For 1:1 marketers and data analytics devotees it is the Holy Grail. Knowing enough about me so they can tailor a message that is perfectly aimed. No wastage, and an ad I’m going to want to see because it is totally relevant for me.
Well sorry but no.
My Facebook page is full of offers to people over 50. Now that’s me. I am over 50. And it doesn’t bother me – much. I’m also getting tired of Grey Power congratulating me on being a good driver. Or Viagra ads in my e-mails (you mean everyone gets them not just me?).
I dread the day when Minority Report style a billboard shouts at me “Colin Flint do we have the Haemorrhoid treatment for you”.
Now these might be brushed aside as examples of poor execution – if you knew more about me then you’d know that on Facebook I’m living under the illusion that I’m hip, cool and with it (and any other sadly dated phrases that prove I am anything but). So an ad offering incontinence pads is not going to go down well.
But I don’t think it’s just that.
Recently I came across a study by Joseph Turow and others from the University of Pennsylvania. They found that when asked the seemingly innocuous question, “Please tell me whether or not you want the websites you visit to show you ads that are tailored to your interests”, 66% said no. And it increases to 89% when the rider is added that the tailoring is based on other websites they have visited.
I don’t think it’s having ads that are tailored to them that people object to. It’s what is behind it. People do not want the behaviour being monitored and collected.
I used to work with a hotel chain and they had never got into direct mail. It seemed like a natural one to us so we recommended they look at it. They did, for precisely two seconds. They then asked us what would happen they wrote to me as a guest hoping that me and Mrs Flint had had a good stay with them last weekend. Point taken. We didn’t recommend it again.
I am not a number. I am a free man. You may think you know me but you don’t. So be very careful when you target me. Who your numbers say I am may not match who I think I am or capture the kind of relationship I want to have with you. You could be completely correct and still offend me in such a way that I will never use your product again.
I no longer use Grey Power for my car insurance.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/20090929-Tailored_Advertising.pdf
