Continuing on the advertising track, read this blurb from a Google Blog: We are enabling this functionality by implementing a DoubleClick ad-serving cookie across the Google content network. Using the DoubleClick cookie means that DoubleClick advertisers and publishers don’t have to make any changes on their websites as we continue our integration efforts and offer additional enhancements. What functionality are they referring to? Well it is a set of tools for advertisers to be able to do things like capping the number if ads you have to see of the same type. A good thing for them, and for us really because it means we get more of a variety in the ads we get to see – goody…
This is just another good example of the increasing sophistication level advertisers are getting when doing targeted ad work. Now that we have breached the gap of advertising to the masses to advertising to me specifically, how far might the capabilities go? Will they know what I am needing at this very moment and send an ad to me for that? Don’t laugh, a glimpse into the future might make that more or a reality. In order to give you a really quick picture, let’s examine what they already know.
They work with information aggregation companies that start by getting your name, age, address. They build upon this by purchasing lists from all kinds of organizations and soon they can add what magazines you read, details about your home and upgrades you might do. Eventually, they bridge over to online activities and match you up to your online profiles and personas. This allows them to add fields and fields of data that you have keyed into surveys, and profiles on sites like Facebook, and MySpace. Of course, they also use cookies that are put on your computer to track the Websites you go to. This is helpful because it triangulates topics you might be interested in. Understanding all of these information sources they already have will help you have a picture of how well they can already target you with specific marketing of things you might be interested in. But there is more… there are now services on Facebook that can study the pictures of your friends that are posted and to analyze elements in those pictures that will give a clue as to what cloths or accessories you might want. I saw this picture the other day that was demonstrating how the picture of the man with sunglasses triggered the advertisement for sunglasses. When they see that you are carrying a Coach handbag, they will advertise Coach to you. Amazing!
So, back to the question I raised about how far it might go… Since we are going to carry phones that also act as GPS systems, and the cell towers can triangulate us anyway, advertisers will soon know where we are by proximity. They will know that we are in Oklahoma, and that it is 110 degrees at the moment. Knowing that, they might send me advertisements for bathing suits, cold drinks, and vacations to Canada. If they follow my Twitter feed, they will know even more than that, they would know details about my life like what meals I like to eat, my work habits, and family connections. They would know the vacations I take, and when I am back. By building a rules based system that filters on specific words they see in my Twitter feed, they could send me coupons for services that are in context with what happened to me that day. They literally could read my mind to the degree I micro blog my thoughts.There is more, in the next report we will look at alternative marketing methods disguised as entertainment or work tools.
Scott Klososky
scott@klososky.com