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2024 was a year of dizzying changes in adtech: Google’s back-and-forth on cookie deprecation, Chrome’s potential spinoff and ongoing antitrust issues, increased fragmentation and wasted ad spend—oh, and an AI boom. With change happening constantly, how can marketers ensure their strategies for the rest of 2025 (and even 2026) are future-proofed and resilient?
In our recent Adweek webinar, Turning 2024 Marketing Challenges into 2025 Wins, experts Matt Feczko, VP of product management at Epsilon, and Nikhil Lai, guest speaker, senior analyst at Forrester, delved into the most common hurdles marketers face and the strategies to overcome them. Here’s what we learned.
Challenge: Data deprecation entails the interplay of various factors, which makes it a particularly tricky problem for marketers to solve. “This is not just about whether Google will deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome—it’s four forces coming together,” Lai said in the webinar. Lai continued to explore how data deprecation is really the confluence of consumers’ dissatisfaction with audience targeting’s status quo, regulatory restraints, browser and operating system restrictions, and walled gardens dimming signals across the open internet.
Solution: Shifting focus to first-party data is critical to uniquely reach customers. That can mean a few different things—but building a loyalty program and leveraging customer data platforms (CDP) to enhance your understanding of customer behavior are great ways to start. The key is to fill in the gaps in your customer file so you can get a comprehensive view of people and uniquely reach them across the open web, despite any data loss. "[First-party data] is like an amusement park fast pass where you can get right to the front of the line because you already know your customer so well," said Matt Feczko, VP of product development at Epsilon.
While building up your first-party data is essential, you also need to be conscious of whether or not you're stuck in the advertising "hot zone." The "hot zone" forms when marketers are struggling with the impact of data deprecation and signal loss, so they end up messaging easy-to-reach (but less valuable) customers over and over again, simply because they're reachable. But in reality, the most valuable customers are the ones that are hardest to find and reach. Here’s what we mean:
So, how do you ensure you’re not stuck with only reaching people in this “hot zone”? Alongside focusing on building a first-party data foundation, the key is to invest in people-based identity and work with a partner that is able to uniquely reach those people inside the "marketer opportunity" zone—which Feczko said means "reaching customers outside of walled gardens, recent site buys and inventory buys."
Still confused about the advertising "hot zone"? In the short video, our expert breaks it down further:
Challenge: AI has provided a huge unlock for marketers—we’ve seen it transform advertising, enhance targeting and personalization and democratize the creative process. “But better AI and more precise audiences are not excuses for ignoring the fact that you need a strong identity foundation, rich customer profiles, and the right identity resolution solutions to view customers comprehensively,” Lai highlighted.
And while AI presents tremendous potential, many organizations still struggle to use it fully.
Solution: “A lot of times from clients we hear, ‘Where should we start?' or 'How do I even use AI to improve my business?’” Feczko recalled. “I say, you should start with the business questions instead of starting with AI.” Those questions could be:
By aligning on those questions beforehand, you align on what really matters—and what results you really want to see. “Start by understanding your customers and applying AI insights to inspire creative strategies," he advised.
And of course, as mentioned earlier by Lai, AI is not an excuse to skimp on a strong identity resolution solution. "Without a people-based identity solution and a strong data foundation, it's garbage in, garbage out when it comes to AI," Feczko noted.
Challenge: Measuring performance across various channels and non-linear customer journeys is complex. “Marketers find offline channels relatively difficult to measure… and yet, although they find them harder to measure, that’s where consumers are spending the most time,” Lai noted. “There’s this paradox where marketers over-index spend and focus [on online channels]… but consumers are actually paying a lot more attention offline.” Essentially, the consumer journey is as non-linear as ever, and brands need to perform on all channels. Easy, right?
Solution: Effective measurement requires blending brand and performance strategies. As Lai pointed out, aligning marketing efforts across the funnel is paramount. “There’s in-market people everywhere, but they’re also going in and out of market constantly. Your best customers six months ago may not be your best customers today,” Feczko noted. This is where AI comes in—specifically, predictive AI. “It can help start to pick up these signals, build audiences and refresh them all the time. We’re really encouraging marketers to think about a broader strategy and try to engage as many customers as possible.” So, don’t isolate to a small subset of your customers on a single channel—instead, work towards an omnichannel strategy that can deliver the right message to all.
As we look to the second half of 2025, marketers have what they need to transform challenges into opportunities. By focusing on first-party data, leveraging AI, enhancing personalization, and refining measurements, brands can navigate the evolving landscape with confidence. If you found these insights helpful and want to learn more, listen to the full webinar here.
