More than 18 months after announcing that Chrome would no longer support third party cookies, Google declared a year-plus delay in that plan, citing the need for more time to “get this right.” While the natural inclination for publishers and brands might be to breathe a sigh of relief and say “Oh great, now I don’t have to worry about this for a while,” nothing could be further from the truth. That’s because the fundamental consumer and regulatory push toward more privacy and less tracking hasn’t changed a bit. Users want more control over their data and how it’s used, and regulators are committed to enforcing and expanding their protections. Those facts are what drove Google’s decisions today and in early 2020 with their original announcement.

So what should publishers and brands do now? First, use this delay to develop well-grounded strategies built on engaged, loyal users who are willing to share their identity and appropriate personal information. At Piano, over the past year we’ve been talking with publishers, brands, agencies, ad tech companies and industry experts, and it’s clear they all understand the value of this approach, but many aren’t sure where to start. This pause creates opportunity to develop a solid strategy for engagement and converting anonymous users to known, known users to profiled.