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Cookies, small text files that are stored in the user's browser when visiting a website, have been a tool legally used to track user behavior, collect information about their interests and provide personalized advertising. Although they have been effective for companies' marketing strategies, their use is declining due to growing concerns about user privacy. privacy concerns. 

In 2018, the European Union passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), limiting the use of third-party cookies. This led to the development of new technologies for digital marketing, known as "cookieless," which offer advertisers alternative ways to interact with users and measure the performance of their campaigns. 

Benefits of Marketing with Cookies: 

Marketing with cookies has several benefits for advertisers: 

● Increased privacy for users: By not requiring behavioral tracking across multiple websites, it respects user privacy. 

● More precise targeting: Allows advertisers to create more precise audience segments, resulting in more relevant advertising. 

● Better performance measurement: Makes it easier for advertisers to more accurately measure the performance of their advertising campaigns.

Marketing also presents challenges: 

Difficulty in measuring results: The lack of tracking user behavior on various websites makes it difficult to measure the results of advertising campaigns. Investment in technology: Requires investment in new technologies, which can be costly for companies. 

The Future of Marketing: 

Cookies are a growing trend. As cookies become obsolete, advertisers are embracing these new technologies to reach users and measure the performance of their campaigns. The future of cookies is promising, offering greater privacy, more accurate targeting and better performance measurement. 

New European Union Regulations, the great controversy:

As of January 11, 2024, it will be mandatory to implement the measures imposed by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) in its new

Cookie Guide, updated according to the Guidelines 03/2022 of the European Data Protection Committee. This regulation reflects the importance of user privacy in the digital environment and highlights how leading platforms, such as Google, respond to regulatory demands. In this context, there is a paradigm shift in cookie-based marketing towards cookieless approaches, which, despite the challenges, offer opportunities for more accurate and relevant performance measurement.

But what new changes can we observe?

1º More clarity about the use of cookies on your privacy, in a simpler and more concise way than before so that the user can really understand what is being done with their data. You will have seen many emails from large companies that have been warning in recent months of updates to its privacy policy that refers to what I mention here.

2º It is now mandatory for the cookie banner to have a "Reject" button and it must also have the same appearance as the "Accept" button so as not to confuse users with marketing strategies.

3º And the most abusive in our opinion:

You may be charged for rejecting cookies. If you reject cookies, websites stop showing ads based on your search history which causes them to show you ads more relevant to your interests. That is why by rejecting cookies they lose the opportunity to charge you for displaying that advertising.

Therefore, the new European regulation allows websites to charge for the rejection of cookies.

This will be applied by news sites and forums that have millions of visitors.

Example:

In short, you either sell your data or pay for privacy.

What do you think of this new European measure?