Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising has long been a powerful tool for brands looking to make a big impact in the physical world. From towering billboards to transit advertising and street furniture, OOH captures audiences in their daily routines, creating brand awareness at scale. 

As consumer behaviours evolve and digital transformation accelerates, traditional OOH is being redefined through new outdoor advertising trends and technological evolution. Enter Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH), a smarter, more dynamic evolution that blends the impact of classic outdoor advertising with the precision and agility of digital technology. For marketers, DOOH marketing offers real-time flexibility, data-driven targeting, and the ability to engage audiences in contextually relevant ways, making it a game-changer in today’s media mix.

So how can marketers truly maximise the impact of Outdoor Advertising and Digital Out-of-Home, in particular?

Let’s explore the key factors that drive effective DOOH marketing and its measurable marketing benefits:

1. Unparalleled Audience Reach and Precision Targeting

Gone are the days of broad, one-size-fits-all outdoor advertising. Today’s DOOH allows marketers to leverage data for precise targeting, ensuring the right message reaches the right people at the right time. With real-time audience analytics, location intelligence, and programmatic buying, brands can optimise their campaigns based on demographics, behaviours, and even weather conditions.

According to Vistar, 88% of adults have seen an OOH ad in the last 30 days and more impressively 82% remember these ads long after viewing them. While many marketers consider OOH as a pure brand awareness channel that is mainly focused on capturing attention and generating awareness, research has shown that OOH also drives real action from consumers. 

Why DOOH Reach and Targeting is a Marketer’s Dream:

• Mass Exposure with High Visibility – Digital Out-of-Home ads are unskippable, unblockable, and always on, ensuring brands stay top-of-mind as consumers go about their daily lives.
• Strategic Placement for Maximum Impact – Ads are positioned in high-traffic areas, such as city centres, shopping districts, and transit hubs, reaching millions of potential customers.
• Reaching Audiences in Key Mindsets – Digital Out-of-Home Advertising connects with consumers when they are on the move, in decision-making moments, whether commuting, shopping, or socialising.

On average every dollar spent on OOH generates approx $9 in sales, making it a star performer from the advertising tool kit. DOOH takes these benefits further with greater flexibility, interactivity, and enhanced targeting capabilities. This makes every marketing dollar deliver even higher returns, as ad relevancy increases and changes to ad placements can be made mid campaign. 

2. Dynamic & Contextual Content

Unlike static billboards, DOOH enables brands to deliver dynamic content that adapts to real-world triggers. Whether it’s time of day, live sports scores, or even social media trends, brands can craft highly relevant and engaging creatives. Contextual relevance enhances engagement, making campaigns more effective in driving awareness and action.

For example, a fast food chain can display breakfast promotions in the morning and switch to dinner specials in the evening. Additionally, brands can leverage environmental factors such as temperature or air quality—an iced coffee ad on a hot day or flu medicine messaging during peak illness seasons can drive higher engagement.

How Digital Out-of-Home Advertising Content Stays Relevant:

• Seamless Integration with Other Digital Media Channels – DOOH can be programmatically activated, aligning with social media, mobile, and other digital campaigns. While Programmatic DOOH is a subset of the broader Digital-Out-of-Home marketing activity, it is certainly the most efficient, integrated and flexible campaign execution component.
• Contextually Relevant Ads Increase Engagement – A study by DoubleVerify found that 69% of consumers are more likely to look at an advert if it is relevant to the content they are viewing. For example, featuring an ad for a restaurant within a food court area or an advertisement for clothes within a shopping centre would significantly increase the impact of the ad and the brand perception by consumers.

3. Seamless Omnichannel Integration

DOOH seamlessly integrates with other digital channels, enhancing the effectiveness of omnichannel marketing strategies. By bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds, it creates a more cohesive and engaging brand experience. 

