Is it time to move on from DCO? A smarter approach to personalization in a privacy-first world

Digital advertising continues to evolve, and fast. One technique that’s long been hailed for delivering personalized experiences is Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO). It promises tailored ads at scale, using data to adjust creative elements for individual users in real time.

But here’s the catch: in today’s privacy-conscious landscape, launching full-scale DCO campaigns has become increasingly complex and, for many brands, less impactful.

So the question becomes: Is DCO still worth the investment?

What Is DCO?

Dynamic Creative Optimization is a method that builds multiple ad variations from a single creative base. It personalizes elements like text, images, or calls to action based on data inputs such as:

• User browsing behavior

• Device type and location

• External data feeds (e.g., weather, time of day, product availability)

The result is a tailored ad experience intended to boost relevance and engagement.

Why Advertisers Are Reconsidering DCO

Despite its promise, DCO is expensive and complex to manage, especially at scale. And with the decline of third-party cookies and growing regulatory pressure, implementing truly personalized, data-driven campaigns across markets is more challenging than ever. Even more telling? Research shows that DCO only accounts for around 10% of overall ad effectiveness. That’s a lot of effort for a small slice of impact.

The Better Approach: Feed-Based, Privacy-First Campaign Automation

At Cape, we believe there’s a smarter, more scalable way to personalize your advertising without relying on cookies or costly tech stacks. Cape empowers advertisers to build fully data-driven campaign setups using real-time feeds, contextual signals, and one master creative.

Here’s how it works:

• Use one template to generate thousands of variants
  Easily adapt creative to match audience interests, languages, markets, or promotions. No manual effort required.

• Leverage first-party and contextual data
  Connect your own data (like customer preferences or product feeds) and external signals (like weather or time of day) to create ads that are timely, relevant, and localized.

• Automate creative updates
  Adjust price points, messaging, visuals, or translations in real time, then automatically publish or pause campaigns based on triggers like inventory or performance.

• Skip the cookie reliance
  Cape’s approach focuses on smart automation and contextual relevance - so you can achieve personalization at scale, without violating privacy standards.

So, Should You Move Away from DCO?

If your goal is to deliver engaging, personalized ad experiences that are cost-effective, fast to market, and future-proof: yes. By focusing on the 90% of campaign success that lies in smart setup, creative agility, and automation, you’ll gain more value, better performance, and far greater efficiency than traditional DCO alone can offer.

Ready to personalize without the DCO overhead?
Discover how Cape helps leading brands scale relevant, hyperlocal, data-driven campaigns - without cookies or complexity.