More and More Targeted

During the weekend, I caught a brief discussion on 90.7 KWMU about the tailored advertising developed for XBox users. With more than 40 million XBox owners, according to Microsoft, ads are being streamed for 30 seconds before the start of an online game or between levels. Much in the manner of many YouTube or online video posts, watching the ad is not optional ... if you want to play the game or watch the video. Unlike the video posts, Microsoft is collecting a range of demographic information for its online users, so that ads can be highly targeted towards an advertisers target audience. This is Microsoft's advertising info page with the reasons why one should opt for XBox advertising: Microsoft XBox Advertising.

Already, Facebook and Google are well known for such similar targeting techniques. Today, I read a blog about a 63-year-old, male Facebook user who generally ignored all the marketing efforts on Facebook in pursuit of his own entertainment with his friend community. However, he was struck by a group of female Facebook users dedicated to removing their birth year from their Facebook accounts. Why? The ladies were tired of the wrinkle cream and weight loss ads. I admit to ignoring the ads, but my office co-hort complains about the inundation of wedding ads on Facebook since she changed her status from single to engaged.

Even the digital press has made print more targetable. On a recent print-house tour, I saw an ag-based magazine with a client that had three different ads for the inside cover, depending on the subscribers demographic information. So, the corn farmer would receive an ad pertinent to his crop and the dairy farmer would receive an pertinent to his. Think about what your magazine subscriptions would look like if, say Vogue, knew your household income. Guaranteed mine would be much thinner without those Chanel and Versace ads.

With advertising becoming more and more targeted and with an increasing number of forums to reach customers, effective advertising is becoming more affordable to most businesses. The best plan when constructing a marketing plan is to consider your budget, your target audience and all the media platforms available. While I've heard some say radio or print is dead, I completely disagree. I think savvy marketers straddle both the old and new media worlds and hand-pick the most targeted and cost-effective venues for promoting their business.

Standing out in the advertising arena is still hard, but at least advertisers can negotiate more bang for their buck.