• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 16, 2010

Lotame will soon have the ability to scan content across the Web as people create it, and associate content creators with the emotions they express about brands, activities, and other topics. The company is deepening its relationship with OpenAmplify, with whom it's been affiliated for about a year, to make it possible to target ad messages based on that information.

As soon as content like an article or blog post gets created and uploaded to the Web, OpenAmplify identifies what gets created, while Lotame scans and categorizes the content by identifying the sentiment behind it as well as who's created it. It also has the ability to identify comments under those posts to serve up target advertising based on how commenters expressed the sentiment.

Knowing this information can help companies target ads and possibly change a negative perception into positive, especially when you're talking about two brands that closely compete, according to Eric Porres, Lotame's chief marketing officer. Take the consumer products goods industry. "I can imagine this having an impact on Pepsi and Coke, for example," he says.

The combination of the cookie in the browser and tag on the Web page allows Lotame to assign variables around sentiment based on what's being written or posted. Lotame examines what's expressed by individuals and groups through a technology known as Crowd Control.

From that information, advertisers could serve up an ad that might change someone's perception. They also could determine the number of people exposed to negative or positive content. Armed with this precision, advertisers can deliver custom creative ads, changing the message based on the sentiment the creators expressed.

Sentiment targeting isn't for everyone, Porres admits. There are certain brands and topic more conducive than others. It would well for PR crisis management for a company like BP, for example. The automotive industry would also find value in discovering brand promoters, brand detractors, passives and exposed -- four sentiment layers that potentially exist, he says.