• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 28, 2012

Marketers whose jobs entail targeting ads and collecting consumer data must have some interesting conversations at non-industry events where small talk drifts toward work. These masters of messages do well when conveying a brand's focus online, but do they reach for the correct words in causal conversations to convert the listener?

When asked how she  explains her job to industry outsiders during a friend or family function, Kelly Leger,  VP of digital solutions at V12 Group, said, "I tell them we make advertising relevant based off their offline attributes." But do their eyes glaze over when Leger tells them about the tons of "available public or private data sold against them that gets connected to a cookie in a privacy-compliant manner, so we don't necessarily know it's them"?  

When the conversation turns to, "oh, so you're in charge of the pop-ups," marketers should take that as a hint the message got lost in translation. So, Leger asks her friend, "What do you share in Facebook and Google+?"  When speaking to a male she might add "Wouldn't you like to see more relevant ads, such as shaving cream or football, because you're not buying tampons."

V12 Group works with other companies to serve up ads online based on offline data. It aggregates information from 40 proprietary offline sources tying the attributes to adult consumers ages 18 and older. The company has a proprietary data method called PYCO with targeted personality profiling data based on Meyers Briggs' 16 distinct personality types.

V12 uses the offline data to bridge the gap with online targeting through partnerships similar to the one announced this week with eXelate. The company doesn't watch browsing behaviors or patterns.

Cookies get dropped in online Web browsers on behalf of V12, connecting the cookie to audience segments without attaching personal identifiable information. For example, if Coca-Cola buys data and media through eXelate to support a campaign, the company can request data on females between ages 20 and 30 who make more than $100,000 annually. 

Advertisers can choose from nine V12 Group audience categories including, but not limited to Demographic, Sports and Fitness, Lifestyle and Travel. Within the nine categories, advertisers can select from over 300 privacy-compliant segments to create high-level branding campaigns, and niche-focused direct-response campaigns.