Some things are rarely said in business. Things we know that sit in the back of our minds, that we don’t want to admit to ourselves. One is that we only have so much control over our destiny. When things are great we like to think it’s because of the wonderful initiatives we introduced, and when things are tough we are perhaps too hard on ourselves.

In January of 2020, as a result of consumers asking for more transparency and accountability in their data collection, Google announced that they’d be phasing out support for third-party cookies in Chrome. After several delays on the initial deadline (due to expanded testing windows) third-party cookies are now set to be phased out by 2024. 

The modern consumer expects to be approached by companies with a personal touch. At the same time, they don’t want to feel that they’re being tracked and followed everywhere. It’s not easy to build a data-driven personalization machine that offers real added value to customers in a way that upholds their privacy, but L’Oréal successfully tackles this challenge with Skin Genius.

For many brands, 2023 promises to be an uncertain and unpredictable time. Financial instability is at an all-time high, third-party cookies are on their way out, and consumers are demanding more from brands than ever before. As marketers we’re having to be more sustainable, more relatable, and more accessible – which is making it increasingly harder to control what can only be described as ‘chaos’.

With ChatGPT becoming a major topic of conversation, it’s sparking many existential questions on the role of AI in advertising (and no, AI didn’t write this article — we’re not out to trick you). The focus of the debate seems to come back to the creative realm, however: if we look at content creation and copywriting as an art form, is it ethical to leverage AI to spearhead creative output?

Google wants businesses to up their game by installing Consent Mode on their website – which has left many asking why? But we shouldn’t be asking why, we should be asking why not.