Commentary
Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care? Some Early Returns On Ad Choice Icons
- by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, February 18, 2011
Transparency. Choice. Control. These have been the rallying cries of the self-regulatory efforts the online ad industry started deploying late last year around online behavioral advertising (OBA). The most visible piece of this effort is supposed to be the appearance of the Advertising Options icon supported by the Digital Advertising …
3 comments about "Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care? Some Early Returns On Ad Choice Icons ".
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Steve Smith is Editorial Director of Events for MediaPost
"Is anybody out there, does anybody care, is there anybody out there, does anybody care - ohh, I just gotta know, are you really there, do you really care - Fuh-fuh-foolin'!" Def Leppard. My favorite cut is from the remixed Rock of Ages album. Happy Friday!
Average consumers do not know what it is and therefore will not interact with it. In general, the idea will never work. No-one wants to sit and analyze an ad vendor before viewing their ads. They either want to view ads or not. They either don't mind tracking or they want to stop it. The solution to this problem will not be technological. It will be sociological.
Great post, Steve. Consumers may not care now, but once they become aware of the program, I believe they will appreciate the ads being served up are more relevant.
Facebook fans can appreciate behavioral targeting — whether they know the terms or not. Initially, Facebook served up ads segmented by demographic data. As a woman of a certain age, I was bombarded with weight-loss and online dating ads. A few clicks of the "not relevant" button, and some tweaking by Facebook, and magically, began receiving ads based upon my psychographics and behavioristics! Now all ads served up there speak to my lifestyle, so I've trained my blind eyes to tune back in... on Facebook's site.
Although we are not always our own target audience, often in fact, we are not, we do need to be aware of our personal online experiences in determining how not to alienate our audience. It's a simple concept. Behavioral targeting makes the experience more enjoyable for consumers, more cost-effective for advertisers and leads to greater ROI.