OBA education is ‘everybody’s responsibility’

It is everybody’s responsibility to educate consumers about behavioural targeting, it was claimed at the IAB’s panel on the discipline at Engage 2009. The session, which saw experts from Yahoo!, Specific Media, IDS and the Guardian, addressed the misconceptions surrounding behavioural targeting and what the industry should do to drive growth and promote best practice.

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

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Dispelling the myths

Addressing the 650-strong audience Ian Dowds, UK vice president for Specific Media said: “It looks like we’re here trying to defend behavioural targeting, but it’s the responsibility of everyone in the room to dispel the myths.” He added that both consumers and advertisers need to be aware that behavioural targeting practitioners are more interested in the conversion than a consumer’s identity, as they “don’t target internet users, they target the backend of a computer.”

The Guardian’s Dulake also felt that there is a bigger job to be done to educate the wider world about behavioural targeting. “There is a perception out there that big technology companies are spying on people’s browsing behaviour”, he said. “This is a huge, real problem that we need to address.”

The panellists, who were interrogated by New Media Age editor Justin Pearse, all applauded the work that has been done so far to educate marketers and consumers by industry bodies, particularly the IAB’s Good Practice Principles for online behavioural advertising, launched in March of this year.

Gaining consumer trust

Stuart Flint, director of digital at IDS, also referenced some research recently conducted by the IAB which found that once consumers know all the facts about targeted advertising – for example that no personal data is stored and they can opt-out – around 75% internet users are more comfortable with the process.

For Yahoo!’s Andrew Newman, director of advertiser consulting, building consumer confidence will be one of the most important drivers for growth, adding that it is essential not to interfere with the trust of the online user.

Behavioural targeting as the advertising ‘nirvana’

However, whilst the Neil Dulake described behavioural targeting as the ‘holy grail’ for advertisers, Ian Dowds was quick to point out the dangers of overselling the discipline. “Some say that with behavioural targeting you’ll get the nirvana of never seeing another irrelevant ad every again - that is not the case.” He stressed that the industry needs to be realistic about the fact that ‘irrelevant advertising is still a possibility.”

Developing the industry

The session revealed that there is also more work to be done in terms of standardisation and establishing a common language, as Dulake confirmed: “BT is old news. What is a big problem is that there’s so many styles and ways of targeting, no one really understands what’s good data and good segments.” He called for greater standardisation in terms of language and segments, as exists in the US, so that agencies and advertisers understand it and can plan accordingly. Flint at IDS agreed, arguing that there exists “a mystery about how we speak between client, media owner and planner” he went on to state that if this can be rectified, it will make the process or planning and delivering campaigns much more straightforward.

The panel highlighted the fact that creativity is not yet a big part of behavioural targeting, yet needs to be in order for the discipline to see more success. Neil Dulake, business development manager at the Guardian, believed that the lack of behavioural-specific creative is what’s currently lacking in the industry. “We’re spending a lot of time creating the segments but not really paying attention to what the audience need from creative” he said.

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