Tuesday, July 09, 2013

The future of targeted advertising

Right now websites, indeed the entire internet, tries to make sense of who its users are.  On the passive end, cookies are used to track click streams and pieces of information that sum up to a profile of what each individual user looks like.  On the active end, arguably more accurate information is gathered via user input on registrations forms.  That collective data is valuable because there is a company out there, or many companies more likely, that want to advertise to a person with those characteristics and that profile.
The sort of sites that I’m willing to give my most private information to are the same ones that aren’t (typically) deriving their income from selling that data.  For example, banking, insurance, school, and government websites I generally trust unconditionally and expect none of which would be selling my information or selling advertising space based on my information.  The other sites are trying every angle possible to glean insight into who I am and then selling that information, sometimes for large profits.
What if instead, those getting advertised to got paid for their information?  If I knew there was a trusted organization that I could provide all my demographic information to, share all my likes and dislikes with, and allow to track my click stream everywhere I traversed on the web that would pay me for every advertiser that marketed to me, I would be inclined to provide the most accurate information possible.  From a marketing prospective, it couldn’t get better, reported information could be verified by behavior.  I say I’m interested in mountain biking and my click stream confirms that I read about trails and purchase biking equipment.  I can be so granularly targeted, that my information should fetch a premium from vendors.  Best is that all our interests would be aligned: I get paid (or discounts on products and services), I see more of the things that interest me and vendors enjoy a higher conversion rate because I’m buying those things.  Does this model already exist and I’m not aware of it?

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