Phil Leggiere interviewed Jim Barnett, CEO of Turn.com in an article posted in MediaPosts Behavioral Insider. It caught my eye as it boasts itself as the next generation of behavioral targeting. Actually what caught my eye most is the Jim is a fellow critic of the current ad networks targeting models.
Turn.com makes some powerful claims of elusive algorithms that offer far more targeted capabilities than other behavioral networks which make it capable of delivering ads to individuals on a wider range of parameters than just the simple single event or demographic or other anonymous segment profile. I love the word algorithm. It’s the new buzz word in our space. It conveys a sense of complexity, technical innovation and secrecy all wrapped up into one elusive word. In the end it simply means we do something with data that we’re not going to tell you about regardless of how simple or complex it may be and then we spit something out that results in something we deem to be our product or service!
Anyway, so turn is advancing behavioral targeting. I am going to dig deeper into this one. Maybe Jim will talk with me about this technology and help me understand how it advances our space. I would love to get an understanding of how the customer profiling capabilities exist. When you read the article he said: “the network will recognize the user based on profiles advertisers have provided about what type of users and what type of results they’re looking for.” So if that is accurate, that would imply that an advertiser can share customer profiles data and then Turn can use those profiles to recognize individuals. Other behavioral targeting networks and ad servers (Boomerang for example) can do this provided that the advertiser wants to go through the process of having the third party assign a cookie to the customer segments as the customers interact with the advertiser’s site. For example, when a customer conducts an event – i.e., buys something, the advertiser can route that customer to a specific page that correlates to a segment property and then the third party vendor can cookie that user to associate the user with a new segment. Then the third party can target that user as a member of a segment. But those events have to have occurred and that advertiser has to be willing to setup those specific pathways on their site and be willing to behold a third party responsible for maintaining the cookie properties of their customer segments. A lot of “ifs.” Maybe Jim over at Turn has another way. Or maybe I am giving him more targeting credit than it all deserves.
From this perspective I am all ears on looking for what would advance the event-based targeting technologies. Obviously I am an advocate of the customer re-targeting technology that DirectServe unique offers the market through its patent-pending technology, but that is only one side of the coin. Prospect generation still has to rely on behavioral targeting. The TACODA, Advertising.com, Datomi’s and other network models of the world have their place in the industry and when it comes to driving new users forth new behavioral targeting technologies that advance the ability to identify and target suitable prospects is worthy of investigation. Turn may be it. TACODA has been dominating. Revenue Science has been a player, but recent news shows they are losing marquee clients to TACODA. For example the recent Dow Jones steal. Dave Morgan talks about how the industry has plenty of room for more networks. But I believe that there has to be differentiation or else the tipping point will come fast and consolidation will follow in the space. Obviously Turn is looking to come forth with something different. Time will tell if they have it. Customer reaction will be the proof.
Reactionary with Insight
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