How Digital Out-of-Home Campaigns Amplify Marketing Outcomes:

• Mobile & Social Retargeting – DOOH can trigger retargeting campaigns on mobile and social platforms, keeping brands top-of-mind beyond the initial exposure.
• Programmatic Synergy – DOOH can be bought programmatically, aligning with digital ad campaigns to optimise reach and targeting.
• Enhancing Online-to-Offline Journeys – DOOH drives searches, website visits, and in-store traffic, reinforcing brand messaging seen across digital and social platforms.
• Cross-Device Attribution – Advanced analytics enable marketers to measure the impact of DOOH exposure on online actions and in-store visits.

Digital Out-of-Home Advertising integrates seamlessly with a range of third party technologies and omnichannel marketing methods enhancing campaign reach, engagement, and performance, making it a powerful addition to any omnichannel marketing mix. Running an Omichannel campaign which includes Digital Outdoor Advertising can have significant positive improvement on the overall campaign and on other media channels, especially when it comes to retail and e-commerce. Check out our ModiBodi case study which saw Return-on-Ad-Spend (ROAS) improve by 94% on Video ads by incorporating Digital-Out-of-Home Advertising into the campaign.

4. Smart Retargeting & Personalisation

One of the most powerful Digital Out-of-Home Advertising trends is its ability to collect and utilise real-time data. By capturing mobile device IDs from users within the vicinity of a DOOH ad, brands can retarget those individuals with additional digital ads across mobile and social platforms. This ensures that the message stays with the audience beyond their initial exposure to the DOOH placement, reinforcing brand awareness and driving conversions.

Moreover, location-based marketing allows for hyper-targeted messaging. Retailers can trigger exclusive in-store promotions when users are near a store, or travel brands can display ads for last-minute getaways when consumers are at transport hubs. This kind of personalised engagement enhances consumer response rates and drives more meaningful interactions.

A study by JCDecaux and a leading Neuroscience research company, Neuro-insight, indicated that there was over 32% increase in brain response when displaying the most relevant content at the most relevant moment via DOOH advertising. The study showed that there was a 12% increase in response rate when an ad was shown at a relevant moment and an 18% increase when displaying an ad in the right with high relevancy such as location, weather, time or including a live update as a stimulus trigger. In addition to increased brain stimulus, using smart retargeting or personalisation of content increases ad recall and sales response in a significant way.

5. Measurable Performance & Attribution

One of the biggest advancements in moving from OOH to DOOH is the latter’s ability to provide measurable results, bridging the gap between traditional OOH and digital performance tracking. Marketers can now track campaign effectiveness with greater precision, leveraging real-time data and attribution models to optimise performance. 

Key Digital Out-of-Home Advertising Measurement Capabilities:

• Mobile Tracking & Geo-Location Attribution – DOOH can be paired with mobile data to track how many users exposed to an ad visit a physical store. It can also be used to track how many users visited your website, or downloaded your app, enabling brands to measure direct conversions. A great example of such use by Bench Media can be found in our Stake case study.
• Footfall Attribution & In-Store Impact – Advanced tracking solutions allow marketers to analyse foot traffic patterns to determine if a DOOH campaign influences in-store visits, giving retailers actionable insights. By pairing a client’s CDP or CPM with DOOH activity, we can directly link real sales activity to their exposure of DOOH ads using loyalty programs or credit card data to track purchases of customers who were exposed to the DOOH ads.
• Brand Lift & Awareness Studies – Surveys and sentiment analysis tools assess how DOOH exposure impacts brand perception, recall, and engagement. This helps marketers gauge campaign effectiveness beyond direct conversions.
• Programmatic Optimisation in Real Time – With programmatic DOOH, marketers can track ad performance and adjust creative, placements, and targeting on the fly to maximise impact.
• AI-Powered Analytics & Predictive Insights – Machine learning and AI tools analyse large datasets to predict user behaviour, helping marketers refine targeting and messaging for future campaigns.

Recent research from oOh! Media shows that brands incorporating DOOH into their marketing mix see an average ROI increase of 39% compared to those relying solely on TV advertising. This demonstrates that Digital Out-of-Home Advertising is no longer just about visibility, it’s a performance-driven channel delivering tangible, measurable results.

