RE: ONLINE ADS>> Is personalization really personal?

From: Brad Byrd <brad_at_newgate.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 13:03:45 -0500 (CDT)

Tim Lee wrote:
> I hope next time before anybody writes or publishes an
> article about personalization, implements or helps other
> implement personalization, he/she needs to understand what
> personalization really means.

Tim, there are clear examples of both personalization
technology and its application on the web in a variety of
instances.

News content delivery is the most obvious example. Consider
MyYahoo or MyExcite or a host of other custom news sites.
In each instance, the user interacts with technology to
define his/her interests. Each individual has a custom set
of information presented to them.

Take that one step further and look to LineOne
(www.lineone.com) in England, which is owned by News Corp.
They're using "intelligent personalization" technology from
Autonomy (www.autonomy.com) to develop custom user-interest
profiles that evolve and learn over time. The Autonomy
software "takes notes" on the content of each article that a
user reads and then suggests similar subjects to the user in
the future based on what it has "learned" about that user's
interests.

This same technology is being applied to advertising in some
interesting ways. The same Autonomy profile manager can -
over the course of a series of pageviews - develop an
understanding of each user's interests, and deliver
personalized ad campaigns to each user based on their
interests.

In other words, this type of personalized ad management
system sees what you've read, understands what you find
interesting, and customizes the advertisements it shows you
to address your displayed set of interests. I believe Yahoo
is using this technology in one form or another.

I remember hearing about a few other companies also trying
to move advertising in this direction. To me, this seems as
close to true ad personalization as is possible without
hiring out psychics. The only limitation is that this
approach requires multiple pageviews by the consumer to
allow a profile to be built; across a network the potential
seems pretty powerful though...which is (I assume) precisely
why Microsoft snapped up Firefly (ie. for MSN). Thoughts?

Cheers,

Brad Byrd
Director of Business Development
NewGate Internet - http://www.newgate.com
Online Marketing, Public Relations, and Market Research

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Received on Mon Jul 26 1999 - 13:23:25 CDT