[NYTimes] In Advertising, It’s About Who Gets Credit for the Sale

[NYTimes]

In Advertising, It’s About Who Gets Credit for the Sale

Oracle's purchase of Datalogix sheds a light on an important side of the digital advertising business: connecting an ad you see with a product you buy.


http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/26...-the-sale/

[snowboots]

Datalogix was presented in the article as some company to appreciate, but it may have produced an opposite effect. The fact that they are actually existent without our knowledge, and that they apparently track and keep purchasing records of people, is alarming.

However, it is interesting to find out if these online ads really work. I thought people have been conditioned to ignore these ads for the reasons: first is the fear of PC infection. Second is that they are hardly ever helpful

An example is when I last bought a phone. Obviously I had clicked on a ton of links and looked through different stores. So Google Ads had taken note of this and bombed all my ads with the stores I visited and phones I had already looked at.
So the algorithm bases the ad postings for each user on their history. But the fact is that is history and the user is therefore no longer interested if the purchase had already been made. Perhaps there are cases wherein it would work: if the user was still in the process of searching for something to purchase, then the suggestions would be helpful. But if the ads just suggest the stores the user had already visited, then it wouldn't be helpful at all

I think it is a good idea to perform the study. But they should experiment algorithms in parallel with the study. Find out what would be the most effective way to offer ads. The black box of it is not too assuring either. It would be great if they would explain (not really needing much detail) how the conclusions are being made. It is very concerning if it is just a "black box" because it could easily mean they would be spying on the user's actions all the way until the transaction to know the purchase was made.
And if that is not the case, how exactly would the ads be correlated to the sale?
If MegaRed, from their example, had invested mostly on advertising through Facebook, then obviously the sales could be correlated to that. But what about ads for MSI laptops and such?

[cookiedough]

I have never minded ads. I'm a consumer and yes I even buy stuff sometimes and have no problem with Google showing me ads it thinks I might be interested in.

The ads showing up from sites previously visited is actually a setting within AdWords that can be turned on or off by the advertiser.

I think it's extremely effective for advertisers. Even if you've already bought that phone, the shop's names will still be drilled into your head for next time around. Or perhaps for some other electronics you may need in the future.

[snowboots]

Had absolutely no idea about the AdWords, thanks for sharing that.

the shop's names will still be drilled into your head

I did not see this perspective. Great stuff, cookiedough

[cookiedough]

You brought up some good points as well @"snowboots".

It's somewhat disturbing our everyday purchases at grocery stores etc... Are being cataloged and tied to our Facebook identities and used to psychologically target us.

But then again, that's what marketing/sales is all about. Targeting wants/needs in whatever way possible. This is just a modern way of doing it. Still can be rather disturbing though... Depending on how you look at it.