6. Creative Excellence & Storytelling

Digital Out-of-Home Advertising provides a canvas for high-impact storytelling. It goes beyond static billboards, offering brands an opportunity to captivate audiences with dynamic, immersive storytelling that adapts to context, time, and audience behaviour. 

The combination of high-impact visuals, real-time data integration, and interactive elements makes Digital Out-of-Home Advertising a powerful canvas for creativity. 

Creative Strategies for Digital Out-of-Home Advertising Success:

• Dynamic & Contextually Relevant Content – Unlike traditional OOH, DOOH enables brands to deliver real-time, context-aware messages. Ads can change based on weather conditions, time of day, local events, or even traffic patterns, ensuring relevance and engagement.
• High-Impact Visuals & Motion Graphics – Digital screens allow for full-motion video, 3D animations, and eye-catching creative that demand attention in high-traffic locations. Studies show that animated content captures 2.5x more attention than static images.
• Personalisation & Adaptive Messaging – With programmatic technology, DOOH creatives can adapt based on audience demographics, behaviours, and interests. For example, a sportswear brand can showcase different ads based on whether a passerby is near a gym or a sports stadium.
• Seamless Storytelling Across Screens – Digital Out-of-Home Advertising can be used as part of a multi-stage storytelling strategy, where different creatives are displayed sequentially across multiple screens, creating a narrative journey that engages audiences at different touchpoints.
• Immersive & Interactive Experiences – Interactive Digital Out-of-Home Advertising campaigns can include touchscreens, QR codes, NFC, and Augmented Reality (AR), allowing audiences to engage with the content in real time. This increases dwell time and brand recall. While some of these technologies are still catching on in Australia, they are gaining popularity.
• Social Media Amplification – Digital Out-of-Home Advertising campaigns can encourage user participation by integrating with social media. For instance, brands can display live social feeds, user-generated content, or interactive polls to create a two-way conversation with consumers.
• Hyper-Local & Community-Driven Messaging – Digital Out-of-Home Advertising allows brands to tailor messages to specific neighborhoods, cities, or cultural moments, making the campaign feel more personal and relevant to the local audience.

A well-crafted Digital Out-of-Home Advertising campaign doesn’t just inform, it entertains, inspires, and persuades. With attention spans shrinking, the ability to craft visually compelling and contextually relevant messaging is crucial for driving lasting brand impressions.

The Future of Digital Out-of-Home in Your Marketing Mix

As digital and physical environments continue to merge, Digital Out-of-Home Advertising is becoming a crucial part of omnichannel marketing strategies. With its ability to deliver targeted, measurable, and engaging content, it’s no longer just an awareness play—it’s a performance-driven channel. For marketing managers and CMOs looking to make a lasting impact, DOOH presents an opportunity to blend creativity with data for maximum effectiveness.

Are you ready to harness the full potential of Digital Out-of-Home Advertising?

Bench Media can help you craft data-led, high-impact Digital Out-of-Home Advertising campaigns that drive real results. Get in touch and we’ll be delighted to craft a tailored strategy for your next media campaign. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic concept; it is already fundamentally transforming how businesses connect with their audiences and this will accelerate exponentially with tools such as Open AI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Midjourney, Dall-E and many more.

According to Precedent Research, AI’s market size is projected to grow by an average of 19% compound annual growth between 2023 and 2032. Organisations worldwide invested approximately $235 billion on AI during 2024. This figure is projected to nearly triple, reaching over $630 billion by 2028 (IDC).

For Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and marketing managers, AI represents a powerful tool kit to drive growth, efficiency, and innovation in an increasingly competitive landscape. From hyper-personalised campaigns to automated processes, AI is revolutionising marketing and media buying by enabling precision, scalability, and real-time adaptability.

