Abstracts - Integrated creative services

Most marketeers use click throughs and page impressions to measure their online success. The advent of Web 2.0 means we can really get under the skin of an audience and break them down into smaller fragmented segments. This means it’s probably time to drop the traditional obsession with click throughs as good segmentation can push you well over what is perceived to be the industry average CTR. Conversely as that average is pushed up by those with good behavioural targeting, those who don’t target will see their click throughs drop below the new averages. So no matter what side of the coin you operate on it’s likely the industry average CTR is no longer a good benchmark for your campaign’s success.

Recently we’ve seen exciting development in the world of behavioural targeting - the IAB is developing good practices for the UK and IAB Europe has just commissioned a Europe wide behavioural targeting panel.

This is a massive leap forward since the FT originally piloted the technology in 2004. However it is still important to keep one thing in mind:

Behavioural targeting should be relevant to what a user is searching for!

Here’s an example.

Imagine you are planning a family holiday to Europe. If you read multiple articles and search for family fares to that location and are served adverts for a singles/couples getaway to an upmarket resort that doesn’t cater for kids later during that visit then it’s likely you’ve been behaviourally targeted for travel. The problem is it did not actually go far enough. It would be much more valuable to see creative for theme park offers at Euro Disney or 'kids fly free' offers from an airline or travel agent.

Websites and marketeers have gone to great lengths building advanced audience segments and aligning the creative messages to these bespoke audience segments but we can and should go further.

The more relevant we make the message, the more consumers will be receptive to it. When this happens consumers will see real value in digital adverts and not just an intrusion to their user journey. Social networks have made improvements on this quite recently - until last month they only knew what a user has been adding on their own profile or what groups and discussions had been participated with. Now that Facebook has launched Connect they can start to gather info on what you do on the web as a whole - for example: if you look at videos of a Ferrari on Hulu they can then start serving you driving experience ads for the car of your dreams on Facebook the very next day. This is even more important when intrusive formats like overlays and pop unders are being used; the ultimate goal is for users to stop seeing “adverts” and start seeing “content”.

Give consumers choice and flexibility

Even though there are a range of benefits to behavioural targeting, and the majority of Internet users do not mind it or are unaware of its existence, there will always be some that choose not to be targeted as they see it as an invasion of privacy.

Internet users still have rights and any publisher, network or technology company should allow consumers to easily opt out of behavioural targeting. This came to a head in the courts recently when it was ruled that BT and Phorm unlawfully trialled their new behavioural targeting technology without giving their users the chance to opt in/out of the service. Recently half of the board at Phorm have resigned leaving the project and its future direction in doubt. Google – the king of online user data collection has also given users of its Chrome browser the chance to search and use the web through an “incognito” window where no user data is collected and re used.

We recommend clear notification should be made via a site's privacy policy that behavioural targeting occurs. Whenever users visit a website there should be no confusion whether or not they are being targeted.

As the IAB’s behavioural panel continues to develop we expect to see some firm recommendations and best practice guidelines released in the near future.

Overall the aim of behavioural targeting is to create a better online experience for your clients and customers. The content on websites is largely funded by advertisements so long as there are going to be ads we think it’s best users are exposed to the most valuable ads possible without impacting privacy. Remember, relevant advertising can actually be as informative as the site’s content.

To find out how to include behavioural targeting in your plans for 2009 please get in touch.