This brief report, published in 2009 via Enspektos' Path of the Blue Eye Project, examines online advertising and behavioral targeting.

1. Issue 1 Volume 1 | November 10, 2009
unNiche
Widen Your Health Marketing Communications Perspective
Data Snippets Behavioral Targeting:
Essential marketing-related Perilous or Perfect?
data and research
Racial Digital Divide Does Not Exist
on Mobile Web
T he promise and potential of behavioral targeting is drawing
varying degrees of enthusiasm from marketers, and simultaneous
The Pew Internet & American Life
rejection by most surveyed U.S. consumers. For marketers,
Project reports that African Americans
are more likely to surf the mobile Web however, the anticipated advantage may be more theoretical than
than their white counterparts. Learn actual. Personalized ads are being ignored by people theyʼre
More supposed to entice, while piquing
the interest of the Federal Trade
Social Media Major Source of Commission (FTC).
Medical Content for Many
Manhattan Research reports that 35% of
U.S. adults use social media for health From a marketing perspective,
and wellness purposes. Learn More behavioral targeting would seem
to offer the best of all advertising
Television Most Effective at Spurring possibilities. It enables marketers
Conversations About Drugs to refine targeting to a personal
The Partnership for a Drug Free America level, and to direct the messaging
has found that many conversations
to audiences pre-screened according to individual interests. It is a
about substance abuse are motivated by
drug-related content broadcast on giant step up from simple demographic targeting, which assigns
television. Learn More advertising time and space placements (in broadcast or print
media) according to the primary audience in gender, age-range,
U.S. Non-Profits Lead Private Sector vocation, and/or other common denominators. Hypothetically,
in Social Media Adoption targeting behavior should allow marketers to avoid wasteful
A study published by the University of
expenditures on largely disinterested audiences, increasing the
Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for
Marketing Research indicates that 89% ROI (return on investment) of advertising budgets.
of charitable organizations are using
social technologies. Learn More The online technology that posits this ostensible marketing nirvana
is a cookie. Not the tasty chocolate-chip sort to be dunked in a
glass of milk, of course. (Continued on next page.)
Editor: Merry J. Whitney
A Path of the Blue Eye
Project Publication Send story tips to
www.pathoftheblueeye.com merry@pathoftheblueeye.com

2. Issue 1 Volume 1 | November 10, 2009
unNiche
Widen Your Health Marketing Communications Perspective
Behavioral Targeting: Perilous or Perfect?
This is the infamous electronic-code “tracking cookie” that hitches itself to an Internet-browsing computer
and collects data about usersʼ cyberspace itinerary. Web sites visited are deemed to reflect the interests
or “behavior” of the visitor. Lists of those sites and lists of advertisers can then be collated, to identify
products or services compatible with usersʼ interests.
The tracking cookie does not collect personal or identifying information about the computer user, but data
about sites visited via the computer without regard to individual users. Frequent surfing to fashion-related
sites by a young woman, for example, might subject her sports-jock kid brother to pop-up ads for chic
accessories. And big sister, in turn, would see banner ads for sports paraphernalia. The ads would
appear at random on other sites, because the tracking cookie is linked to the computer rather than the
site that suggested the “behavior.”
While the logic behind behavioral targeting is sound, evidence of its value is underwhelming. That may be
because Internet users tend to focus on the task at hand to the exclusion of competing stimuli; or, it could
suggest some consumers have developed a general immunity to ceaseless commercial messaging. In any
event, at least one experiment demonstrated no response difference between highly-targeted and
“scattergun” ads.
Privacy Concerns Associated With Behavioral Targeting
Still, there is a privacy issue and a fine-line ethical boundary to consider. Most Americans ― 67%
according to research by professors at University of Pennsylvania and University of California, Berkeley ―
object to advertising tailored to their own interests. Additionally, 58% do not want targeted news, and 51%
do not want tailored discounts. After the actual method of web site tracking was described, more than 85%
of respondents vehemently objected to the practice of behavioral targeting.
Interestingly, while objections to targeted ads and targeted news are high in all age groups, respondents
in the 18 to 24 age range favored targeted discounts by 64%; those 25 to 34, by 56%; and those 35 to 49
were evenly divided. (Continued on next page.)
Get More
Learn, communicate and collaborate at Living the Path, our
A Path of the Blue Eye
online community for health marketing communications pros. Project Publication
http://community.pathoftheblueeye.com www.pathoftheblueeye.com
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3. Issue 1 Volume 1 | November 10, 2009
unNiche
Widen Your Health Marketing Communications Perspective
Behavioral Targeting: Perilous or Perfect?
Apparently only the fifty-and-over respondents agree with the adage about “no free lunch” – i.e., the
benefits of receiving targeted advertising may not outweigh its potential privacy costs. Meanwhile, the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is paying attention to both, behavioral targeting and the public
disapproval of its use. Prior to 2009, the government watchdog had been advocating self-regulation of the
practice (within FTC guidelines and informed-consent principles). With a new Administration in
Washington, the FTC has adjusted its stance.
David C. Vladeck, current chief of the FTCʼs Bureau of Consumer Protection, has characterized behavioral
tracking as "Orwellian." Shortly after assuming his position at the agency, Mr. Vladeck petitioned
Congress for a larger budget and for fast-track permission to create regulations.
“The frameworks that weʼve been using historically for privacy are no longer sufficient,” Vladeck said,
suggesting it isnʼt out of the question that behavioral trackers might be taken to the proverbial woodshed.
For more information on the growing battle over behavioral targeting, please see the following articles:
• “Behavioral Targeting: RJ vs JP” by John Mack, Pharma Marketing Blog http://
pharmamkting.blogspot.com/2006/06/behavioral-targeting-rj-vs-jp.html
• “Technology Online can Add Value to Pharma Marketers via Segmentation-Targeting,”
Debrianna Obara, Razorfish January, 2009 (originally published in DTC Perspectives, March
2008) http://www.razorfish.com/download/img/content/Technology%20Online%20can%20Add
%20Value%20to%20Pharma%20Marketers%20via%20Segmentation%20Targeting.pdf
• NY Times article “Fresh Views at Agency Overseeing Online Ads,” Stephanie Clifford, August
4, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/business/media/05ftc.html
• Marketing adviser Bob Gilbreath’s limited experiment: no difference between targeted & non-
targeted Facebook ad results http://www.challengedividend.com/the_challenge_dividend/
2008/04/facebook-ads-do.html
Get More
Learn, communicate and collaborate at Living the Path, our
A Path of the Blue Eye
online community for health marketing communciations pros. Project Publication
http://community.pathoftheblueeye.com www.pathoftheblueeye.com
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