“Ask and ye shall receive.” These are the words that eMarketer quoted today in an article about the controversy over personalized ads. Having been in this industry for over 10 years and feeling personally invested in the success of online advertising, this article struck a personal cord with me.

I have to wonder why so many folks are still undecided when it comes to the value of personalized ads. Is it privacy? Haven’t we moved past this? I have email accounts with both Yahoo! and Gmail. I just started the arduous and daunting task of home shopping. A couple of days ago, I started but did not complete the process for signing up for a real estate listing service that specializes in foreclosures. Yesterday, I saw an ad in my Yahoo! mail account trying to get me to go back to this real estate site and complete my signup. Was this creepy? No. Was it relevant? Yes. Maybe I am so entrenched in this industry that it doesn’t bother me, but with my busy life, I want relevance. Send me a relevant ad for Victoria’s Secret over Viagra any day.

Let me address the privacy issue…

This real estate service company obviously ‘cookied’ my initial visit and then found me again on Yahoo! mail. Did they know that they were targeting Thai Arizpe, a 30-something year old female who lives in San Francisco with two kids? No. They were targeting a cookie from an anonymous person who did not complete a sign up. This company does not care that I am Thai, they just want me to complete the sign up to help their bottom line.

Never before in history have marketers been able to deliver advertising that is relevant to the ACTUAL behavior of a target user. TV tries to come close by making assumptions based on demographics, but what about the women who watch cops TV shows or the men who tune in to TLC regularly? These users are subjected to ads for power tools and gas-guzzling 4x4’s and cleaning supplies and feminine products, respectively. That said, I would like to put myself in the ‘Favorable’ column. Targeting works.

Adify Media offers advanced targeting to their advertisers. Our network is comprised of passion-destination sites where users are highly engaged. Our users work very hard to find these niche sites and need to be compelled beyond normal means to leave. This is where the relevance of ads comes into importance. As we continue to see the Internet fragment, both advertisers and users need to appreciate the value of personalized advertising – it’s here to stay.

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