The US Justice Department recently declared Google a monopoly, signalling a big change in the in the landscape of digital platform dominance. Google’s position has been sliding for some time as media audiences have come to favor short video and move away from text Search. Platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok now grab most of the attention on phones and TVs. Brands seem unconcerned that such platforms offer no integration or ability to share data.
In a digital landscape filled with narratives of continuous consumer experience across touchpoints, the contradictory rise of these closed platforms (or “walled gardens”) is stifling brand’s efforts to build connected, omnichannel experiences. The new landscape challenges the idea of consumer “connected experiences” and visions of distributed commerce that brands have envisioned for over a decade – moving more towards China’s WeChat model.
Relevant experiences still matter, but the idea of “relevance” has changed. Consumers are happy engaging with brands inside a single platform. Many consumers enjoy discovering new products through Instagram’s algorithms. 74% of Gen Z TikTok users are more likely to act after seeing an ad – indicating the weight the platform caries. Social media has moved to become a one-way channel for entertainment. Consumers are expecting less and less of brands in these platforms and are relatively unengaged on Email and SMS than compared to the past.
As with the US ruling, some might see the recent UK Competition and Markets Authority order to Google, allowing use of third-party cookies within the Chrome browser, as a win for open-standards and data sharing. Alternatively, industry watchdogs may be less worried about advertisers collecting data in Chrome, especially if consumers have moved to walled gardens, making browsers generally less relevant. Brands can maintain personalization easily enough within a walled garden – taking the path of least resistance.
As this digital landscape has changed, marketing technology vendors continue pushing the importance of first-party data. But some brands are not investing in fist-party consumer data but instead are relying on second-party data – tapping retailer ecommerce and POS data. At the same time, IT departments are heavily rationalizing MarTech budgets, and Marketing teams are beginning to see cutbacks in capabilities due to IT caps on licencing.
As brand cut back on MarTech and companies like Google and Salesforce explore partnerships with retailers, what does this mean for marketers? Is performance marketing taking a couple of steps back?
Fortunately for brands, consumers are too busy with TikTok to notice.
