• by Jim Meskauskas , March 13, 2003

“Behavioral psychology is the science of pulling habits out of rats.” ~Dr. Douglas Busch

Last week I broached the subject of being able to target advertising at the kinds of behaviors and states of mind that advertisers have always actually been after, rather than the continued and insufficient use of demographics as a proxy for those behaviors and states of mind. As promised, this week, we are continuing that conversation.

Now, much of this should come as no surprise to you. Some readers last week pointed out that behavioral-based targeting has been available for years. Some said that it was the same as psychographic targeting. The fact of the matter is, however, that it has not been possible to BUY media this way and actually assign an advertising message to a particular individual (or the media device they use) based on this kind of information. And yes, lots of people have been talking about it in one way or another for some time, me included. But the time has come to move from talk to action.

Most people find themselves vacillating between two extremes in life: inundated by the anxiety and pressures of a work-a-day and obligated subsistence, and a sort of passive ennui in our leisure.

Between these points, there is the “flesh” of existence. For decades, advertisers have been reaching us only in the disengaged moments of numbed repose.

With the advent of the Internet as a medium, marketers are afforded for the first time the opportunity to reach an audience while they are authentically engaged in their selected enthusiasms. For the first time they can be reached at moments between anxiety and boredom. Advertising that can be based on what these engagements with enthusiasms are, are made more meaningful and, thusly, more effective.

Imagine if I could read data of a given user’s activities, product consumption patterns, declared likes and dislikes, and content engagement; and based on the data; determine what kind of advertising that user would be most receptive to?

As it stands today, demographics serve as surrogates for more meaningful information about a particular audience. What behavioral targeting promises is a way to identify an audience based on not simply their statistical data points, but their likes and dislikes as deduced from their actions.

Through the use of behavioral targeting, one can decipher where a desired demographic intersects with a particular psychographic as defined by given behavioral characteristics based on individual activity on a given site.

The data behavioral marketing technologies and research can bring together from a variety of user actions and engagements allows an advertiser to in essence “triangulate” individuals within a desired target audience. These data can be what content section a user has visited regularly, what products they may have researched -- or even purchased – online, or what email messaging has been recently encountered.

The opportunity offered is being able to get around demographics as a surrogate and instead go straight to the target.

Do You Buy Stuff Like I’m Advertising?

Imagine it being possible to target a potential audience based on their “worth,” for instance. Behavioral targeting could allow for buying media inventory based on what kind of spending is committed by individuals rather than just based on assumptions based on the content an audience consumes. If you are an advertiser with a product to sell, wouldn’t you like to know that your message was getting in front of someone you know spends a certain amount of money in your product category?

For example, if I am De Beers and I want to advertise diamonds for the holiday season, I would much rather have my messaging reaching those that are identified as being not just high net worth individuals as determined by their declarative data provided to the site, or the content they may have been engaged elsewhere on a site, but identified as being an individual who spends a certain amount on objects that might have affinity with diamonds.

Deconstructing The Audience

With the kinds of data provided by technologies available to marketers advertising online, planners could be able to more precisely decide the placement of messaging in locations throughout a given site.

After a brief run of media on a site, agencies can look at data and segment a given site’s audience based on information that identifies those who were most responsive to messaging that was run. Take that and then cross-tab it with information about where these people go, what else they do, how they identify themselves on particular properties through declarative data (which is becoming more and more common online), and what other media they engage. This would allow for precision targeting of messaging, better messaging design based on what is known about what this segment is like, and even what combination of assets and placements work best.

With what could be learned about what it is an advertiser’s best prospects like and do, the advertiser can build a surround sound marketing environment with a comprehensive communications package that includes a variety of inter-media vehicles.

By using behavior targeting, an advertiser would be able to essentially determine what inventory was garnering what quantity and quality of interaction and allow the advertiser to focus on the “sweet spot” of the audience reached. Not just where else can your ads run, and not just what the most responsive audience does while on your site, but where else they go and what combinations of approaches works.

A number of technologies have become available that open this opportunity to advertisers and it is certainly time we start using them. Between reflection and anticipation is the present. The future isn’t waiting for any of us and it is time we involve ourselves in it, before we find ourselves living in the past.