Originally appeared on MarTech Series
Marketing’s understanding of identity has evolved rapidly over the past decade, much like the shifting media landscape itself. From the early days of basic direct mail targeting to today’s complex omnichannel environment, identity has become both more powerful and more fragmented. Each era has brought new tools, challenges, and opportunities, shaping how brands interact with their customers.
We’ve moved from traditional media like mail, newspapers, and linear/network TV, to cable TV, the internet, mobile devices, and apps. Now, multiple streaming platforms dominate, creating a far more complex media landscape. As a result, understanding the customer journey and reaching consumers across these various touchpoints has become increasingly difficult. Managing frequency and ensuring effective communication across channels is now more challenging than ever.
This development has led to a fragmented view of the consumer, making it harder for marketers to ensure that they are reaching the right audience at the right time while also avoiding oversaturation. Marketers must now navigate a fragmented customer journey across multiple channels, each with its own identity signals, to stitch together a cohesive view of the customer.
Let’s break down this evolution, era by era, to understand how identity has progressed—and where it’s headed.
2010-2015: The rise of digital identity – Cookies and MAIDs
Between 2010 and 2015, the digital era fundamentally changed how marketers approached identity. Mobile usage surged during this time, and programmatic advertising emerged as the dominant method for reaching consumers across the internet.
The introduction of cookies and mobile advertising IDs (MAIDs) became the foundation for tracking users across the web and mobile apps. With these identifiers, marketers gained new capabilities to deliver targeted, personalized messages and drive efficiency through programmatic advertising.
This era gave birth to powerful tools for targeting. Marketers could now follow users’ digital footprints, regardless of whether they were browsing on desktop or mobile. This leap in precision allowed brands to optimize spend and performance at scale, but it came with its limitations. Identity was still tied to specific browsers or devices, leaving gaps when users switched platforms. The fragmentation across different devices and the reliance on cookies and MAIDs meant that a seamless, unified view of the customer was still out of reach.
2015-2020: The age of walled gardens
From 2015 to 2020, the identity landscape grew more complex with the rise of walled gardens. Platforms like Facebook, Google, and Amazon created closed ecosystems of first-party data, offering rich, self-declared insights about consumers. These platforms built massive advertising businesses on the strength of their user data, giving marketers unprecedented targeting precision within their environments.
However, the rise of walled gardens also marked the start of new challenges. While these platforms provided detailed identity solutions within their walls, they didn’t communicate with one another. Marketers could target users with pinpoint accuracy inside Facebook or Google, but they couldn’t connect those identities across different ecosystems. This siloed approach to identity left marketers with an incomplete picture of the customer journey, and brands struggled to piece together a cohesive understanding of their audience across platforms.
The promise of detailed targeting was tempered by the fragmentation of the landscape. Marketers were dealing with disparate identity solutions, making it difficult to track users as they moved between these closed environments and the open web.
2020-2025: The multi-ID landscape – CTV, retail media, signal loss, and privacy
By 2020, the identity landscape had splintered further, with the rise of connected TV (CTV) and retail media adding even more complexity to the mix. Consumers now engaged with brands across an increasing number of channels—CTV, mobile, desktop, and even in-store—and each of these channels had its own identifiers and systems for tracking.
Simultaneously, privacy regulations are tightening the rules around data collection and usage. This, coupled with the planned deprecation of third-party cookies and MAIDs has thrown marketers into a state of flux. The tools they had relied on for years were disappearing, and new solutions had yet to fully emerge. The multi-ID landscape was born, where brands had to navigate multiple identity systems across different platforms, devices, and environments.
Retail media networks became another significant player in the identity game. As large retailers like Amazon and Walmart built their own advertising ecosystems, they added yet another layer of first-party data to the mix. While these platforms offer robust insights into consumer behavior, they also operate within their own walled gardens, further fragmenting the identity landscape.
