• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 17, 2008

Exhausted after doing a series of walking lunges in the cardio room of my gym, I look down at the floor, still huffing and puffing. What do I see?

A bunch of worn yoga mats with this message: "Silk. Soy Milk."

I smile. Nice target. The fine makers of Silk Soy Milk perhaps couldn't get me on TV. So they found another way - targeting as well all those doing downward-facing dogs.

The Perfect Pushup tracked me down the old -fashioned way:  through the TV airwaves. I must have seen about 200 Perfect Pushup messages.  Ed Erhardt of ESPN Sports said I was probably watching too much ESPN. He said to lay off -- unless I was a Nielsen home. (Just kidding!)

Watching Simon Cowell sipping a Coca-Cola-logoed cup on "American Idol," I started thinking maybe I should try the drink again -- after a 37-year absence. I did. Don't tell Jon Nesvig of Fox -- but I think it's a pretty good drink.

A print ad in "Entertainment Weekly" had me considering watching the teen soap "Gossip Girl." But I couldn't make out the picture of the two people having sex. No matter -- sex is good.

While watching some cable news networks during the day, a number of vocational schools tempt me with the great life of a plumber or airline mechanic or a computer technician. That isn't me; I'm thinking beauty salon stylist.

Versus tells me the classic European road bike race, the Tour of Flanders, is brought to you by Hampton Hotels. But I have little time to travel these days. I have a three-year-old.

Listening to those emotive media agency  proponents of addressable advertising, I now get the hint.  There is a lot of waste going on in the media world. Target old men, young kids, middle-age women and their behaviors more selectively, and I guess marketers will meet their rightful and accepting consumers.

Cable system operators, satellite distributors, and telcos can help keep things focused by pushing for addressable TV advertising.  They should hurry up -- because some marketers may even pay a bit more to get to the right consumers.

I'm available right now. But am I always the one you want ?