As technology continues to advance and media becomes more fragmented, new media buying options are emerging, like addressable advertising and hyper-targeting. As we enter this “brave new world” of personalized advertising, we’re beginning to see some amazing—and potentially disturbing—things.
Addressable advertising simply means delivering household-specific advertising based on an advertiser-defined target—regardless of programming or time of day—in both live and playback modes. This is now being used on digital TV.
Hyper targeting is customized advertising used in streaming video, which makes the advertising experience more personal.
A recent article in Programming Insider talked about the value of reaching an ethnically diverse audience through targeted advertising. According to the article, 44% of all TV viewers felt that seeing a personalized ad during a TV show was favorable, but the percentage jumped to 60% for Hispanic viewers.
For ads that use Twitter hashtags, again Hispanics skewed highest in favorable opinions, followed by Asian Americans, Blacks, and finally Whites with the lowest percentage.
The same pattern followed regarding ads that feature cultural diversity, different races, ethnicities, sexuality, and family lifestyles. The bottom line: the more diverse the audience becomes, the more they want to see others like themselves on TV. So, we can expect to see a lot more cultural diversity in advertising in the future.
Customized advertising is not just coming to your personal devices, it is also coming to your local grocery store. “Smart shelf” technology is being tested in various outlets to personalize an advertising experience while shopping. Originally developed as a way to upgrade store inventory processes, smart shelves are electronically connected shelves which can automatically keep track of the inventory in a retail establishment. They can refill inventory faster, alert the buying group of depletion of stock, provide real-time inventory data, and reduce the number of slow-moving items.
Combined with tiny cameras that can track shoppers’ activity in the store, this technology is gathering data, like age and gender of shoppers, facial features, attention and dwell time. It can even observe the “mood” of the shopper. This data is then analyzed to determine who is buying what and deduce “why” they are buying. One of the objectives is to be able to serve customized ads while the shopper is in the store.
Another result of this technology is that stores can use “dynamic pricing,” targeting different prices to different customers. “Dynamic pricing,” also referred to as surge pricing, demand pricing, or time-based pricing is a pricing strategy in which businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands. Businesses are able to change prices based on algorithms that take into account competitor pricing, supply and demand, and other external factors in the market.
A local news outlet recently featured a story about “dynamic pricing” at Target, where the mobile app automatically changed pricing on items as individuals came within proximity of a store or entered the building. The low price they saw in the parking lot was not the same price they found in the store, even if they were using the same app!
While all this technology has the potential to make life easier, it also has the potential to take advantage of the unsuspecting consumer. An informed consumer is a wiser consumer.
You can use technology to improve the effectiveness of your communication as well. Let Infinity Concepts help you navigate the brave new world of customized advertising. CLICK HERE or call us today at 724-733-1200.
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