With cookies and MAIDs being phased out, the industry began to experiment with alternatives like first-party data, contextual targeting, and new universal identity solutions. The challenge and opportunity for marketers lies in unifying these fragmented identity signals to create a consistent and actionable view of the customer.
2025: The omnichannel imperative
Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, the identity landscape will continue to evolve, but the focus remains the same: activating and measuring across an increasingly fragmented and complex media environment. Consumers now expect seamless, personalized experiences across every channel—from CTV to digital to mobile—and marketers need to keep up.
The future of identity lies in interoperability, scale, and availability. Marketers need solutions that can connect the dots across different platforms and devices, allowing them to follow their customers through every stage of the journey. Identity must be actionable in real-time, allowing for personalization and relevance across every touchpoint, so that media can be measurable and attributable.
Brands that succeed in 2025 and beyond will be those that invest in scalable, omnichannel identity solutions. They’ll need to embrace privacy-friendly approaches like first-party data, while also ensuring their systems can adapt to an ever-changing landscape.
Adapting to the future of identity
The evolution of identity has been marked by increasing complexity, but also by growing opportunity. As marketers adapt to a world without third-party cookies and MAIDs, the need for unified identity solutions has never been more urgent. Brands that can navigate the multi-ID landscape will unlock new levels of efficiency and personalization, while those that fail to adapt risk falling behind.
The path forward is clear: invest in identity solutions that bridge the gaps between devices, platforms, and channels, providing a full view of the customer. The future of marketing belongs to those who can manage identity in a fragmented world—and those who can’t will struggle to stay relevant.
Latest posts
As marketers, we all want to better leverage data to understand our customer and provide them with the best possible experience. It not only better serves our clients, but is ultimately more profitable for the company. But most of us struggle with large volumes of data, with no idea how to best use it. There are many factors that play into this problem. For most organizations, data is spread out across multiple systems with no consistent data management strategy. That means that as marketers, when we get the data, it comes in a wide variety of forms. The standardization could be different, customers could be missing certain record fields, purchase history could be divided into different accounts…you get the picture. This disparity makes it difficult for us to get any sort of insight from the information. How can we leverage data if it is inaccurate, incomplete and not accessible? Experian Data Quality recently completed a survey of over 250 chief information officers (CIOs) and found that they too are struggling to leverage data. Four out of five see data as a valuable asset that is not being fully utilized within the organization. In speaking with the CIOs, some of the biggest challenges aren’t just about technology, but rather organizational structure and company culture. Sixty-eight percent of CIOs struggle to find stakeholders who take anything other than a siloed view of data management. In addition, 70 percent of respondents say they struggle to implement data-driven decision making because no one seems to own the process. To improve data insight, organizations need to improve the structure around data management. This is where the chief data officer (CDO) comes into play. The chief data officer is a growing c-suite position that is getting more and more popular. Most of the CIOs we spoke with that had a CDO said the role had only been created in the last six months. The reasons companies are looking to put a CDO in place are all related to improving access and insight from data. CDOs are there to: Reduce risk around data-driven projects Curb costs from poor quality data Handle increasing data governance pressures As this role continues to grow, it is going to have a big impact not only on marketing, but also the organization as a whole. With that in mind, join us for a webinar on Tuesday, August 18th at 2 PM EST to talk about the emergence of the chief data officer. We’ll discuss data as an untapped resource, how the role is changing organizations and how to ensure your organization is ready for the shift that this new role brings. Register today!
