Sabrina Tang's Blog

I was reading through the Canadian Marketing Blog, and I came across an interesting entry that was posted on March 11^th, talking about Google using an interest based approach to advertising.

I personally find this technique of advertising quite amazing and very efficient compared to traditional ways of advertising, because it is able to capture the right consumers, and catch their interest by targeting each of them specifically with relevance. Although some people may be bothered by the fact that companies have access to their personal information and using it to their advantage, however, it is not completely their fault. We as consumers, reveal a lot of information about ourselves on the internet whether with intention or not, through browsing certain ads, use of search engines, leaving footprints on histories, or personal blogs and programs like twitter, facebook, etc. I would believe that it is safe for these companies to have our info as they are big companies and do have security and privacy guidelines regarding to the usage of these data. Not only Google use this kind of advertising technique, many online shopping websites use it as well. When you browse online for merchandises, you often see pictures in the corner saying “also recommend”, and under these titles they will have a list of clothing or accessories that is close to the style of clothing you have been viewing. These data are obtained through data mining of their consumer database. Even Facebook uses a similar approach, recommending you friends that you might know as they are “mutual friends” with your friends. Overall, I believe interest based advertising is not only efficient because it will generate the highest return for marketer’s investments on ads, it is also the most effective as it targets the right consumers, increasing potential sales.