Latest / The CMO Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Leadership, Budgets, and Executive Strategy / How CMOs Use First-Party Data After the Cookie Phaseout
Transcript
- Lucas: It's late July 2026, and if you work anywhere near digital advertising, you have felt the floor shift under your feet. Google's third-party cookie deprecation, which they first announced way back in 2020, is now in its final enforcement phase. And the word from every CMO I talk to is the same: first-party data is no longer a nice to have, it's table stakes. Luna: Right — and we've been hearing this phrase for years, but the actual transition has been slow and messy. What changed in the last six months to make it urgent now? Lucas: What changed is that the deprecation finally reached scale. As of April, Google began blocking third-party cookies for roughly 35 percent of Chrome users, and they're on track to hit 100 percent by the end of Q3. That's about two-thirds of the global browser market. So the addressable audience for a campaign that relies on cookie-based targeting has shrunk by something like 40 percent for most brands. Luna: That is a huge chunk of audience to lose. So what are CMOs actually doing about it? I assume it's not just 'collect more emails.' Lucas: It's a lot more sophisticated than that. Let me give you a concrete case: Kraft Heinz. They launched a direct to consumer platform called Kraft Heinz Marketplace a couple of years ago, and by the end of 2025 they had over seven million registered users. That's not just a recipe site — it's a fully integrated loyalty program where users get points for purchases, share dietary preferences, and opt in to personalized offers. Kraft Heinz now uses that data to run targeted campaigns across their own channels and through retail media networks, completely independent of third-party cookies. Luna: Seven million is impressive. And I remember reading that their repeat purchase rate for members was something like two and a half times higher than for non-members. That's the kind of ROI that justifies the upfront investment. Lucas: Exactly. And the investment is real. Building a first-party data infrastructure means spending on a customer data platform, privacy compliance tools, identity resolution, and often a loyalty app. But the trade-off is you own the relationship. Procter & Gamble took a different route — they've been building a proprietary identity graph that links their own customer data with anonymized purchase data from retailers, without relying on cookies or third-party data brokers. They call it their 'people-based measurement' system. Luna: So P&G is essentially creating their own version of the data ecosystem that used to be supplied by the ad tech platforms. That sounds expensive. What's the scale of investment we're talking about? Lucas: I've seen estimates that a major CPG company like P&G spends somewhere between 50 and 100 million dollars annually on data infrastructure and identity. But consider what they're replacing: they used to spend hundreds of millions on programmatic display and targeted social ads that relied on third-party data. The cost per acquired customer through those channels was rising anyway because of privacy regulations and ad fatigue. So the calculus shifts. Luna: Is there a risk that first-party data becomes just as expensive, or that consumers get tired of giving up their information even for rewards? Lucas: That's the big open question. Consumers are definitely more privacy-aware than they were five years ago. But the successful programs I've seen offer real value in exchange. Kraft Heinz gives you exclusive recipes, personalized coupons, and early access to new products. General Motors has their OnStar insurance discount program — you share driving data and get a lower premium. The exchange has to be tangible. Luna: So zero-party data — where the customer intentionally shares their preferences — is the gold standard. But not every brand can offer that kind of value exchange. What about smaller companies or B2B marketers? Lucas: For B2B, the playbook is actually similar but with different tools. Instead of a consumer loyalty app, it's about gated content, webinars, and community access. A company like HubSpot has been doing this for years — their entire inbound engine is built on capturing first-party intent data through content downloads and free tools. For smaller B2B brands, the focus is on building a direct relationship via email and events, then using a CDP to unify that data across touchpoints. Luna: One thing I hear from marketers is that the loss of third-party cookies also hurts measurement — you can't track the full customer journey anymore. How are CMOs adapting? Lucas: They're shifting to modeled attribution and incrementality testing. Instead of trying to track every click, they run controlled experiments: one group sees the ad, one doesn't, and they measure the difference in sales lift. It's actually a more honest way to measure marketing effectiveness. The days of claiming a last-click attribution for everything are ending. And that's probably healthy for the industry. Luna: It does feel like a move toward more disciplined marketing. But there's a compliance side too — GDPR, CCPA, and now the new federal privacy law that passed last year. How are CMOs managing that? Lucas: Compliance is now baked into the data architecture. Every first-party data program has to have consent management built in from the start. The smart CMOs are working with their legal teams to create 'privacy-by-design' systems where data collection is transparent and opt-in is explicit. Some are even using the privacy regulations as a competitive advantage — they can tell customers, 'We only use your data with your permission, and here's exactly how.' That builds trust. Luna: It's a big shift from the 'collect everything and figure it out later' approach that dominated the last decade. Do you think some CMOs are still in denial? Lucas: Absolutely. I still talk to CMOs who believe a replacement for the third-party cookie will emerge — some kind of universal ID solution that works across the whole web. But that's wishful thinking. The industry is fragmenting into walled gardens: Google, Amazon, Meta, and to a lesser extent Apple, each have their own identity systems. The open web is becoming less addressable. CMOs who don't invest in their own first-party data now will be at a severe disadvantage by 2027. Luna: And what about retail media networks? They seem to be the big winner in all of this. Lucas: They are. Retail media networks — Amazon's ads, Walmart Connect, Kroger Precision Marketing — they have first-party purchase data that's incredibly valuable. Many brands are shifting ad dollars from programmatic display into retail media because they can target based on actual purchase history. But the risk is over-reliance: if you put all your budget into Amazon, you don't own that customer relationship. The smart CMOs are using retail media alongside their own first-party programs. It's a both/and, not either/or. Luna: If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used — maybe a new way to think about your own data strategy — and you want to see more episodes like this, a handful of listeners already chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps this show ad-free and focused on the real decisions CMOs face. Lucas: Yeah, and it genuinely makes a difference. We don't run commercial breaks, so listener support is what keeps the lights on. If that's something you feel good about, the link is easy to find. Otherwise, let's get back to the data. Luna: So we've covered the big CPG players. But what's the one piece of advice you'd give to a mid-market CMO who's just starting their first-party data journey? Lucas: Start with the data you already have. Most companies have email lists, CRM data, and customer service logs that are underutilized. Clean that up, unify it in a single customer view, and then figure out what you can offer in exchange for more. You don't need a seven-million-member program overnight. Even a 50,000-person loyalty cohort with high engagement can drive meaningful lift. The key is to start now, because every quarter you wait, your addressable audience shrinks. Luna: And test incrementality from the beginning, not after you've built the whole infrastructure. That way you know what's actually working. Lucas: Exactly. Incrementality testing is your new best friend. And one last thing: don't panic. The cookie phaseout is a correction, not a catastrophe. Brands that built direct customer relationships will come out stronger. It's just going to take a few years to shake out. Luna: Thanks, Lucas. And thanks to everyone listening. We'll be back next week with another deep dive into the decisions that define modern marketing.