In my commentary entitled “Google and MySpace ink $900M Deal”, I wrote “imagine how lucrative this relationship is going to turn out to be once Fox and Google square away the behavioral targeting side of this game.” Bambi Francisco just wrote an article highlighting the notion that “One of the most intriguing stories about the Internet isn't how much wealth it's created, but rather its impact on society.” Eric Schmidt recently said…
“The Internet has changed everything…"
"…development to me that's most interesting is the social networks as online lifestyles. That's a really new phenomenon. It's a phenomenon on scale with the rapid-fire adoption of instant messaging, he added. "It's [social networks] a big deal…"
Schmidt as well as many others who recognize the effects that the internet has had on society is right on the money. Social networks have given new meaning to what it means to be a socialite. Now someone with a $1000 week paycheck can be as equally famous as a billionaire socialite, jumping from champagne to champagne splashing party.
This phenomenon has flooded the internet and hundreds of thousands of databases with extremely important and very valuable search history data and personal data containing everything from what coffee someone likes to what type of television pilot they are likely to tune into for the first time. Wow, what possibilities this ad vehicle has!
What better way for a consumer to receive ads than through the technology of behavioral targeting, helping to ensure that with minimal effort on the consumer’s part, the advertisements that the consumers sees are very much inline with the lifestyle and interests of the consumer. I don’t know about you but I am sick and tired of being bombarded with ads that really don’t mean squat to me.
Let’s face it. We are a techish, consumer based, ad driven society. That is not going to change. This state-of-being has greater impact for today’s 10-20 year olds. (I am dating myself just a bit). They have grown up in a world of sound-bites, plugs, pop-ups, pop-unders, rollovers, in-liners, floaters, full pagers, half pagers, and everything in between. It is the norm for them. They do not see advertisements in the same way as those over 30. In fact, their very existence has been so integrated with the new-world that if we were to take one of them away from it, they would probably have an anxiety attack. Their very identity is largely based on their integration with the world of advertising. I am not judging whether this is a good or bad thing. That is for our future which will eventually be our history to decide.
What I am saying is that permission based behavioral targeting is the natural evolution of all advertising. Not just online. In fact, today’s technology is so advanced that we have the ability to customize daily newspapers based on the home or office subscriber’s chosen interests. Some say that such extreme customization will lead to a decrease in ad revenue because there are certain interests that just won’t be popular enough and earn enough revenue to justify their inclusion in the customization process. So what?
If you have a million people and 10,000 of them like something else, then economies of scale dictates that they pay more for it. If most of my community wants a newspaper filled with home furniture, convenience store and electronics ads and I want one with no ads, I should pay more for the paper. You have to pay for customization.
I do believe that the above example will be the exception rather than the rule. Extreme customization will translate into extreme value for advertisers, because it will increase their conversion rate. No doubt about it. We know for a fact that the more targeted an ad is, the more likely there is to be a conversion. As you get into extreme customization across all advertising vehicles the same rule applies.
Schmidt went on to say during the interview with journalists that Google does not link. That it “tries” to do things with user permission. Let’s just stop trying. Lets get on with the natural progression of things and start doing things with user permission; open up the world to the permission based targeting that the consumer does want. There is nothing to be afraid of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and everyone else (you know who you are). This is the way things are meant to be. Stop resisting consumers; become partners with them. It will be more lucrative.
This in John Brock for the OMAnalyst Network
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www.behavioralmarketinganalyst.com
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