Cookie Policy

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files in the source code of a website which are downloaded by the browser to your device (e.g. computer, tablet, smartphone). Cookies serve a number of important functions, including remembering your preferences, letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering users and their previous interactions with a website, and generally improving user experience. They also help us understand how our website is being used.

You can manage your cookie preferences at any time here.

However, please be aware that if you choose not to enable cookies it may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website and some parts of the website may fail to work.

Necessary Cookies

Name: cookieyes-consent

• Service: Q (q.agency)
• Purpose: CookieYes sets this cookie to remember users’ consent preferences so that their preferences are respected on subsequent visits to this site. It does not collect or store any personal information about the site visitors

• Cookie type and duration: Necessary, First-Party, 1 year

Name: __Secure-ENID

• Service: Google (reCAPTCHA)
• Purpose: Set by Google’s reCAPTCHA to tell real visitors apart from bots, protecting the site’s forms from spam and abuse

• Cookie type and duration: Third-Party; 13 months

Functional Cookies

Name: li_gc

• Service: .linkedin.com
• Purpose:
  Remembers your cookie consent choice for LinkedIn’s cookies (used when you are not logged in to LinkedIn). Set by LinkedIn on its own website
  (linkedin.com). Stores the visitor’s consent for LinkedIn cookies (guests). Set on the linkedin.com domain
• Cookie type and duration: Functional, Third-Party, 6 months

Name: lidc

• Service: linkedin.com
• Purpose: Helps LinkedIn’s advertising features work smoothly by routing your request to the nearest LinkedIn server. Set by LinkedIn on its own website (linkedin.com). Facilitates data-centre selection (routing). Set on the linkedin.com domain
• Cookie type and duration: Functional, Third-Party, 1 day

Analytical Cookies

Name: _ga

• Service: Google Analytics.
• Purpose: Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site’s analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.
• Cookie type and duration: Analytics, First-Party, 2 years

Name: _ga_*

• Service: Google Analytics.
• Purpose: Keeps GA4 session state. Used by Google Analytics to group your activity into a single visit (session), so Q can see how you move through the site during that visit
• Cookie type and duration: Analytics, First-Party, 2 years

Name: __hstc

• Service: HubSpot.
• Purpose: HubSpot set this main cookie for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session)
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, 6 months

Name: hubspotutk

• Service: HubSpot
• Purpose: HubSpot sets this cookie to keep track of the visitors to the website. This cookie is passed to HubSpot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts. It contains an opaque GUID to represent the current visitor. Tracks visitor identity, links to forms
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, 6 months

Name: __hssc

• Service: HubSpot
• Purpose: Tracks the current session
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, 30 minutes

Name: __hssrc

• Service: HubSpot
• Purpose: Detects a new session
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, Session

Performance Cookies

Name: __cf_bm

• Service: Cloudflare (viaHubSpot)
• Purpose: Protects the contact form and chat from spam by checking that a real person is using them. Set by HubSpot; Q can’t read it
• Cookie type and duration: Third-Party, 30 minutes

Name: _hjSessionUser_*

• Service: Hotjar
• Purpose: Recognises a returning user. The number in the Hotjar cookie names (3435241) is the website’s Hotjar ID – the same for every visitor, not a personal identifier
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, 1 year

Name: _hjSession_*

• Service: Hotjar
• Purpose: Used by Hotjar, which helps us see how visitors move around the site so Q can make it better. It holds temporary data about your current visit
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, 30 minutes

Marketing Cookies

Name: _gcl_au

• Service: Google Ads
• Purpose: Used by Google Ads to measure which ad clicks lead to actions on the site (for example filling in a form), so we can see whether our ads are working. This is known as conversion tracking
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, 3 months

Name: _fbp

• Service: Facebook Pixel
• Purpose: Set by Facebook (Meta) to show you relevant ads on Facebook and Instagram, and to measure how well those ads perform. This is also used for retargeting — showing you ads after you visit the site.
• Cookie type and duration: First-Party, 3 months

Name: bcookie

• Service: .linkedin.com.

• Purpose: A LinkedIn identifier for your browser, used to show you relevant ads and measure how LinkedIn ad campaigns perform. Set by LinkedIn on its own website (linkedin.com).
• Cookie type and duration: Third-Party, 1 year

Social Media

All personal data gathered via Q’s social media is processed in accordance with the GDPR. Specifically, Q can be found on the following social media whose privacy policy is linked below: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Youtube, X.

Data Transfers to Third Countries

In the case of some Third-Party cookies, personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA). All cases of data transfers include transfers to the United States. Since the United States does not provide the level of protection required under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”), appropriate safeguards are provided under standard contractual clauses (“SCCs”) by the European Commission for data transfers outside the EEA. The cases of data transfers are listed below:

Cookies placed by Google LLC

Google LLC is a company based in the United States, with its registered offices at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. You can find out more about Google LLC’s data processing terms here.

Cookies placed by LinkedIn Corporation

LinkedIn is a company based in the United States, with its registered offices at 1000 West Maude Avenue, Sunnyvale CA 94085, USA. You can find out more about LinkedIn Corporation’s data processing terms here.

Cookies placed by Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Corporation is a company based in the United States, with its registered offices at One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-7329, USA. You can find out more about Microsoft Corporation’s data processing terms here.

Cookies placed by Hubspot

Hubspot is a company based in the United States, with its registered offices at 2 Canal Park, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA. You can find out more about Hubspots’ data processing terms here.

Legal Background and Basis

When it comes to the use of the necessary cookies (used for technical functioning of the website), the European Directive 2002/58/EC (amended by Directive 2009/136/EC) concerned with the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector requires consent for storage or access to information stored on users device.

There is an exception to the requirement to obtain consent where the use of the cookie is strictly necessary for the provision of an information society service requested by the user, which is the case with the necessary cookies that are strictly necessary for the operation of our website.

For performance and functional and marketing cookies, the legal basis for processing is your consent pursuant to Article 6 paragraph 1 point a of the GDPR. You can withdraw consent at any time and manage cookie settings here.

Managing Your Cookie Settings

You can change your cookie preferences at any time by opening settings here. Be aware that disabling cookies may affect the functionality of this and many other websites that you visit. Disabling cookies will usually result in disabling certain functionality and features of the site.

More Information About Cookies

More detailed information about cookies and setting your browser preferences can be found on the www.allaboutcookies.org page. If you are still looking for more information on how we use cookies then you can contact us via email at gdpr@q.agency.