Leveraging AI Driven Marketing Trends for Hyper Personalisation

One of the most significant impacts of AI is its ability to deliver hyper-personalised experiences at scale. By analysing vast datasets of consumer behavior, preferences, and interactions, AI algorithms can identify unique customer segments and craft tailored marketing messages. For CMOs and marketing managers, this translates into actionable strategies:

• More Relevant Ads: AI ensures that your messaging resonates with each audience segment, driving higher engagement and click-through rates. According to a McKinsey report, companies leveraging personalisation can increase revenue by 5-15% and marketing efficiency by 10-30%.
• Improved Customer Engagement: Personalised experiences foster stronger relationships between brands and consumers, increasing loyalty and advocacy. A Salesforce study found that 62% of consumers expect companies to adapt based on their actions or behaviours.
• Increased Conversion Rates: Delivering the right message at the right time boosts sales and enhances the efficiency of your marketing spend. Research from Epsilon indicates that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that offer personalised experiences.

Recommendations for marketers:

• Leverage AI-driven customer journey mapping tools to visualise and optimise the end-to-end consumer experience.
• Work with a data driven media agency to Implement dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) to tailor ad content in real-time based on audience data.

How Marketers Can Harness Real Time Analytics in Marketing

AI is streamlining the traditionally labour-intensive media buying process, enabling marketing teams to operate with greater agility and cost-efficiency.

• Programmatic Advertising: AI-powered platforms automate the buying and placing of ads across multiple channels, ensuring faster campaign execution and more precise targeting. Statista reports that programmatic ad spending is projected to reach $778 billion (USD) globally by 2028.
• Real-Time Bidding: AI algorithms analyse real-time data to determine optimal bids, maximising return on investment (ROI) for each impression. This reduces wasted ad spend and ensures that marketing budgets are utilised effectively.
• Reduced Manual Effort: Automation reduces the need for manual tasks, allowing marketing teams to allocate more time to strategic activities like creative ideation and long-term planning. For example, Google’s AI-driven ad tools can save marketers up to 20 hours per week.

Recommendations for marketers:

• Partner with a data driven media agency that uses AI-enabled programmatic platforms which offer robust analytics and audience insights.
• Choose an agency that utilises AI tools to monitor campaign performance in real-time and make adjustments for improved outcomes.

AI Enhanced Targeting and Predictive Marketing Analytics

AI offers unprecedented accuracy in identifying and targeting specific audience segments, empowering CMOs to optimise their marketing strategies.

• Lookalike Modelling: AI identifies potential customers with profiles similar to your most valuable existing customers, helping expand reach while maintaining quality. Facebook and Google’s AI-driven tools, for example, allow for highly precise lookalike audience creation.
• Predictive Analytics: AI analyses historical data to predict future trends and behaviours, allowing marketing managers to make proactive, data-driven decisions. According to Gartner, 74% of CMOs believe that AI-powered predictive analytics will be essential for their marketing strategy in the next three years.

Recommendations for marketers:

• Use predictive analytics to anticipate customer churn and implement retention strategies.
• Incorporate AI-driven segmentation into campaign planning for more precise targeting.

Content Creation and Optimisation

AI is transforming content marketing by assisting in the creation and optimisation of high-quality, engaging materials.

• AI-Powered Content Generation Tools: From ad copy to visuals, AI tools help generate creative assets efficiently, freeing up time for marketing teams and reducing creative costs. Tools like Jasper AI and ChatGPT are increasingly being adopted for content creation, saving marketers up to 30% of their time.
• Content Optimisation: AI analyses user behaviour to identify areas for improvement, ensuring your content performs at its best. For instance, AI can analyse heatmaps and engagement data to optimise website layouts and copy.

Recommendations for marketers:

• Use AI tools to perform A/B testing on content variations to identify top performers.
• Leverage AI to optimise SEO strategies, including keyword selection and metadata enhancements.

