Google has postponed third-party cookie deprecation to 2024, giving the digital advertising industry more time to engineer solutions to continue to target internet users after cookies have been phased out. The consensus is that the use of first-party data (data a company collects via its own systems about its own customers) is the most promising way forward. For the industry, it would signify the “go at it alone” approach, which would lead the internet to shatter into millions of walled gardens. In Europe, four telecommunications operators –
, and Vodafone – entered the race for a share of the digital spending pie with a different approach. Their new advertising platform called Utiq will encrypt and pseudonymize user data to allow identity-driven targeting without compromising consumer privacy.
Addressing European needs
The platform was developed to comply with EU data protection laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy directive. In a press release, Vodafone called Utiq a “privacy-by-design digital marketing technology platform (…) that could benefit consumers, advertisers, and publishers alike.” Focus on data privacy is a unique selling point in Europe. Market leaders, such as Amazon, Google, or Meta, are regularly fined for data protection law breaches. At the same time, as much as 70 percent of European consumers are
concerned about how their data is used.
First steps
The launch of Utiq was announced during the Online Marketing Rockstars (OMR) Festival in Hamburg, Germany, in May 2023, with leading German media companies such as Axel Springer, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, or RTL as clients. In France, where it was dubbed the “anti-
GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon) initiative,” Utiq was received with skepticism, with media brands assessing it as “technically and commercially insufficient.” But managing director of Utiq in France, Sophie Poncin said during a July 2023 interview that the joint venture had approached publishers and advertisers and would run tests throughout that summer. Next, Utiq will open operations in Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK). Other European countries are expected to follow in 2024.
Big ambitions
The five countries Utiq’s management has selected for the start of the company’s operations are the
largest digital ad markets in Europe. Together they accounted for approximately 60 billion euros worth of
digital ad spend out of 86 billion generated on the entire continent in 2022. It is evident that Utiq does not intend to stop at European borders. CEO Marc Bresseel said he aimed to create the “de facto global standard” for digital ad targeting. However, the advertising industry is pessimistic about Utiq’s success. During a 2023 global survey, advertisers and publishers were asked what held the greatest promise in
replacing cookie-dependent solutions. Unified ID technology, as offered by Utiq, ranked seventh out of eight possible solutions among advertisers and fifth out of eight among publishers. Time will tell if European efforts to protect consumer privacy can be successfully married with advertising effectiveness.
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