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Attribution in marketing is messier than ever. Privacy, ad blockers, cookies, and AI are complicating things, but here’s the big question: does it even matter?

 There are so many articles and opinions on attribution, so obviously I thought, “What’s one more?” Sorry to disappoint early on, but I don’t actually have the solution to perfect  attribution. Even giants like Google are still grappling with it (guess cookies are sticking around for a while hey?). But in an ever-changing landscape of privacy-first approaches, ad blockers, cookies and AI, can we achieve perfect attribution, and do we need it to succeed?

Attribution in Marketing

We all want attribution to answer the big questions – Which channels or campaigns are the most effective? How are different channels and touchpoints working together to influence the customer journey? The one asked most often: Where should you allocate your budget to maximise ROI?

There are so many attribution models to choose from before you even dive into Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM)! And then there are the platforms themselves and how they want to track and attribute results. But things get even more complicated with the rise of privacy-first approaches that limit how much data we can actually collect.

Tracking in the Age of Ad Blockers and Cookie Limitations

Every step forward in consumer privacy and advertiser transparency (though important, they certainly make a marketer’s life harder!), complicates the task of tracking campaign performance. GDPR and CCPA, along with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency and ad blockers, are limiting or blocking tracking altogether. With 2 in 5 internet users using ad blockers [1], stopping pixels and scripts from running or disabling 3rd party tracking, up to 40% of your online marketing efforts may go untracked. This makes it harder than ever to track customer actions, especially across platforms, leaving us with less data to guide our decisions. That said, first-party data can offer more reliable insights and privacy-compliant tracking. However, for businesses just starting out or lacking infrastructure, it might not be a viable solution.

We all watched as the deadline to phase out 3rd-party cookies passed (multiple times!), with regulators rejecting Google’s “solution” over anti-competitive concerns – they don’t really need the advantage do they?. So for now at least, cookies remain in Chrome, but they are still far from perfect and don’t work for every user.

These growing challenges raise a big question: Can we still rely on traditional attribution models where tracking is becoming increasingly limited? Are we placing too much emphasis on short-term results at the expense of long-term brand building? These models can often oversimplify the journey, especially when customers interact across multiple channels and devices. As journeys grow more complex, is perfect attribution even achievable or worth pursuing?

How AI and Innovation Are Shaping Attribution

New technologies like AI shopping assistants are reshaping consumer behaviour. Adobe Analytics reports a massive 1,200% increase in retail traffic across U.S. sites from AI sources since July 2024 [2]. We are already seeing a shift in how products are discovered, moving away from endless scrolling to concise, personalised recommendations as the likes of Amazon, Perplexity, and others look to challenge Google’s domination of product search.

New developments in attribution are always emerging or becoming more accessible, including incrementality testing, data clean rooms, and AI tools designed to enhance accuracy. Although these tools can offer more dependable results, they may come with high costs or time-consuming setups, making them impractical for some businesses. So before you commit your budget to shiny new tech or build a data science arm of the business, it’s worth asking will these tools drive long-term brand growth or would it be better invested elsewhere?

While new technologies are reshaping marketing, big brands have shown that building long-term relationships with consumers can be just as powerful, sometimes even more so.

The Power of Patience: Long-Term Success Through Brand Building

There are several high-profile brands (and likely far more smaller ones that you’ll never hear about) that have ditched the laser focus on performance marketing and still seen success. You can argue that strong existing brand awareness is a factor in their success but that just reinforces the point that brand-building is important in driving long-term growth and success. 

Airbnb is the one I see discussed most with their post-pandemic success driven through a shift from performance to brand story telling allowing them to differentiate themselves and stand out in a crowded market as the majority looked to travel post-lockdowns. This is something that isn’t easily measured by traditional attribution models, but it worked then and continues to work for them even after the travel boom. They focused on building long-term relationships, focusing on the customer experience and stories they could tell rather than solely relying on performance marketing [3]. 

Similarly, Coca-Cola focuses on emotional connections and customer loyalty (hands up who else doesn’t think it’s Christmas until they hear “holidays are coming”?). Given how many retailers sell their products, from Tesco to the corner shops and beach vendors in far-off places, direct attribution is probably tricky even for a giant like them. But they continue to demonstrate that strong brand equity can contribute immensely to business growth, even if immediate actions can’t be precisely attributed. Nike & Adidas have also echoed this approach recently, where recent campaigns like “You got this” [4] and “So Win.” [5] have really emphasised storytelling and emotional connections rather than focusing on the product alone. 

The key takeaway? Big brands show that long-term strategies, like brand-building and emotional connections, can drive growth and sales (they weren’t always big brands after all!). The best part of this is that you don’t need a massive budget to start seeing the benefits of this approach.

A Tougher Budget Sell, But Holistic Strategies Work

Not everyone has big-brand budgets, but that doesn’t mean these strategies can’t work for you. With the right messaging, focusing on storytelling and brand awareness, you can attract more potential customers and make your brand the one that comes to mind first when they need a product, whether it’s tyres, socks, or anything in between.

Remember, not getting attribution 100% right isn’t the end of the world. Platforms intentionally make data comparisons difficult, so it’s more valuable to focus on the customer journey. While individual sales matter and every business needs them to keep going, they don’t tell you the full story or the lifetime value of a customer. The key is to understand the broader trends, who your audience is, and what drives them, then you can ensure your marketing strategies align with long-term business goals.

Don’t Worry, Don’t Panic

Even if marketers can’t get attribution 100% right, the key is to embrace flexibility, explore alternative metrics, and focus on long-term campaign impact. With tools like brand lift and incrementality testing, businesses can still drive success without perfect attribution. Attribution isn’t just a digital problem either; offline channels, such as in-store visits or events, can be just as hard to track, yet they may still play a crucial role in your overall marketing strategy.

If someone cracks attribution tomorrow, then you can completely ignore most of what I’ve written here (I hope some of it is still useful) but until then, don’t panic! There are so many routes to driving growth – it’s more important to find what works best for your brand.

If you’re looking to talk attribution challenges, explore strategies that drive long-term growth strategy or anything digital marketing for that matter, then drop us an email at: hello@puzzlelondon.com 

Sources:

[1] Ad Blocking: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/ad-block-users, Data Reportal, Statista 

[2] Adobe Analytics Traffic from AI sources: https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2025/03/17/adobe-analytics-traffic-to-us-retail-websites-from-generative-ai-sources-jumps-1200-percent 

[3] Air B&B: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2023/08/24/airbnb-cmo-ditching-performance-marketing-big-bold-brand-campaigns 

[4] Adidas, You Got This Ad: We All Need Someone To Make Us Believe | adidas

[5] Nike, So Win. Ad: So Win. | Nike