Addressing AI Adoption Challenges for Marketers

While AI offers transformative benefits, CMOs must navigate several challenges to ensure responsible and effective adoption:

• Data Privacy and Security: Markets should adhere to regulations like GDPR and CCPA to protect consumer data. Companies like Apple and Google are leading the charge with privacy-centric solutions like differential privacy and Federated Learning.
• Job Displacement: Focus on upskilling your team to work alongside AI tools rather than replacing roles. According to the World Economic Forum, AI is expected to create 97 million new jobs globally by 2025, offsetting the displacement of 85 million roles.
• Bias and Fairness: Regularly audit AI models to mitigate biases and ensure equitable outcomes. Ethical AI frameworks, such as IBM’s AI Fairness 360, can guide organisations in building fairer models.

Recommendations for marketers:

• Establish a cross-functional AI ethics committee to oversee implementation and address potential risks.
• Invest in continuous learning programs to help your team adapt to AI-driven workflows.
• Select marketing vendors that have a focus on using AI tools in their workflow whether these are owned or operated.

It’s Time to Incorporate AI Driven Marketing Strategies 

For CMOs and marketing managers, the AI revolution offers an unparalleled opportunity to achieve marketing excellence. By integrating AI technologies thoughtfully and ethically, you can:

• Enhance operational efficiency and ROI.
• Deliver personalised, meaningful customer experiences.
• Stay ahead in an evolving digital landscape.

AI will be at the heart of human progress in the next decade. Brands and marketing teams that utilise AI throughout their marketing practices will have significant competitive advantage by improving efficiencies and effectiveness. The requirements for a leading marketing agency will fundamentally change forever and AI will be a large foundational piece in what marketers look for both internally and externally.

Marketers must embrace AI to not only reshape their marketing strategies but also to future-proof their brand in an ever-changing marketplace. Marketers should collaborate with their teams and agency partners to explore AI solutions tailored to their business needs and set the stage for sustained success.

If you’d like to learn more about how AI can improve your marketing results, contact Bench Media today.

Choosing a digital marketing agency can be very challenging in a fast moving technological and media landscape.

In July 2023, I wrote an opinion piece for AdNews discussing the challenges of choosing a digital agency. In that article I covered some of the risks of choosing an agency that is over-reliant on Google and Meta and how marketers should ensure they look closely at the agency’s capabilities, data partnerships and core expertise to ensure they get the best specialist agency for their needs. One of the largest pitfalls I covered at the time was that many agencies claim they are a full service agency whereas in reality they have a very limited media offering and are reliant almost exclusively on Google and Meta for their media offering. 

Recently, the marketing landscape has been impacted by significant regulatory and technological changes that make choosing a digital marketing agency even more complex due to the following industry shifts:

• Google has delayed further deprecation of third-party cookies
• Australia’s Privacy Law Reforms loom and are expected to be confirmed an announced by the Australian government no later than 2025
• The US government has initiated antitrust actions aimed at breaking up Google due to their monopolistic behaviour and control of the Search Engine ecosystem.

These shifts prompt a fresh look at the complexities marketers face when assessing agency capabilities and how industry trends should inform decisions. These industry changes are likely to further erode the effectiveness of agencies that rely on Google, and for that matter Meta, for the majority of their clients’ marketing activity. The recent industry regulatory changes necessitate broadening the advertising approach of brands towards digital marketing platforms that are less reliant on Google data and their affiliated publishers.  This article will provide practical tips for marketers on how to navigate these changes and what factors need to be considered when choosing a digital marketing agency.

Choosing a Leading Creative and Media Agency: What’s Best for Your Brand

When evaluating a potential agency partner, it’s essential to understand the broader agency landscape. Marketing agencies typically fall into two categories: 

• Independent Agencies – These are smaller agencies where often the founders of the business are still involved in day-to-day operations. Independent agencies are usually highly specialised and offer more personalised service levels.
• Holding Companies (Agency Groups) – large, international conglomerates with multiple specialised agencies under their umbrella—ranging from UX design to media buying or B2B services. Holding companies, while offering a breadth of services, may sometimes feel more impersonal, with lower client and staff retention rates.

