• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, December 23, 2016

Advertisers need to start understanding search and dynamic ad targeting better, especially when it comes to holiday purchases. Cross-device targeting and cross-platform targeting seems like a great idea, but ensure dynamic ads don't get served to people, or within their network, who bought the products.

Amazon failed terribly in their remarketing efforts during the holidays, but the marketplace wasn't alone in their "missteps," according to Tim Daly, founder at Vincodo. He explains in a blog post that "cross device dynamic product ads were popping up everywhere."

This year, remarketing and retargeting moved to Facebook. Daly provides an example. He learned the gifts his wife would give him within two minutes after her search. An image of the NFL logo mini fridge showed up in his Facebook feed within minutes after she viewed the item and adding it to her cart.

"I started telling her I could see everything she was buying me from clear across the room — and told her to not waste money on that mini fridge," he wrote in a blog post. "She was aghast!"

Amazon didn't account for how members interact with its Prime offering in households that use the same account. Not only did Amazon tell Daly what his wife bought him, but the marketplace also told the kids what they got.

"Amazon sought to hit every device in the home connected to that shared Amazon account in combination with their amped up Header Bidding media-buying efforts, which delivered the ads with lightning speed," he wrote.