• by Tameka Kee , May 27, 2008

Although the Federal Trade Commission continues to scrutinize the practice of behavioral targeting (BT)--even going so far as to draft a set of voluntary guidelines that would allow consumers to permanently opt-out of being targeted--BT providers continue to innovate. Revenue Science, for example, has just rolled out three new seasonal audience segments, aimed at helping advertisers capitalize on summer browsing behaviors and shopping patterns.

The segments are Summer Seasonal Shoppers, Summer Travelers and Summer Outdoor Enthusiasts, and have been derived from analyzing more than three years' worth of intent-based data (like pages within a Web site that were visited and usage of trip cost calculators) from Revenue Science's roster of more than 3,000 publisher partners.

Summer Seasonal Shoppers are in the market for the full suite of warm-weather products like swimsuits, grills and cameras, while Summer Travelers are in search of vacation rentals, cruises and family travel deals. Meanwhile, Summer Outdoor Enthusiasts are nature-lovers on the hunt for sporting goods and services to complement their boating, cycling and hiking excursions.

"We grouped audiences seasonally to essentially bring an offline marketing tactic online," said Monty Hudson, vice president of sales and media at Revenue Science. "It's not unlike when homeowners get a garden-focused Home Depot mailer in the spring or the Crate & Barrel catalog with patio furniture right before summer hits."

Hudson said the company developed the summer-focused segments both in response to advertiser demand and as a result of shopping trends that had emerged in their own research.

"Take travelers, for example," Hudson said. "Summer and the holidays are both heavy travel seasons, but the travel often stems from a different intent. In summer, the travel is leisure-based, while during the holidays, people tend to visit their families. Each one is a peak season for certain travel industries--be it a cruise line, a destination, a hotel chain or an airline--and the seasonal segments are designed to package the appropriate audience at the right time."

Hudson said that recency and primacy were as vital to a BT segment as the chosen behaviors, as purchases are often tied to specific time windows. "Car advertisers typically have an 8- to-12-week window with car buyers, but not auto insurance companies," Hudson said. "That's a three-day to maybe a week window. It doesn't do them any good to serve an ad to someone who was looking for insurance seven weeks ago, because they've probably already bought it."

The same goes for summer shoppers. Serving them ads for snorkels, fins and beach gear in the winter might whet their appetite for a February getaway, but will probably best serve an advertiser when the temperature is hot. "The idea is that a summer traveler is probably not planning to do something similar during any other time of year, so the segment is really viable now," Hudson said. He added that Revenue Science would roll out seasonal segments geared toward back-to-school and holiday advertisers in the coming months.

And as for scrutiny from the FTC and consumer privacy rights groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology, Hudson said that Revenue Science, in particular, had no qualms or fears about being held under the magnifying glass.

"We've always taken a white hat approach to data collection and behavioral targeting, so we're a big believer that this can be done properly," Hudson said. "I think the discussion that's going on is healthy, and the concerns are reasonable. But we're confident that at the end of the day, our industry is going to come up with policies that everyone agrees with and that consumers are comfortable with."