Preparing for a Cookieless Future: Matt Lattman, Discover Financial Services

LAS VEGAS — With Google’s on-again, off-again cookie deprecation plans now having accelerated, the industry is swallowing a seismic shift. On January 4, 2024, Google began rolling out Tracking Protection for 1% of a randomly-selected group of Chrome users, due to ramp-up through 2024. In this video interview with Beet.TV, Matt Lattman, SVP, Card Acquisition Marketing, Discover Financial Services, highlights the urgency of embracing change and the importance of customer consent in the evolving data privacy narrative. The Dated Cookie and the Dawn of New Tech Lattman pulls no punches in his assessment of the technology. “I’ve always thought the cookie is kind of a bad technology to start with,” he states. For advertisers like Discover, the impending changes will affect everything from campaign setup to reporting and measuring. Lattman points, instead,  to a future built on partnerships and privacy-safe data use. And, he says, being proactive offers distinct advantages. “The fact that we’ve been playing in the space…makes us not as worried about what happens when this data source goes away,” Lattman notes. He stresses the importance of reevaluating workflows, syncing data differently, and altering operational sequences to stay ahead. The Lessons from Early Moves Lattman says early testing with publishers has been key. “We’ve had to do work individually with a couple of publishers to test the approach,” he says. The industry’s move toward standardized data sharing and first-party data usage is unfolding, and being ahead of the curve provides a sense of comfort and preparedness. When it comes to implementing these changes, it’s not just about the technology but also about managing organizational dynamics. And, while the new identity technologies come with prviacy as a core focus, that can lead to additional signal loss. “Privacy is inherent in everything we do. We have to protect customer’s data,” Lattman emphasizes. He believes the industry faces a crucial challenge: customers often don’t fully understand how their data is used, which can lead to them opting out, putting privacy in the background. The crux of his argument lies in empowering the customer. The interview was conducted by Mike Shields, CEO, Shields Strategic Consulting. You’re watching “Preparing For The End of Third-Party Cookies,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series produced at CES 2024, presented by TripleLift. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.