Not to bury my point: contextual is the normal, good, fair, effective type of advertising. Targeted is the creepy, resource intensive, privacy invadin

There are two kinds of advertising

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Style Pass

2024-08-14 14:30:04

Not to bury my point: contextual is the normal, good, fair, effective type of advertising. Targeted is the creepy, resource intensive, privacy invading, and, (?!?!?!!) not particularly effective type of advertising. We’ll get there.

A billboard is contextual advertising. You’re driving on the highway and are told there is a McDonalds in 7 miles. The human condition + geography are the context.

An ad for web hosting on a blog about web development is contextual advertising. I lived this for well over a decade. Web developers are the customer for web hosting so reaching them on a blog about what they do is perfectly contextual. I sold ads to companies that wanted to reach web designers and developers, and I still do on CodePen.

Here’s more contextual advertising. Lifeline (“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”) runs and ad on Wheel of Fortune (old people watch The Wheel and need Lifeline). Purina sponsors the local pet parade (there are lots of dog owners there who make a choice about what dog food to buy). An affordable e-bike advertises on busses (people there might be into a commuting alternative). It tends to work.

Targeted advertising, the other kind, is an advent of the digital age. Its the kind that says I only want to show this ad to woman aged 36-44 in Baltimore using an iPhone who have previously purchased shoes online, have stopped to look at at least 3 shoe advertisements in the last week.