It’s time to shift away from third-party, blackbox identity providers built on third-party cookies and weak identity signals and build your own first-party identity graph to gain competitive advantage. Preparedness for the future means managing first-party data and IDs, along with first-party interactions with consumers (this can include website visits, delivering paid ads at scale, etc.). Behind these interactions, this identity engine no longer depends on third-party cookies and works primarily off first-party data and interactions, creating a brand-level identity graph. 

The identity graph today and in the near future

Marketers today build their identity graphs based on customer data at the individual name and address level. From there, emails are associated to the individual and used to extend to third-party cookies and devices. You need to maintain the core of your identity graph (name, address, and email), but focus your investment toward first-party digital identity enabled through first-party cookies. The first-party cookie is deployed on a consumer’s browser and is specific to a brand’s site. The first-party cookie provides the ability to link onsite digital activity to the identity graph. This association becomes the fundamental building block going forward to maximize first-party generated addressable opportunities. 

Want to learn more? Check out our guide, The Future of Identity here.