Might be giving it away a bit, but what the hell. A few months ago I posted about Behavioral Advertising & an experience I had in the shower. Sexy. Honestly…it was a fun time. Behavioral / Targeted Advertising is both exciting & controversial, which makes for interesting back & forth, depending on who you’re talking to. 

Read an article on iMedia talking about creating ads that consumers trust. Yes it’s over a year old, but not much has changed. Summing it up, we’ve got the common theme of advertisement transparency, privacy, data, and targeting. There’s two seemingly fundamental trains of thought: Group 1: People who realize targeted advertising can provide a more rich, helpful online experience. And Group 2: People who immediately jump in the uneasy / privacy concern / don’t bother me boat (that’s a big group). Based upon my shower article, it’s pretty clear which group I’m in. But let’s dive deeper. 

Transparency is huge. In one camp, you’ve got the ostentatious world of “slap me in the face” ads. You clearly know you’re being advertised to, no matter if it’s TV, print, or digital. Then you’ve got that sneaky area. This is the world of in-line contextual ads…hell even product placement & sponsorship could fall into this camp. Usually the brand or advertised information is weaved in so seamlessly, that no one even knows they’re being advertised to. (know it’s old, but WRIGLEY field?) 

So how transparent do we have to be with people? The age of Social is defined by conversationalism & pull vs. push. Brands are speaking with consumers more openly than ever. And it’s working. We make fans & followers every day, creating a lovely balance of relevant dialogue with some subtle brand / product integration (hopefully done very delicately & totally in line with your established content & messaging strategy, of course). I bring that up because even when you like / follow a brand, how far do we have to go in telling users that they’re being advertised to. Yes we have promoted Tweets right now (tells you it’s advertising), but does a 16 year old kid or 48 year old woman know what that means? They might just like Nike or Martha Stewart. Saturday morning cartoons have been pushing kid friendly commercial for decades. They’re not gonna close their eyes every time a 30 second spot airs. 

But digital is different. It’s held to a high standard because it’s so controllable…by the advertiser & the people. Though we love serendipitous discovery, we usually have a reason for being online. So what is it about ad transparency & being honest with a consumers time, particularly from an experience standpoint? A recent worldwide eMarketer survey on Online Ad Actions informed us that while fear of virus was the #1 reason for not clicking an ad, the second most popular reason was that users didn’t want to be taken away from the page/site they were on. Damn what great insight. Many of us know it, but it’s always good to hear it reinforced. A few things to consider when delivering an honest ad experience with respect to the users’ time: 

• Tell me what’s going on – as Katz points out in his article, consider callouts explaining the process – why we being served the ads, letting users decide if they want to continue receiving them, how the ad experience can be improved, etc. This gives control back to the user and allows them to continue enjoying their experience, as they originally planned (hopefully the savvy user appreciates this openness). 


• Keeping me on the page – people don’t want to be taken away. A few years back, display ads started informing users that by clicking a banner, they wouldn’t be taken away from the page. Creatives may have cringed, but data guys probably loved it, particular for testing purposes. Main takeaway – transparency was put out there. The user’s original intention was respected. I’m cool with that. 


• Content vs. Advertisements - this is the fun part. We’re at a point today where branded content is weaved into our digital experiences so naturally that we don’t even know it’s sponsored. If the creative is good…if the content strategy is solid…if the messaging is relevant…if something valuable is being given to the user, satisfaction should be there. Banner ads are billboards now. If you’re ok with their purpose, then fine, keep doing it for awareness sake. But if you really want to drive into the (general) engagement realm, then relevant content integration is the way to keep people happy. Transparency…well that could be a little cloudy in this case. But if done right, i’d be more pleased to see something cool or valuable (since the marketers already know what my preferences are) & might care a little less about honesty. 

Be honest with your people. Bring them valuable content. Don’t serve me a lawn care audio ad when I live in New York City. I know you know about me, and I’m ok with that…just don’t bother me :)