Go RVing, the consumer-facing marketing arm of the RV industry, said it will launch a Customer Database Platform this year.
The nonprofit said that in 2021, news began spreading that cookies, the third-party data that advertisers rely on to measure the success of their advertising campaigns, were going to be phased out completely. The timeline has been adjusted and current estimates are late 2024.
However, Go RVing launched a system last year to begin gathering first-party data so
that it could continue to measure the effectiveness of its campaigns, make data-driven decisions, be data-driven advertisers and fulfill the promise it made to members when it secured two new marketing agencies in 2020. Third-party cookies have allowed advertisers to essentially “borrow” audiences to target based on what they may have done in the past.
“For example – if we target people who have visited travel sites in the last 30 days, we’re using third-party cookies, because we don’t own those travel sites (they’re a third-party!). A lot of digital marketing today uses third-party cookies. Unfortunately, as early as 2024, marketers will no longer be able to use third-party cookies,” Go RVing said.
Last year, the Go RVing team invested in a technology called rTag, because it allows the organization to start collecting its own first-party data from people who visit or interact with Go RVing digital properties.
“If it collects data ourselves from people visiting its websites, it means it depends less on borrowing audience data from other sources,” the organization said.
The Go RVing team has implemented the first phase which is launching the initial data, and now it is building the system to house, collect and manage all the information that it’s gathering, the CDP. It said having the CDP system will eventually allow it to launch customized digital ads to people seeking different experiences, different journeys for returning website visitors, customized leads and customized content based on previous consumption of content. Go RVing said it is still in the initial phase of the CDP implementation, but is excited about the applications it will bring to future-proof the industry.
