As a marketer, you know that the digital landscape is always changing. That’s why it’s important to make sure you’re equipped with the right tools every step of the way – no matter how rapidly things change. You want to ensure your strategies and tactics stay ahead of any changes in technology or consumer behavior, so what new marketing strategies should be in your toolbox in 2023?
Discover what industry leaders from Experian, Adweek, FreeWheel, Tubi, and Instacart had to say about what should be in every marketer’s toolbox in 2023 at Cannes.
Keep reading to learn the top four new marketing strategies you need in your marketing toolbox for 2023 and beyond.
1. A plan for signal loss
The first item you should have in your marketing toolbox is a plan for signal loss.
The phasing out of third-party cookies presents both a challenge and an opportunity. This shift not only poses challenges but also opens up opportunities for alternative strategies.
On the one hand, it makes it more difficult to track users across channels and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. On the other hand, it forces marketers to focus on building relationships with their customers and collecting first-party data.
Consumer behavior is changing
When we consider signal loss in a traditional sense, we think of the implementation of iOS 14, where we couldn’t track click-based data from campaigns. It’s important to reflect on the fact that the paid media ecosystem needed to adapt to new consumer realities.
Younger demographics are less likely to click on ads and instead engage in video environments. They discover brands through platforms like TikTok or Instagram. It’s crucial to understand how people behave, where they discover products, and where influence takes place. This understanding becomes even more vital when targeting a young audience demographic.
Four things to consider when planning for signal loss
There are four things you should consider when building out a plan to address signal loss and fragmentation.
Channel diversification
You need to reach your customers on the channels where they are already spending time, such as social media, email, and your own website. You should work with platforms that have first-party data to understand how your customers interact with your brand.
Data privacy
You need to be transparent about how you are collecting and using customer data. You should also anonymize data whenever possible.
First-party data
First-party data is now more crucial than ever, awakening its importance in shaping our actions. The combination of channel diversification and first-party data will be essential in the years to come. By focusing on these two areas, you can build stronger customer relationships and create more effective marketing campaigns.
Contextual targeting
Contextual targeting is emerging as a viable method to deliver more relevant content to your intended audience.
By embracing signal loss, the alternative new marketing strategies that are emerging as a result, and adopting a privacy-centric mindset, you can navigate cookie deprecation.
2. Collaboration
The second item you should have in your marketing toolbox is collaboration within the AdTech ecosystem.
To address signal loss and changes in privacy, moving toward a more collaborative, holistic marketing ecosystem is key.
Two ways we can achieve better collaboration
Here are two ways we can create better collaboration in the AdTech ecosystem.
Enable interoperability
We should aim to create an ecosystem that fosters collaboration between marketers, publishers, advertisers, ad tech companies, and more. When we enable seamless interoperability, everyone can use the best data available.
Use clean rooms
We are witnessing a growing trend of collaboration between parties, where buyers and sellers share data in these secure environments. Clean rooms can help us develop data strategies in a controlled manner.
3. Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
The third tool you should have in your marketing toolbox is generative AI.
Benefits of implementing AI
There are three main benefits to implementing AI within your marketing strategy.
Enables creativity
Although AI and machine learning have long been part of our toolbox, this moment marks an extraordinary acceleration that expands our capabilities. Copywriters can now create visuals, and art directors can write compelling copy. It’s an extension of what we’re capable of, potentially alleviating the burden of repetitive tasks and enabling more time for collaboration, creativity, and strategic thinking.
By embracing generative AI, we can preserve valuable talent, prevent burnout, and invigorate the advertising industry.
Enables more personalization
The rise of personalization with AI has significantly increased the demand for tailored experiences. People now willingly allow AI agents to read their emails, hoping for quicker and easier responses. This shift signifies a change in the previous emphasis on privacy and consumer preferences. Consumers now see the value in exchanging personal information for more targeted services.
E-commerce has already witnessed this transformation with customized ads based on individual preferences and behaviors. For instance, if a CPG brand notices you’re not purchasing meat, they won’t serve you ads for meat products.
However, it’s crucial to strike the right balance between being useful and intrusive. Users want relevant information that aligns with their needs without feeling intruded upon.
As we navigate this path, we must ensure that personalization remains beneficial and respectful of user preferences.
Helps drive impactful results and customer satisfaction
The tool is a perfect analogy for improving your job performance and business operations. Having the right data input to feed the machine is crucial, just like using the right ingredients to cook a perfect meal. Keeping the consumer in mind throughout the process is key. You can ensure customer satisfaction by putting the right ingredients in and allowing the machine to work its magic. Scaling up, repeating, and refining the process will drive impactful results.
4. First-party data
The fourth item you should have in your marketing toolbox is first-party data.
