TL;DR

To thrive in a cookieless future, B2B marketers should:

• Play the cards right with first-party cookies
• Be more strategic with zero-party data
• Take the plunge with data clean rooms
• Get smarter with cookieless identifiers
• Invest in long-term brand initiatives

Tale of Two Cookies

Not all cookies crumble the same way. First-party cookies provide key functionalities on a website and ​​aren’t invasive. They store login details, site preferences and browsing history. Third-party cookies, however, are placed by external domains and allow marketers to track user behaviour across multiple sites and even social media for more precise targeting and B2B marketing strategies. But as privacy concerns grow, so do the limits.

The biggest blow to third-party cookies comes from Google. After multiple delays, Chrome is set to phase them out by the end of 2025. Other browsers, like Safari and Firefox, have already blocked them by default. A large chunk of website traffic is now classified as “Direct” as referral data is now hidden by default.

Contextual Targeting

First-party cookies will still be around, and there are many ways to serve relevant ads without breaching privacy. Instead of tracking, ads can be placed strategically, based on the content of the page being viewed. For example, a user reading about cybersecurity might see an ad for anti-phishing software. Or, someone browsing an industry blog could be offered a discounted enterprise partnership.

The Pros and Cons of Contextual Targeting

Contextual targeting avoids the legal tangles of data collection and doesn’t rely on cookie consent banners that users simply ignore. And it appears to work: a 2023 survey found that nearly seven in ten consumers are more likely to notice an ad if it matches the content they’re already reading. Contextual targeting is not a silver bullet, but it does offer a way to stay relevant without being invasive.

The main complaint against contextual ads used to be their bluntness. Ad placements were often based on keyword matching, with little grasp of industry specifics and user intent. But that is changing. Advances in natural-language processing and image recognition allow algorithms to parse tone and sentiment, not just words.

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First-Party Sources

Personalisation today is powered by increasingly sophisticated algorithms, many drawing on natural-language processing, image recognition and machine learning. These tools allow platforms to analyse not just what users click on, but what kind of content they consume, what language they respond to, and even which product visuals generate longer page views.

In the absence of third-party cookies, brands should turn inward—to their own websites, platforms and communications to build a picture of who their customers are and what they want. Email addresses, purchase histories, on-site searches and content preferences can be gathered with user consent and put to use almost immediately, with less legal baggage.

Privacy Sandbox

Introduced in 2019, the Privacy Sandbox is Google’s bundle of tools designed to preserve key functions of online advertising while limiting the amount of personal data exchanged between hands. The idea is to keep most of the data processing within the browser itself, rather than distributing it across countless intermediaries. The caveat is that for now, the Sandbox works only in Chrome, which suits Google just fine but leaves out other browsers, devices and user habits. 

To that end, Chrome has begun rolling out six APIs:

• Topics
• Protected Audience
• Attribution Reporting
• Shared Storage
• Private Aggregation
• Fenced Frames

Topics classifies users into broad interest categories—say, consulting services or healthcare—based on their recent browsing. Sites can access a handful of these categories to serve ads, but without the granular detail third-party cookies once offered in B2B marketing campaigns.

Protected Audience allows advertisers to conduct on-device auctions and target predefined groups, such as past visitors or shared-interest segments. 

Attribution Reporting measures ad conversions without revealing user identities, offering a mix of event-level and summarised data.

Other APIs handle supporting roles. Shared Storage and Private Aggregation enable more secure, aggregated reporting, while Fenced Frames ensure embedded content doesn’t leak cross-site information.

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Recommendations

The phase-out of third-party cookies may be slow and uneven, but that is no excuse for procrastination. Below are six things worth doing now—before the ground shifts again.

1. Double down on first-party cookies

The data collected directly from your site remains the most reliable source for performance tracking and optimisation. Tools that rely on first-party cookie identifiers continue to function normally. These include:

• Web analytics, to track on-site behaviour and extract actionable insights.
• Product analytics, which map user journeys through apps and digital services using SDK-generated identifiers.
• Marketing tools, like A/B testing platforms or automation software, which lean on first-party cookies for segmentation and personalisation.
• Mobile retargeting, which remains possible through native identifiers on iOS and Android, and allows for persistent user tracking within apps.

Pay closer attention to how content is tagged, structured, and surfaced. The metadata around content—the page context, taxonomy, language—can shape whether an ad appears and how relevant it feels.

2. Create a zero-party data framework

Unlike scraped data, information users offer voluntarily, such as newsletter opt-ins and content download forms, is both consented and accurate. Develop clear strategies on collecting, monitoring and analysing such data, and tailor your communications accordingly. 

3. Take advantage of data clean rooms 

Clean rooms offer a workaround for marketers who still want to draw on shared intelligence without exposing user-level data. Two or more parties can upload first-party datasets into a secure space, where aggregate insights can be extracted. This enables cross-partner targeting, frequency capping, campaign measurement, and attribution.

4. Leverage cookieless identifiers

Universal IDs, such as Unified ID 2.0 or ID5, stitch together a user identity from probabilistic data (device type, IP address) or deterministic sources (email, log-in behaviour). These IDs aim to replicate the function of third-party cookies, but with more explicit consent. ID graphs, meanwhile, aggregate identifiers from online and offline sources to piece together composite user personas.

5. Stop chasing clicks and invest in brand consistency

Attention is earned, not bought. Consistent brand messaging creates memory and association. Over time, that is what translates into preference. Our recent market report offers a closer look at how strategic consistency translates into value.