Among independent agencies, the distinction often lies between those that lead with creative services and those that are experts in media buying at their core. Although there are niche agencies specialising in areas like SEO, video production, or UX, most brands view creative and media agencies as their core strategic partners. Indeed for most brands, create and media tend to attract the lion share of marketing investment. These two core agencies are often referred to as “agency of record” by the brands they work with.

One of the first decisions marketers face is determining whether media or creative is central to their marketing strategy. Ideally, brands should partner with both a creative and media agency rather than seeking an all-in-one solution, as specialisation leads to better results.

Additional criteria to consider in evaluating a core agency of record:

• Agency Collaboration – When selecting an agency consider how well the agency is likely to work with your internal team and external partners. This becomes a critical point for marketing strategy, creative testing, optimising messaging and reporting. Does the agency have a strong record of collaborating with other agencies or partners? Do they have a data led approach to testing creative and audiences?
• Data Activation – a data led agency should have a clear focus on leveraging your brand data to improve campaign results and test new ideas. Consider their ability to utilise your CRM data to create lookalike audiences and exclude existing customers from certain campaigns. Some other areas to explore include: Will they be activating 1st party data in their campaigns? How will they protect your customer data? Do they use Data Clean Rooms or hashed audience lists?
• Brand Tech Stack – A specialist marketing agency should have the knowledge and experience to work with multiple tech stacks. They should have experience with attribution modelling, working with a wide range of CDP’s (Customer data Platform) and DMP’s (Data Management Platform) in an agnostic capacity. Consider checking with a prospective agency: What CDP or DMP’s do they have experience with? Have they worked with Marketing Mix Modelling and with which vendors? What Attribution modelling do they recommend? Do they incorporate brand lift studies or Brand Intent Measurement in their media campaigns?

The above list should be created for your unique brand’s needs and is highly dependent on the complexity of your marketing operations and internal team capabilities.

What a Full-Service Agency Should Really Offer (And What to Watch Out For)

Most agencies have roots in a particular discipline and have over time expanded their offering to other disciplines. When evaluating a digital agency or requesting RFP submissions, it’s important to look at the core service of each agency and identify their core offering. Most agencies fall into three main types:

• Full Service Agency – Offers a full range of services including Creative and Media at the very least.
• Creative Agency – Focuses on creative and brand strategy but may also offer some more limited media services.
• Media Agency – Focused on media and publishers relationships but may also have a limited creative or brand focus.

While many agencies label themselves as a “full service agency”, each has a core area of expertise.  A true full-service agency should have in-house expertise across all aspects of marketing, from strategy to execution. However, marketers should critically evaluate this claim. Often, creative agencies outsource media buying to third-party specialists or run it as a managed service. To assess whether an agency truly has in-house media expertise, ask whether they have actual media buyers on staff or merely a planning team that outsources buying and optimisation.

A further consideration is whether the agency operates as an agnostic media agency or is closely tied to a particular platform—most often Google. Agencies designated as “Google Premier” partners may have to meet specific spend thresholds, which can lead to a bias in their media plans. If an agency’s media strategy overly emphasises Google and Meta’s walled gardens, this should raise red flags.

A true full-service agency should showcase versatility, offering a comprehensive range of services that go beyond the dominant platforms. By diversifying their media capabilities, these agencies can craft more robust and impactful marketing strategies. This can be achieved either by expanding their partnerships beyond Google and Meta or by collaborating with a specialised, agnostic digital marketing agency that brings sophisticated data integrations and media expertise. 

A sophisticated and technologically savvy media agency should educate the brand marketing team on how to get the most of each platform and data provider to improve targeting given they are the experts in media buying across a large number of clients and industries.

