How the Campaign Module Identifies Viewers

In this topic you will learn about the different ways the Campaign module attempts to identify viewers.

The Campaign module tries to identify viewers using a variety of data sources:

The Campaign module will abide by a user's browser settings regarding Do Not Track.

Campaign-enabled players will set a 3rd party cookie and use it to associate viewing data with the same user if Campaign Tracking is enabled for their account and the player is using it. If a user ever fills out a Campaign lead form, Campaign will create a profile for that viewer and all their viewing data will be associated with that profile.

The cookie that Campaign will set is named _bc_uuid.

Oracle Eloqua GUID

Campaign-enabled players with an Eloqua integration will invoke Eloqua’s APIs to obtain the visitor ID, frequently referred to as the Eloqua GUID. This ID is captured in the Campaign module’s viewing data and is used to synchronize viewing data to Eloqua.

Eloqua uses its own set of cookies and when a Brightcove Player is configured with an Eloqua integration, Campaign captures the GUID in the Eloqua cookie and communicates with Eloqua server-side, to try and figure out who the user is.

Marketo Munchkin cookie

Campaign-enabled players with a Marketo integration will refer to the Munchkin cookie (_mkto_trk) which is created in the user's browser. This value is captured in the Campaign module’s viewing data and is used to synchronize viewing data to Marketo.

Salesforce ID URL parameter

For Salesforce integrations, the plugin can attempt to identify the viewer by checking the URL for the parameter called bcsfid. This allows Salesforce users to send email campaigns with a landing page URL that is uniquely generated for tracking purposes by providing the lead’s Salesforce ID in the URL.

Salesforce ID HTML attribute

For Salesforce integrations, if the plugin is unable to identify the viewer by checking for the bcsfid URL parameter, it will search for the data-bc-sfid attribute on the <video> element of the HTML embed publishing code for the video and use its value as the Salesforce ID of the lead if it is set.

HubSpot UTK cookie

For HubSpot integrations, the plugin injects HubSpot’s JavaScript tracking code which drops a hubspotutk cookie on the user’s browser. This cookie is used to keep track of a visitor's identity within HubSpot and associate Brightcove viewing data with a contact. If the user already has a hubspotutk cookie when the player loads, Campaign will make an API request to HubSpot and ask if the cookie value corresponds to a known contact, and if so, Campaign will associate viewing data with that user.

Email parameter

The Campaign module can also be told who the user is via an email address. Campaign will look for a URL parameter titled bcemail. This is useful with email campaigns with a landing page URL that’s been uniquely generated for tracking purposes. If you're sending out a batch email to a list, either from a marketing platform or from a third party email service like MailChimp, you would need to configure the email parameter in the sending platform's settings to dynamically update the link that people click on. Campaign will then use this email parameter to look up the user server side and sync viewing data. The email parameter can also embedded with the player embed code.

URL example

http://go.brightcove.com/be-video-hero-cust?bcemail=msmith@brightcove.com

If the Campaign plugin does not find an email address via the bcemail URL parameter, it will then check the <video> element of the HTML embed publishing code. It will search for the data-bc-email attribute on the video element and use its value as the email address if it is set.

Embed example

  <video
  id="player"
  data-account="0000000001"
  data-player="default"
  data-video-id="0000000002"
     data-bc-email="msmith@brightcove.com"
  class="video-js" controls>
  </video>

Do not track

Do Not Track is a privacy setting adopted by major browsers to prevent individual users from tracking information via signals or third-party cookies.

In the case of Campaign, this would prevent any cookies from being dropped, which your browser may not already have.

You can prevent the Campaign plugin from working in one of three ways:

  1. Through your browser settings. See each process for your specific browser here.

  2. By using the data-do-not-track embed code parameter.

  3. Using the data-bc-disable-map-plugin="1" embed code parameter.


Delete an existing _bc_uuid cookie

Enclose this endpoint https://map.brightcove.com/lead/clear in an <img> tag on a page where you would like to delete the cookie. as follows:

<img src="https://map.brightcove.com/lead/clear" />

After loading a Campaign Player that has its tracking disabled, the _bc_uuid cookie should not be dropped.


data-do-not-track

Campaign-enabled players abide by a viewer’s browser setting regarding Do Not Track (DNT) and will not use or set its normal cookie should it see that Do Not Track is enabled. The player plugin can also be instructed to never track should a Video Cloud customer wish to turn it off for all their viewers or on a user by user basis. This is done by using the in-page embed code and setting the data-do-not-track to a value of 1.

  <video-js data-video-id="9240259371001"
  data-account="3491906377"
  data-do-not-track="1"
  data-player="7dccc39d-0e2d-4b27-bea9-af44b2166148"
  data-embed="default"   class="video-js" controls></video-js>
  <script src="https://players.brightcove.net/1486906377/7dccc39d-0e2d-4b27-bea9-af44b2166148_default/index.min.js"></script>

Oracle Eloqua

Eloqua has stated they do not process (basically ignore) do not track requests and will return an Eloqua GUID regardless. Currently, Campaign isn’t handling this in any special way, i.e. not using the Eloqua JavaScript API when Campaign sees DNT. Eloqua also has support for a strict mode which satisfies EU privacy requirements. When this is enabled for an Eloqua account, end users are not tracked unless they opt-in via a form.

Marketo

Marketo supports DNT but leaves it up to the customer to turn it on/off for their particular account. For more information, see the Marketo document Edit "Do Not Track" Browser Support Settings.

HubSpot

HubSpot respects DNT according this document.