There is much to be said about the differences between college-age consumers (19- to 21-year-olds) today and their counterparts five years ago. As many marketers recognize, young-adult consumers cannot be targeted based solely on generalizations and assumptions. To accurately and respectfully capitalize on this segment’s buying power, marketers need to understand how their spending patterns have changed in recent years and how to earn a slice of the group’s spend. Accounting for inflation, 19- to 21-year-olds are making more money than young adults did five years ago. Their pay has increased by 20 percent, and, interestingly, their spending has increased by 30 percent. So where are they spending this money? 1. Dressing for success According to Census Area Projected Estimates (CAPE) of expenditure data from Experian Marketing Services, both men and women in this age group are filling their closets with about 35 percent more professional attire — shoes included. This has brought 2015’s average spend up to $22,859 per year per household for college-age women and $11,196 per household for college-age men. This rise in spending on professional wardrobe could be attributed to more professional entry-level job expectations or a possible shift in technical trade positions to business professional positions. CAPE data also reveals a 70 percent increase in memberships to networking and recreational clubs. This increasingly professional outlook among college age consumers requires confidence and the right ensemble to proclaim success. Key takeaway: Position products and services to appeal to this career-minded consumer who is aiming to look the part. 2. “Go with the flow” What kinds of messages resonate with these individuals? According to TrueTouchSM data from Experian, college-age consumers can be best engaged when marketers appeal to them using a “Go with the flow” marketing message. “Go with the flow” has consistently ranked as the top motivating marketing message for college-age individuals in the study. The second and third most resonating marketing messages for this market are “Never show up empty handed” and “Work hard, play hard.” “Go with the flow” means this market has a live-and-let-live outlook on life. Brands who employ a similar outlook, don’t take themselves too seriously and extend no-risk offers may have a better chance to engage this cohort. Key takeaway: If marketers tailor messages around these motivating philosophies, they may have a better chance of earning this market’s business. 3. Offline entertainment For marketers in the retail industry, particularly those with clothing or supplies fit for the outdoors, be aware that this cohort of 19-21 year olds are visiting outdoor apparel and supplies sections more often than they did five years ago. In fact, they are spending 37 percent more on luggage and travel than the same age group 5 years ago. According to the same Experian CAPE study, renting RV’s and increasing spend on camping and winter sports equipment are expenditures getting more attention from college-age consumers this year. Key takeaway: Despite being pegged as a technology-first generation, this cohort also enjoys going “off the grid.” Even if you aren’t selling outdoorsy equipment, be aware that there is more to this age group than smartphones and Netflix. Combine the “go with the flow” attitude with their sense of adventure to better cater your messages to these consumers. A lot has changed in five years. Marketers trying to engage college-age consumers need to understand how spending habits (and motivations) are changing in order to provide the most relevant brand experiences and capture this hard-to-pin-down market. To see how Experian Marketing Services’ rich consumer data can help you profile your best customers, visit our website.
Data may not be the most glamorous aspect of marketing but it is at the heart creating meaningful consumer interactions in today’s data-driven world. In our award-winning, annual Digital Marketer Report we asked senior leaders about their top challenges and priorities. They said things like standing out against competitors, creating relevant interactions and customer acquisition. To my surprise, they didn’t say data. However, all the top challenges and priorities are predicated on having accurate, enriched data that is linked together in a central location for a complete customer view. The sobering fact is that most brands are not there yet. Most are not fully utilizing their data assets and maximizing their marketing intelligence. Take a look at these stats from the Digital Marketer Report to get an idea of where most brands are with data management practices. Overall, 45% of companies collect data via mobile – be it a mobile website, app or both TWEET THIS! 97% of companies suffer from common data errors. 61% of companies named human error as a top reason for data inaccuracies. TWEET THIS! On average globally, companies believe that 23% of their budget is wasted annually due to poor data quality. TWEET THIS! Today, only 35% of companies manage their data centrally through a single director. TWEET THIS! 99% of companies believe achieving a single customer view is important to their business. Only 24% of companies say they have a single customer view today. TWEET THIS! 29% of marketers who enrich their data with third-party data only add one type of data. TWEET THIS! One-quarter of marketers don’t enrich their data with any kind of third-party data. TWEET THIS! It’s important for marketing leaders to understand that they first need to focus on data and creating a customer-centric organization to support good data-management practices. Only then will they be able to reach their goals.