Avoiding Marketing Platform Dependency: Why an Agnostic Media Agency Matters

As discussed earlier, many agencies have a media offering that is highly reliant on Google and Meta. If a marketing agency’s media offering is reliant on Google and Meta and the majority of its media investment is concentrated on these two companies, this a sure sign of Platform Dependency and lack of media innovation and diversification. A lack of media diversification can pose high risks to achieving decent Marketing Return on Media Investment. This is due to increased bidding competition within these two platforms and shortage of media inventory.

Partnering with an agnostic media agency reduces the risk of bias and ensures that your campaigns benefit from a broader range of platforms. Relying too heavily on Google—where both measurement tools (e.g., Google Analytics) and media inventory are controlled by the same entity—can distort performance insights, making Google’s ecosystem seem more favourable. While Google is undoubtedly a major player in digital marketing, an over-reliance on their technology can expose brands to risks, especially as privacy regulations tighten and data sharing becomes more restricted.

Working across a diverse range of digital media platforms—those that operate in the open internet—offers more accurate measurement and transparency. It allows agencies and brands to shift budgets to higher-performing publishers and data providers while leveraging data across different campaign elements for deeper marketing insights.

Future-Proofing for a Cookieless & Privacy Centric World

As third-party cookies phase out and privacy regulations become stricter, marketers need to ensure their agencies are ready for the next wave of digital advertising. When evaluating a potential partner, ask about their approach to first-party data usage, how they safeguard CRM data, and how they plan to navigate a post-cookie world. Ideally, you want an agency that is proactive, already diversifying its media buys to rely less on third-party tracking. 

There are a number of strategies to prepare for this inevitable new privacy and regulatory change:

Non-Cookie targeting Solutions – those solutions relying on publisher 1st party data or contextual targeting are making a strong comeback. These solutions are highly reliable and are based on actual data relating to environments the user is logged into. They are also less susceptible to users switching or sharing devices, deleting cookies or installing as blockers.

Owned Data – Using a DMP or CDP which can be enriched with data on an ongoing basis can replace a lot of the cookies based approaches and result in more accurate targeting of ads. It also helps reduce advertising waste and only show someone ads based on their purchase history.

Using more sophisticated ID solutions – Many of the ad buying platforms such as Meta, Yahoo, The Trade Desk, Amazon and others have been progressively moving to their own identity solutions. By ensuring your advertising is using a diverse range of media buying platforms you will be able to reduce any negative impact as we move into a cookieless future.

The marketing and media industry is changing rapidly, and the agency you choose should be agile enough to adapt and help you thrive in this new cookieless and privacy centric world. Markets need to be constantly evaluating the changing landscape to future proof their marketing campaigns and adjust to changing media and consumer trends. It’s useful for markets to consider how cookieless tracking constraints will impact their ad performance.

A good first step is to understand what percentage of your ad spend is likely to get impacted and to check how reliant you are on cookie based tracking. 

Once you have assessed your current risk profile, you should be assessing whether your media agency is prepared for this shift and how proactive they are in tackling it. You should also be looking at  alternative media agencies and what their approach is to these changes. 

Ultimately, a media agency which has strong data partnerships and low platform dependency will be more prepared for a cookieless future. Marketers should also interrogate what first party data strategies their agency uses and whether they support integrations with CDP’s to enrich and utilise your first party data. Some areas that could shed light on your media agency’s level of preparedness are whether they support Clean Rooms as a way to safely exchange and access PII data and whether the suppliers have proprietary Universal ID solutions that are non-cookie reliant.

In a rapidly evolving marketing landscape defined by a cookieless future, stringent privacy regulations, and an increasingly diversified media ecosystem, the right agency partnership has never been more critical. Today’s challenges demand not only technical expertise but also a proactive, forward-thinking approach to navigate shifting consumer behaviour and regulatory frameworks. Whether you’re already working with an agency or considering a new partnership, now is the time to assess if your agency is equipped to adapt to these changes. 

If you’d like our team to assist you with evaluating your existing agency’s level of readiness to a cookieless marketing world or how an alternative privacy approach might benefit your brand’s marketing efforts we would love to hear from you.