The frenetic energy of 2020 upended nearly every industry, propelling consumers to embrace “new normals” across the board. Most notably, e-commerce boomed, positioning ad and martech companies to capitalize on evolving consumer behaviors in the New Year. How? By leveraging their ability to provide brands and advertisers with new strategies to win in a post-Covid environment. Here’s how I see that progressing in 2021.

From retail businesses to quick-serve restaurants, CPG to travel, several industries have been steadily increasing and modernizing over the years; however, the pandemic brought about a dramatic acceleration. Rightfully so, consumers’ behaviors have changed amid COVID-19, and these changes — online shopping, curbside pick-up, virtual services, etc. — are not going away anytime soon. As a result, companies are scrambling to evolve their digital transformations, unify their data, and build out or acquire the new capabilities needed to keep consumers engaged in the coming years.

The way I see it, CDPs are the next-generation CRM systems and DMPs, capturing first-, second-, and third-party data (including online and offline) and setting the stage for companies to better understand and target consumers. With more consumers taking more of their activities online and generating more data, CDPs will continue to thrive in 2021. What’s more, with third-party cookies going away in the very near future, brands are looking for ways to maximize their data in order to bring the brand (and their activities) to the forefront. The best and most holistic way to do that, of course, is through a CDP where data for both anonymous and known consumer profiles can be stored.