Benefits of implementing a first-party data strategy
Moving from a third-party cookie world to a first-party cookie world brings about significant transformation. Here are two benefits of implementing a first-party data strategy.
Greater accuracy
The shift to first-party cookies ensures greater accuracy, enabling us to establish critical mass through secure partnerships. This empowers us to strengthen and refine our personalization capabilities, much like Amazon’s ability to anticipate customer needs before they arise. When you can predict and understand customer behaviors with remarkable precision, you can reach your customers with tailored and creative ads.
“Building a robust first-party data strategy should be a central discussion for marketers, involving key stakeholders such as CEOs and CMOs. Quality and precise data are paramount, and while first-party relationships with consumers form the foundation, even established brands benefit from strategic partnerships. Together, we can unlock the potential of accurate and meaningful data-driven marketing.”
jeremy hlavacek, cco, experian
Identify high-growth audiences
First-party data can help you identify audiences with the greatest growth potential, ultimately optimizing marketing dollars for greater efficiency.
Watch our Cannes panel for more new marketing strategies for 2023
We hosted a panel with Adweek in Cannes that covered what should be in every marketer’s toolbox this year. Check out the full recording below to hear from leaders at Tubi, Freewheel, Instacart, Adweek, and Experian.
Check out more Cannes content:
- Our key takeaways from Cannes Lions 2023
- Insights from a first-time attendee
- Exploring the opportunities in streaming TV advertising
- The future of identity in cookieless advertising
- Maximize ad targeting with supply-side advertising
Follow us on LinkedIn or sign up for our email newsletter for more informative content on the latest industry insights and data-driven marketing.
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Why an identity framework matters more than any single identifier The challenge facing marketers today isn’t a single identifier on a deprecation timeline. It’s the increasing fragmentation of signals and identifiers across browsers, devices, apps, and platforms. This shift introduces complexity into how audiences are reached and measured, as signals behave differently in every environment, and it becomes more complex to piece together a complete view of the consumer. Each environment contributes to its own set of visibility gaps, making identity less predictable and more uneven. The result is a patchwork of inconsistent identity signals rather than a single, predictable decline. While you can’t control how platforms evolve, you can control how you respond to fragmentation. The future won’t be defined by the loss of any single identifier, but by your ability to unify, interpret, and activate the many signals that remain. Marketers who adopt a flexible, identity framework will be best positioned to create consistency in an otherwise fragmented landscape. At Experian, we believe flexibility starts with intelligence. For decades, we’ve used AI and machine learning to help marketers understand people’s behavior more clearly, respect their privacy, and deliver messages that drive business outcomes. Our technology brings identity, insight, and intelligence together, so even as the number of signals grows and becomes more varied across environments, marketers can reach the right people with relevance, respect, and simplicity. This intelligence acts as the connective tissue across fragmented ecosystems, ensuring marketers can recognize and reach audiences consistently wherever they appear. What forces are driving fragmentation in identity and signals? Changes to traditional IDs: Since Apple introduced ATT, access to IDFA has become inconsistent across apps and devices. Google’s evolving Android privacy roadmap adds another layer of variability, fragmenting mobile addressability. Safari and Firefox have long restricted third-party cookies, while Chrome continues to support them for now. This creates different signal availability across browsers, contributing to an uneven and increasingly fragmented identity landscape on the open web. Shifts in signals: IPv4 to IPv6 migration introduces mismatched identity structures that complicate continuity across environments. Platform-driven fragmentation: Closed ecosystems and uneven adoption of evolving RTB standards (like OpenRTB 2.6 updates designed to support new identifiers and consent signals) create differences in which identifiers and consent signals are shared in the bidstream. At the same time, the rise of alternative or “universal” IDs—often developed by individual platforms, publishers, or technology companies—means that multiple ID types can appear within the same auction, each with its own structure, rules, and level of support. These differences reduce interoperability across platforms and contribute to a more fragmented activation landscape. Each change creates an identity silo. Together, they form an ecosystem defined by fragmentation rather than absence. Without an identity framework, these environments operate as disconnected identity islands. A multi-ID world requires a unified identity framework Alternative IDs play an important role, but they also expand the number of signals marketers must reconcile. Without a consistent identity layer, more IDs often mean more complexity—not more clarity. Common alternative IDs in use today: UID2: The Trade Desk’s UID 2.0, an iteration of their original Unified ID 1.0, which was still reliant on third-party cookies, creates persistent IDs with user-provided email addresses and phone numbers. ID5: This independent identity provider builds an identity infrastructure that powers addressable advertising across channels. It can create an ID based on both deterministic and probabilistic data. Hadron ID: Hadron ID is a unique, interoperable identity system (including first-party, audience-based, contextual, deterministic, and probabilistic) developed by Audigent, now part of Experian, to drive revenue for publishers by making their audience data and inventory actionable for media buyers. Industry reports suggest roughly one-third to two-fifths of open-auction traffic carries alternative IDs, sometimes multiple per request. Among Experian clients, adoption of alternative IDs rose 50% year over year, with a 30% increase in IDs resolved to individuals via our Digital Graph. Identity isn’t disappearing; it’s multiplying. A modern identity framework resolves these identifiers into a single, privacy-safe consumer view.
