Relevance, Behavioral Targeting Ad Networks and FTC Privacy Concerns
Posted by John-Scott Dixon on Thursday, March 19, 2009
Under: Semantic Marketing
This post was originally published May 23, 2008.
My long time friend and business associate, Phil Motta, CEO of the Motta Company - a top tier advertising agency out of LA, sent me an interesting article out of the Washington Post, "FTC Wants to Know What Big Brother Knows About You". The article focuses on FTC concerns with Behavioral Targeting Ad Tracking Networks (e.g. aCerno, Advertising.com, AlmondNet, Atlas, Blue Lithium, DoubleClick, Media6degrees, 24/7 Real Media, Yahoo! Ad Network, Revenue Science, Safecount, SpecificMEDIA, [x+1], TACODA Audience Networks, etc.). Motta is considering Semanticator, our product for isolating audiences and delivering relevant content, for a few of his clients. I'm sure that he is interested to know if and how we differ from those networks. Phil poses a great question by way of this article, and I thought it would be beneficial for all to highlight the important differences between our Semantic Marketing technology and Behavioral Targeting Ad Networks.
The key difference is Behavioral Targeting Ad Networks use "tracking cookies" to monitor movement of visitors. This enables them to detect patterns of specific audience types for the benefit of their advertisers. So, for example, here are all people within our network that have an affinity for automobiles. One of the things that the FTC and other privacy advocates are concerned with is the breach that occurs when a person is observed over time via tracking cookies. Here are two examples:
Why are we seeing strong growth in Behavioral Targeting Ad Networks?
Advertisers are willing to spend up to 10 times what they would pay for non-targeted advertising space. This is big money! If you want to see the Ad Networks for which you have an active cookie, click here. I have active cookies on my machine for 9 of the 15 networks. I have left my cookies active, although the link I've provided will allow you to Opt-Out, because I appreciate the convenience delivered by these networks (please read as I want to see more ads for Alternative Fuel Vehicles and less for Feminine Hygiene Products).
Now back to Semanticator!
Semanticator does not use tracking cookies. Each time a visitor returns to a website enabled with our technology, a determination is made as to which market segment he or she belongs. We have no way to compare that information with past visits. Semanticator does not observe visitors over time and, therefore, cannot detect the identity of a narcissist, nor can it assist the witch hunters of the world!
My long time friend and business associate, Phil Motta, CEO of the Motta Company - a top tier advertising agency out of LA, sent me an interesting article out of the Washington Post, "FTC Wants to Know What Big Brother Knows About You". The article focuses on FTC concerns with Behavioral Targeting Ad Tracking Networks (e.g. aCerno, Advertising.com, AlmondNet, Atlas, Blue Lithium, DoubleClick, Media6degrees, 24/7 Real Media, Yahoo! Ad Network, Revenue Science, Safecount, SpecificMEDIA, [x+1], TACODA Audience Networks, etc.). Motta is considering Semanticator, our product for isolating audiences and delivering relevant content, for a few of his clients. I'm sure that he is interested to know if and how we differ from those networks. Phil poses a great question by way of this article, and I thought it would be beneficial for all to highlight the important differences between our Semantic Marketing technology and Behavioral Targeting Ad Networks.
The key difference is Behavioral Targeting Ad Networks use "tracking cookies" to monitor movement of visitors. This enables them to detect patterns of specific audience types for the benefit of their advertisers. So, for example, here are all people within our network that have an affinity for automobiles. One of the things that the FTC and other privacy advocates are concerned with is the breach that occurs when a person is observed over time via tracking cookies. Here are two examples:
If a narcissist hits Google everyday and searches their own name, it is possible for the owner of the cookie to determine their identity, even though that individual is only referenced by user number. [IMHO weak, but possible]
A Behavioral Targeting Ad Network can target people that view pages within the network that share a common keyword or phrase (e.g. the name of a terrorist organization). This pattern could be used for political witch hunts.
Why are we seeing strong growth in Behavioral Targeting Ad Networks?
Advertisers are willing to spend up to 10 times what they would pay for non-targeted advertising space. This is big money! If you want to see the Ad Networks for which you have an active cookie, click here. I have active cookies on my machine for 9 of the 15 networks. I have left my cookies active, although the link I've provided will allow you to Opt-Out, because I appreciate the convenience delivered by these networks (please read as I want to see more ads for Alternative Fuel Vehicles and less for Feminine Hygiene Products).
Now back to Semanticator!
Semanticator does not use tracking cookies. Each time a visitor returns to a website enabled with our technology, a determination is made as to which market segment he or she belongs. We have no way to compare that information with past visits. Semanticator does not observe visitors over time and, therefore, cannot detect the identity of a narcissist, nor can it assist the witch hunters of the world!
In : Semantic Marketing
Tags: semanticator
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I have over 16 years of experience managing and leading the Ecommerce efforts of medium and large companies. I have held sales, sales management, marketing, operations, IS/IT, legal and executive management positions in start-up to multi-billion dollar organizations. I have also served as an adjunct professor of Ecommerce for the MBA program of the University of Missouri (where I received an MBA concentrated in Direct Marketing in 1989). I led the Ecommerce initiative for Sprint PCS (PCS) and Sprint (FON) as Vice President of Ecommerce. I led the integrated marketing efforts for Insight (NSIT) as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Ecommerce. Today, I am the President of Aidan Taylor - a Web marketing company.
