have thrived without cookies for years. To win the addressability game, marketers must mix smarter strategies with a full menu of modern identity signals.
The Past Five Years? Not a Waste … A Wake-Up Call
One of the most misguided narratives emerging from this whiplash is that the last five years were “wasted” due to Google’s perpetually pushed decisions on cookies. Yes, Google’s shifting timelines were painful. Yes, many companies built products specifically for a signal landscape that hasn’t fully arrived. And, yes, some CFOs are now staring at painful write-offs.
But real progress happened. Alternative identifiers flourished, privacy-enhancing technologies matured, and consent frameworks became table stakes. The industry was finally forced to reckon with consumer privacy in a way that wasn’t just lip service. That momentum doesn’t stop because Chrome changed its tune.
It’s like training for a marathon and finding out the race got postponed. You might not run the event you planned for, but your body’s still in better shape. You’re faster. Your determination is stronger. In the same way, all this commotion has strengthened the industry’s core muscles. It’s more prepared for whatever comes next.
Silos Are Growing, But Alt IDs Keep the Connections Alive
The reality of today’s digital landscape? Identity is more fragmented than ever.
Even where third-party cookies persist, they’re stuck in isolated jars, limited to a single platform or siloed between instances, meaning each website or app keeps its own separate copy of the cookie. This fragmentation makes it harder than ever to measure advertising impact across the full customer journey.
That’s where alternative IDs come in. Acting like bridges between these silos, alt IDs enable association through the transitive theory of equality by connecting these technically siloed environments via deterministic linkages to form a more unified view of the consumer. They’re the connective tissue that today’s advertisers need to build a complete and accurate picture.
Here’s a practical example: Imagine a user on Chrome browsing The New York Times on their mobile browser. At that moment, they’re assigned one cookie—say, Cookie 123. But later that day, they click a link to The New York Times on X’s native app, which loads an in-app browser experience, and now they’re assigned a totally different cookie—Cookie 456. From the publisher’s point of view, these look like two distinct users. But with an alternative ID—backed by deterministic signals like a registration-based email—those disparate cookies can be resolved to the same individual, enabling continuity and relevance across sessions and touch points.
This is not a theoretical edge case; it is a daily reality for consumers. And it’s exactly where alt IDs prove their worth: by enhancing the utility of cookies and closing gaps cookies were never designed to bridge.
And here’s the kicker: Even if third-party cookies never go away, you’ll still need alt IDs. Why? Cookies are confined to browsers, while consumers are active across a much wider range of digital platforms—apps, connected TVs and gaming environments—where cookies simply don’t function. Investing in a strategy that leverages alt IDs is essential for resolving identity across this broader, increasingly cookieless ecosystem.
Google’s Privacy Sandbox? Still a Red Herring
Google’s Privacy Sandbox promised a new era, but now it feels like a dead end.
For years, ad tech vendors and publishers invested heavily in adapting to Sandbox protocols. Now, with cookies sticking around, many of those Sandbox-first strategies look questionable at best.
In hindsight, the most strategic players took a portfolio approach to identity, never relying on a single bet. While some doubled down on Google’s Sandbox as the inevitable future, others recognized the risk of centralization and spread their efforts, investing in scalable first-party data strategies, enabling interoperability with emerging IDs, and supporting infrastructure that works across environments. These companies can withstand signal volatility because they’ve already built the connective tissue that turns fragmented data into usable intelligence.
Privacy is important, and it always will be. But handing over even more control to Google, under the guise of “privacy,” was never the optimal strategy.
Cookies Are Just One Signal: It’s Time to Connect the Rest
If one thing’s clear, identity work is more essential (and more complex) than ever. The future belongs to those who stop obsessing over one signal and start mastering identity orchestration.
You are dangerously behind if your data strategy still hinges on a binary “cookie or no cookie” worldview. The real challenge—and the real opportunity—is to think holistically:
- Use cookies where they exist.
- Use alternative IDs where they don’t.
- Bridge all those data points using platforms built for today’s age, for interoperability.
- Deliver real value to consumers through better targeting, measurement and relevance.
Cookies are not the savior, but they’re also not the villain. They’re just another data point. So yes, cookies are sticking around a bit longer. But at the end of the day, it’s not about whether cookies are here to stay; it’s about what you build next.