AOL’s articulate chief privacy officer Jules Polonetsky says he will be responding in his blog to my citing some of Advertising.com ad copy promoting its behavioral targeting. I hope he also explains, to help out privacy and consumer advocates in the EU, what Advertising.com’s UK division means when it says:
“Behavioural Targeting is the most dynamic way of reaching the right audience online. Using our Behavioural Network and LeadBack technology, we can target a pre-defined audience segment based on user behaviour on the internet.
There are a number of different ways we can create these audience segments:
- Advertiser LeadBack
We are able to target users across our network based on their behaviour on advertiser websites (e.g. partial conversion, abandoned shopping cart). - Audience LeadBack
We are able to target users across our network based on their behaviour on publisher websites (e.g. viewing product review sites). - Search LeadBack
We are able to target users across our network based on their search engine activity. - Creative LeadBack
We are able to target users across our network based on their interaction with ads served outside the Advertising.com network.
By establishing certain user traits or demographics within an audience we are able to target those individuals with the most relevant advertising or simply reach those same users in a different environment.”
and when it says that: Advertising.com employed its web marketing solutions to drive high-volume subscriptions for Vonage. From advanced targeting to view-through tracking…Advertising.com’s AdLearn optimisation technology analyzed user response data, accounting for thousands of factors – including behavior, geography, hour, creative, website and more – to determine optimal ad placement based on the highest expected number of subscriptions generated for Vonage… Vonage also sought a solution to convert those users who clicked on the ad but did not complete a subscription. Vonage implemented Advertising.com’s LeadBack behavioural targeting technology to anonymously track consumer activity on the Vonage website, e.g., abandoned subscription form. After exiting the website, consumers who had not completed a subscription received targeted ads designed to drive them back to the Vonage site.
In order to accurately track the success of the campaign, Vonage leveraged Advertising.com’s view-through tracking technology to match conversions occurring in the days following the initial impression.”
and with: “MediaContacts came to Advertising.com to drive sales of Volkswagen’s Jetta A4 model… Advertising.com created a custom subnet within its extensive network comprised of consumers who had researched cars online in the past six months. Ads featuring the Jetta A4 model were targeted to this subnet and were designed to drive consumers to Volkswagen’s website where they could configure their ideal version of the A4 or request more information from a local dealer.MediaContacts also leveraged Advertising.com’s LeadBack behavioural targeting technology to anonymously track consumer activity on Volkswagen’s website, e.g., did not configure an A4. After exiting the Volkswagen website, consumers who did not configure a vehicle or complete a request for information received targeted ads designed to drive them back to the site to complete the unfinished action.”
and please also explain what you currently offer via Time Warner’s recently acquired Tacoda. For example, when it says that (our emphasis):
“All 4,000 plus partner sites in TACODA Audience Networksâ„¢ carry tags that reflect the interests of the audience that view that page. Every time a user visits any page, that tag information is added to a cookie on the user’s computer and a profile of the user’s interests quickly builds up. Before they are added to a segment in the database though, individuals must have demonstrated an interest in specific content at least two to four times in the past 7-30 days (this period varies to account for the differing lengths of the purchase cycle for each segment). Such is the size and scope of our network that over two billion new web behaviours are added to the database each day – making it one of the top ten largest commercial databases in the world.”
