Today Steve Mulder gave us “Create and Satisfy Demand: Two Tools to Complete the Marketing Loop,” an academic piece in iMediaConnection that well-defines the fundamentals between demographic segmentation and behavioral targeting or what he referred to as “goal targeting.” Steve talks about customer segmentation and Personas, the behaviors that you target or goals. This article focuses on web site content placement and reacting to your customers when to drive recurring revenue potential. If you are spending time creating customer segments and you are spending time creating goals for CMS targeting, why wouldn’t you leverage that knowledge to benefit from being able to recognize your customers when you advertise online as well? Let’s get into that … << MORE >>

When Doug Wintz gave us an inspiring article on the Ethics of Behavioral Targeting he offered a glimpse into what behavioral targeting could be like in the offline future. Transfixing our imaginations into the likeness of the futuristic worlds painted by author Philip Dick, Wintz he helped us to question interactive advertising beyond the banner. But there is a big leap between the 728x90 banner and the beams of light that could be reading our retina in the shopping malls. Is it ethical to behaviorally target? Is the internet really free? Is it ethical to target consumer behaviors like catalogers do? Right now there is kickback on behavioral targeting, but that doesn’t stop publishers and networks from offering it or from advertisers from buying it. Where is the difference between what we have come to accept offline and what we protest online? If Behavioral targeting has the ability to present a user with advertisements that are relevant, is there still an ethical violation? Answering these questions and more defines the ethical debate…<< MORE >>

On Tuesday, Google announced the wider rollout of their beta Pay-Per-Action advertising program, originally launched on a limited based in June 2006. Available only in the United States, CPA on Google will enable AdSense publishers to choose from a selection of ads and will have more flexibility in promoting the ads, according to Google. Pay-per-action advertising is a new pricing model for Google that will allow advertisers to pay only for completed actions that such as a lead, a sale or a page view after a user has clicked on an ad. Over the last couple of weeks, Google has been taking incremental, but significant steps towards engaging advertisers with programs that recognize their need to be more flexible and receptive to the demands of the market. So what’s next. Are they going to step up and answer the industry’s other calls? Do they recognize the onslaught of media dollars waiting to flow in with the addition of…<< MORE >>

Ted Shergalis is chief product officer and founder of [x+1], and he contributed Marketing Groups: Closing the Great Divide to iMediaConnection this morning. What concerns me is the generalization with which he describes the silo organizational structure between his clients’ external marketing (media buying and advertising) and customer marketing (web site management, etc.). Not only does Ted confirm that the teams working on these two functions are usually physically separated but so too are the technologies that they use. Is that to suggest that the heads of marketing in those organizations are failing in their coordination of these two groups? Or is this about integrating two kinds of technologies together that are already in place? Ted has some ideas and so do I … but are we on the same page…? << MORE >>

Yesterday, the IAB presented congress with an appeal to reconsider "spyware" legislation that would potentially hinder e-commerce and information exchange online. Dave Morgan, who is the founder and chairman of TACODA and chairman of the IAB Public Policy Council was quoted by Online Media Daily as telling congress that “…the proposed "Spyware" legislation could curtail consumer choice and hinder a key economic engine to Web growth.” The IAB has hired lobbyist Mike Zaneis, a guy with moxy and the experience to gain influence in congress on the difference between beneficial technologies and malicious ones. But where are the first party cookie beneficiaries in all of this...?<< MORE >>

Eric Porres is a partner with Underscore Marketing and he wrote a 6-page In-Focus piece in iMediaConnection today about behavioral targeting entitled: “ How to Conquer an Inventory Crisis.” Eric is a media guy and he knows the space pretty well, moreover he is a BT guy and has made some contributions to the industry on the topic in the past. But this time around where you would hope for some meaty substance and take-away advice, Eric comes up a bit short. Reactionary with Insight...<< MORE >>

Michael Rosenberg has provided us with a good foundation to use for evaluating and selecting lead generation partners in his Lead Gen 2.0: The New Opportunity from MediaPost’s Performance Insider. Michael illustrates some fundamental requirements that we should be demanding from a solid lead generation partner including: (1) 24/7 real-time reporting (2) Access to multiple verticals (3) Access to and ability to leverage “your” customer once you acquire them (4) Low transaction costs But when you work with a lead generation ...<< MORE >>

A non-so-funny thing that is going goes on at advertisers, people don’t always take the time to look within and understand how other people do their jobs to figure out how to best work together. “Am I doing my job the best way I can? Is she doing things that I can learn from to improve how I work? God-forbid I expose my bad habits to someone.” Peers seem to fail to look over their shoulders to see how each other do their respective roles. Everyone wants to look competent. Comparing yourself to someone to see whether you are doing something well or efficiently seems to be a sign of weakness. More so, exposing your processes to your manager for scrutiny or comparison or for suggestive advice is like going to the urologist or gynecologist, it can result in the most humiliating examination. This is not about reduction in workforce. It’s about having the right people doing the right work the same way. Fostering an environment within which people feel comfortable to collaborate and interact is half the battle. Cross-product training empowers people to feel like they not only understand the rest of the company they work for but that they can represent it. The one-on-one meeting should not be a manager asking the employee “what can I do for you?” it should be “here are things I can do to help you improve…”<< MORE >>

Go-Bennett Zucker, a great article on Three Steps to Targeting Nirvana wherein he defines behavioral targeting today and outlines three requirements - an open marketplace, an open technology platform and what he characterizes as ‘an open mind.’ But what he is missing are two more requirements - ad serving that agnostically re-targets with BT and ad serving that Integrates. Bennett does a good job of convincing us that behavioral targeting should be advertiser-managed and not managed by publishers. Auction-derived inventory allows for the hand-picking of exposure, but not necessarily when the inventory is all network-derived. Let’s look at other technologies that Bennett missed which can help us calibrate a targeting weapon that will shoot the ducks in the barrel that a Right Media or AdBrite can provide…<< MORE >>

As I sit on a plane tonight, I look around and think to myself about all of the people with me. I think about the things they are doing to occupy themselves and the places that they will go after the plane arrives. What are their behavioral types? How will this flight impact their behavior when they get off? There are three kinds of people on this plane and they are being bombarded with targeted ads the entire time they are onboard. Is it effective? What about when they get off the plane? Any impact? What if you could know that they had just gotten off of a plane and could distinguish them as a recent traveler while advertising online? You could target people with relevant ads anywhere across the web based on the fact that they had just visited at least two airports, sat on a plane, breathed re-circulated air, dealt with delays, cabs, parking lots, traffic jams, deadlines, hotels and the pressures and annoyances of travel. Anyone of those experiences can be used for behavioral targeting over the next 12 to 24 hours with a HUGE possibility of advertisements…<< MORE >>