Year after year, CES signals where marketing is headed next. In 2026, the message was clear. Progress comes from connecting data, intelligence, and outcomes with discipline, not spectacle. Across AI, programmatic media, and measurement, the same priorities surfaced again and again. Under the bright lights of Las Vegas, three themes cut through, and each one pointed to a future where data, intelligence, and outcomes move in lockstep. Here are the three themes that defined CES 2026. 1. Agentic AI proved that it’s only as good as its data inputs AI was once again the star of the show. At CES 2026, marketers focused less on demos and more on proof that AI improves decisions, reduces friction, and drives outcomes. Every credible use case traced back to accurate, privacy-first data. What changed at CES was how that intelligence is being applied. Agentic AI systems designed to act autonomously are moving beyond insights and into execution. From media buying to optimization, these agents are increasingly expected to make decisions at speed and scale. That shift raises the stakes for data quality. When AI is operating campaigns, not just informing them, accuracy and privacy are non-negotiable. Without accurate, privacy compliant data, AI agents struggle to reflect real behavior or support responsible personalization. A reliable, privacy-first data foundation is what turns AI from an interesting experiment into an operational advantage. That advantage gets even stronger when it’s anchored in an identity graph that understands people and households across channels. When identity and intelligence move together, AI becomes more accurate, accountable, and effective at driving outcomes. In an AI first world, the strongest signal isn't scale. It's data quality. 2. Curation goes mainstream Curation is no longer experimental. At CES, it showed up as an mandated capability for buyers and sellers navigating fragmented signals and complex supply paths. Marketers want intentional media buys they can explain, defend, and repeat. AI is accelerating this shift. As AI systems take on more responsibility for planning, packaging, and optimization, curation provides the guardrails. It defines what “good” looks like (premium supply, trusted data, and clear performance goals), and allows AI to operate within those constraints driving the optimal outcomes for marketers. Rather than maximizing inventory access, curation prioritizes control, transparency, and performance. Buyers want premium supply aligned to specific goals. Sellers want clearer paths to demand. They can play the odds or own the outcome. When data leads, they own it. When curation is powered by high-fidelity audiences and a connected identity framework, it becomes even stronger. That’s what allows curated deals to deliver clarity, confidence, and repeatable performance. This shift reflects a broader move away from probability-based buying toward outcome ownership, where AI-driven systems are measured not on activity, but on results. 3. Activation and measurement finally shared the same stage Activation and measurement are now coming together around shared data and identity. CES 2026 marked a turning point where closing the loop felt achievable, not aspirational. Both the buy- and sell-sides face pressure to show that media investment drives outcomes. Agentic AI was a quiet driver of this optimism. As AI agents increasingly manage activation decisions in real time, marketers need measurement systems that can keep up. That requires a shared data and identity foundation. One that allows AI-driven actions to be evaluated against outcomes consistently, across channels and partners. "The companies leading in alternative data aren't just optimizing for growth, they're setting a new standard for inclusion, precision and responsible lending." – Ashley Knight, SVP of Product Management, Experian Achieving that requires a consistent identity spine that connects planning, activation, and outcomes across channels. And that spine is strongest when it’s built on accurate, privacy-first data and audiences that understand people and households. That connection allows marketers to move beyond proxy metrics and evaluate performance based on tangible results. When campaigns and measurement rely on the same data foundation, AI driven platforms can optimize toward outcomes such as new customers, account growth, or in-store activity, not just delivery metrics. That’s the connective layer that turns disconnected touchpoints into a measurable, outcomes-based system. The takeaway CES made one thing clear: agentic AI is moving marketing from intention to execution. But only for teams with the right foundation. AI is maturing, but only for teams with accurate, connected, privacy-first data that AI agents can act on responsibly. Curation is scaling, giving both humans and AI systems clearer paths to quality, control, and differentiation. Activation and measurement are aligning, allowing AI-driven decisions to be judged on outcomes, not assumptions. We’re building for that world today. One where agentic AI operates on a trusted data and identity foundation, curation defines the rules, and outcomes determine success. With the right foundation and the deep data inputs, you can move faster, reduce risk, and let intelligence (human and artificial) work together to deliver results that last long after the neon lights fade.