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Publicis Groupe signs Trade Desk deal to keep tracking consumers once cookies are over

Publicis Groupe is early out of the blocks with a specialised service to help its clients track and target consumers online once Google has removed third party cookies from its Chrome browser in 2022.

A partnership with online ad platform The Trade Desk will give Publicis (via Epsilon) access to Unified ID, an alternative to cookies which claims to allow personalisation at scale and provide maximum reach without invading privacy.

Epsilon, the data firm bought by Publicis in 2019 for $4 billion (post Epsilon’s data fraud issues), can integrate its Core ID, which has 200 million adults on its US books, with The Trade Desk, an ad platform that claims to promote a fair and open media ecosystem.

Arthur Sadoun, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe said: “We haven’t waited to act in the face of the disappearance of third-party cookies… with The Trade Desk, we are building a next generation personalised media platform, powered by real identities… with a unique reach, maximum return on investment, transparency and full compliance with privacy regulations.”

Publicis claims to be the only holding company that has “interoperability” with The Trade Desk’s platform. The Trade Desk has been busy signing up lots of online publishers to help them maximise their vast collections of individual audience profiles, and this new deal with Publicis Groupe will bring another dimension to the offering.

Jeff Green, CEO of The Trade Desk, said: “Advertisers are looking for a consumer-conscious way to preserve the value exchange of the internet – free content in exchange for relevant advertising… this new approach to identity will serve as a new common currency across the open internet, and will put the consumer in the driver’s seat.”

This looks to be a US-based deal, but The Trade Desk has offices outside its California HQ, including Europe (London, Hamburg, Madrid) as well as in Hong Kong and Indonesia.

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