As third-party cookies become stale, AI looks to greatly enhance online marketing

If there’s one topic that’s dominated mainstream tech conversations over the last few years, it’s that of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to change the world. Naturally, with science-fiction media rarely having a shiny view of the tech, many fear for their jobs and even the stability of the world. As 2025 begins, though, there seems to be a shift in mentality towards an acceptance and embrace of AI.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a major company that’s not embracing AI right now, including the one that became the most valuable publicly traded corporation at the close of 2023: Microsoft, at £2.4 trillion. At the time, their CEO was lauding the company’s efforts to implement artificial intelligence at scale as sales for its AI products shot up. The reach of AI looks to be colossal.

Just about every industry is working on ways to make AI work for them, and one area where it could be a huge help is in marketing. Right now, even with Google seemingly committing to a U-turn of late, third-party cookies look to be on the way out – primarily due to public perception. Luckily, there are ways that AI can not only fill the gap in a way that seemingly wouldn’t irritate the same gripes as cookies, but even improve the approach for all.

Personalisation and the customer experience

Of the many capabilities AI has in the realm of marketing, perhaps two of the most important areas that it can address are personalisation in advertisements and enhancing the customer experience. Several reports point to personalised advertising and experiences being desired by as many as 70% of online users — sometimes more — which certainly computes with common thinking.

If people have to see ads, they want those ads to pertain to something that might interest them rather than being bombarded by irrelevant or uninteresting banners, pop-ups, or the newer, more irritating Google Vignette overlay ad. Where AI fits in is by extensively processing all kinds of data sources, like an individual’s browsing history, social media, and purchase records to home in on specific items or services to recommend through ad placements.  

This, by itself, would enhance the customer experience by funnelling only products and services that are of appeal to them through ads and will perhaps even help them discover their next great purchase. For advertisers, it’s an incredibly scalable process that will offer increased return on investment due to its targeted nature. The hyper-personalisation is key to unlocking the potential of AI in marketing to enhance the customer experience.

Predictive analytics and contextual advertising

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Analytics is a key part of AI, with its ability to “learn” enabling it to analyse massive sets of data and then point marketers in the right direction. This way, the work that could require years for a team of people to find the same level of targeted suggestion can be done in much, much less time by the software. Marketers could work off of the immediate results of predictive analysis to find trends and key areas to target and get future predictions.

Ad placement can also become a subject of debate, with AI backing a marketing program or a platform. AI has the ability to analyse web pages, which would, in turn, allow the program to see where it would be best to place an ad for it to have maximum relevance. This form of contextual advertising would further enhance a targeted approach that enhances the customer experience. With such potential, it’s easy to see why there are so many optimistic commercial leaders out there.

Applying the power of AI to marketing

To have a run through of how AI could power marketing in an industry, we’ll take the example of one that goes all-in on marketing every year. The iGaming industry – that which comprises online gambling – reportedly spends some £1.5 billion per year on marketing and advertising in the UK alone. It’s highly competitive and closely regulated, meaning that each outing needs to be as refined as possible.

Most people online will have seen an iGaming ad at some point and will know that these platforms offer a whole host of promotions. Just looking at the online casino rewards — players can move through seven levels of the Stellar Club to unlock a whole host of different rewards. These include increasing daily money-back percentages, deposit match bonuses weekly, free spins, cash bonuses for levelling up, and even exclusive access to invite-only sections.

There’s a lot there for any person to consider when weighing up which platform to sign up with. Where AI could come in as part of a marketing plan is to create tailored ads that promote the sections most relevant to any given browser. Say the potential customer has just claimed a matched deposit bonus with free spins on a different site. The AI could then push this site’s best promos for these two kinds of bonuses on well-placed ads for that user.

Unless a kind of generative AI was to be employed and trusted, it would likely require the brand to create several kinds of ads, images, and links so that the AI can draw on the best fit as and when it sees fit. In that regard, it could be quite the undertaking to make the most of AI advertising, and yet, the rewards would be worth it because each ad would be as targeted, relevant, and well-placed as possible to enhance the customer experience.

Third-party cookies may soon be a thing of the past if marketers harness the power of AI, which would, in theory, also create a much more amicable experience for those being advertised to online.

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