On demand advertising

Imagine if you could choose the advertising in your newspaper, before your favorite TV show, or on a billboard while you are stuck in traffic.

Many ads we see have nothing to do with us. Recently, Facebook suggested I buy a soccer gear, and it was all in German…. I don’t like soccer. And in German? This ad is a waste of time both for the advertiser and me.

However, if you progressively delete the irrelevant ads on Facebook, other offers that match my interests will appear. In the last few days, I see ads promoting wine, design hotels, and iPad accessories. FacebookAd gets better by listening to the advertisers, and especially by listening to its own targets.

It’s also on this principle that Google AdWords works. To get the best position on its websites, Google doesn’t only take into account the budget or the price you are ready to pay. Even if you are the largest bidder, you will not necessarily appear in the highest position. Google adds more value to the quality of the ads and the satisfaction they generate than to the price the advertiser is ready to pay.

This innovative business model spreads through the new media spaces, and not only to please the target markets, but for the sake of efficiency.

The latest Eyetracking studies clearly show that we instinctively avoid advertising. Once an area has been defined as an area of useless advertising, we don’t look at it anymore. It can flash or change color, it gets no attention. The only efficient way to get attention is to provide useful ads.

Eyetracking example

All sellers of media space should learn from these systems. Let’s dream, for a minute… What if you received a bonus according to the quality of your newspaper ads? Depending on the relevance of the information and how it matches its audience’s needs, an ad could be five or ten percents cheaper. Or better media placement: the right page for well targeted advertising; the left page for advertisers who do not analyze the market and just promote a product without giving the full information.

If a newspaper dared to do that, it would be more widely read, more liked by its readers, and would capture more attention. We could bet that it advertising would generate a significantly larger income. Television will probably adopt this system first; with video on demand and taped shows, one can avoid advertising. However, people are still fond of fashion advertising in glossy magazines. Advertising on demand is a win-win situation for both marketing and consumers.

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