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Behavioral Targeting? Not Even Close
Karen Macumber
Monday, April 11, 2011
I apologize in advance for getting up on a soapbox but this topic makes me crazy. The topic is behavioral targeting – specifically behavioral targeting in online advertising.
The premise is simple, and at face value seems to make perfect sense. Imagine I visit several car sites within a given timeframe – whether aggregators like Cars.com or specific manufacturer sites. Safe to say I’m interested in autos, and perhaps even planning to purchase one, correct? So next time I’m surfing on the web, an ad network or publisher using “behavioral targeting” will serve me an automotive category ad. The theory is that I will be more likely to click on this ad based on my recent web behavior.
While the concept has merit, the execution (today) is severely flawed. What bothers me is that media buyers (and ad sales folks) understand these flaws and yet still sell behavioral targeting to their clients as the most powerful form of online advertising available today. What frustrates me the most is there is an easy solution to fix the problem that no one seems to try – to simply ask the audience what their intent is instead of stalking them around the web and then making dangerous assumptions.
The following illustrate three major flaws in the system, using my auto enthusiast example:
Flaw 1: One size fits all. Surprise – I’m an agency planner researching possible placements for my auto client’s media strategy. Or I am a marketer at Ford doing competitive research on Toyota. Or I’m a student doing a report on how the web changed the face of automotive sales. You get the picture. So unless you can truly read the mind of your visitor, you are making a broad assumption about the reason for their behavior and if you are wrong, your advertiser will pay the price.
Flaw 2: One computer = one person. Even with the proliferation of laptops today, most households still share a home computer. So in our auto example, perhaps it was my son the auto enthusiast doing that surfing, and I just happen to go online three days later when I’m served a car ad. Guess what? I will pay absolutely no attention to that ad because it has no relevance to me. And when my son gets back on the computer next time, he’s likely to see all sorts of ads for women’s health products because I searched for “women’s vitamins” on Google, went to iVillage and WebMD women’s section.
Flaw 3: Timing IS Everything. So let’s say the stars align, I am the only one using my computer, and I am in fact looking to buy a new car. After a few hours of surfing I narrow my choices, then I visit the dealers to test drive the cars – and by the end of the week I’ve signed on the dotted line. Next week I go online and guess what I see? Ads for every make and model of car I could possibly be interested in – that is to say two weeks ago! Unless the behavioral targeting system allows for dynamic ad generation based on behavior within one session there’s a good chance the timing is not right.
The Solution
Imagine I go into a mall and visit two men’s clothing stores and one department store. Someone is watching me, making the assumption I am in the market for men’s clothing. Five days later I get a coupon in the mail for men’s ties. I throw it away because it bothers me that someone was watching me, and more important my real purpose of going to the mall was to find new spring shoes for myself in that department store – I had to stop at the other stores to get my son a specific color tie.
Now take this same scenario, and instead of someone watching me, that person comes up to me, explains they are with the mall and want to make my shopping experience better, and asks what three items I plan to buy in the next 30 days so they can give me information/discounts for those items? And the next month when I go to the mall I can find that same person again, tell them this month I’m interested in a new stereo and video game so they can adjust the information and offers they provide.
Now that’s behavioral targeting.
Advertising consultant Karen Macumber was most recently SVP, media services at the AMP Agency. She was the first director of marketing at Monster.com and founder of Fulgent Media Group.
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