25 June 2009
Bad Moon Rising
Posted by robgraham under: Targeting; behavioral targeting .
As a marketer, a big part of my job is finding new and interesting ways to communicate with consumers. However, as a consumer I am often discouraged by many of the poorly planned and targeted advertising campaigns there are out there.
I’m a huge fan of relevant message targeting. While I also believe that more traditional reach and frequency metrics have their place in certain branding campaigns, the idea of trying to reach “everybody” with a single campaign seems antiquated and very wasteful.
Because we have computers and because we have an online marketing infrastructure to help lead us, were no longer beholden to hoping that our campaigns are working but can instead measure results to see if it is true or not. During the last few years, advances in behavioral targeting have given advertisers new tools to allow them to better refine the audiences they want to reach instead of having to default to getting the same message to everybody.
I bring this up because well meaning members of the U.S. House of Representatives have decided that behavioral targeting is an invasive science that needs additional regulation. The proposed legislation focuses on giving consumers the right and ability to opt out of being targeted using behavioral technologies. While on the surface it sounds a fair option, the reality is that the bill like this can severely stifle the ability for behavioral targeting to do its job. As a result, advertisers would still be the default to reaching everybody if they can’t target specific audiences.
As a huge proponent of consumer privacy I have no argument with most of the thoughts behind the pending legislation. However, in my experience with behavioral targeting (and having written a book on the topic I have some unique insights) the vast majority of behavioral targeting solutions are fully anonymous and cannot personally identify the consumers they are reaching. By comparison, direct marketers not only have your name, but in most cases, your home address. Try opting out of those lists.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks and months. I am hopeful that the lawmakers won’t decide to throw the baby out with the bathwater and will instead focus on guidelines to prevent the transfer of personally identifiable data between marketers. By the way, an IP address does not count as personally identifiable data.