Ingrid Michelsen is WhitePages’ Dir, Advertising Strategy overseeing our search-derived behavioral targeting solutions, sales strategy, emerging technologies, rich media custom solutions and industry outreach.
Like many others in the online advertising industry I took a keen interest in Google’s announcement last month that they’re going to give users “transparency, choice and control” over their search and browsing behavior profiles—a very appealing message to privacy-sensitive consumers and legislators.
Coincidentally, Max Kalehoff (in his Online Spin column) recently discovered All Things Digital’s noble effort to be a “good actor” in the ad tracking and targeting realm by using a large banner announcing to users that they are being cookie-tracked, and providing instructions to at least partially opt out. Interestingly, his reaction to AllThingsD wasn’t entirely positive. He wrote: “…the practicality and validity of this disclosure is questionable. To start, the banner is alarming. It suggests something inappropriate, controversial or harmful is going on. If that’s true, then this is an important disclosure, and that banner should remain at all times.”
I agree with Max. Individual publisher efforts to over-communicate with consumers is likely just scaring them without solving broader privacy issues. And this ongoing “behavioral tracking and targeting is bad” self-flagellation in our industry is very likely creating more legislator confusion and consumer paranoia.
Here’s the reality for consumers:
Your local Banana Republic most likely knows more about you than Google or even WhitePages combined—they have your name, address, age, gender, marital status, # of people in your household, whether you rent or own, your household income, your past purchase behaviors online and offline, and frighteningly accurate predictions for your next purchases (and much more). The same is quickly becoming true for retailers’ online stores (and email marketing efforts). Why doesn’t this scare people? Probably because they don’t know about it, or they wrongly assume they’ve opted in: e.g. ”Oh it’s my fault because I bought something from a similar catalog years ago…”
The vast majority of online consumers want more relevant advertising—hence, the popularity of search: tell us what you want, get a relevant result, see relevant ads. Behavioral tracking to enhance the value of online display ads (for consumers and advertisers) is conducted anonymously– no personally identifiable information is appended to the user’s cookie. Why does this scare people so much? Probably because they don’t understand it. So why are we as an industry so defensive about our meager efforts to make site experiences better (and keep them free)?
Ad supported sites don’t have an incentive to tie personal information to behavioral data.
Like all other established ad supported Web sites, WhitePages never links our users’ browsing and searching behaviors to their personal information (name, address, etc.) Not only would that be invasive, it wouldn’t actually benefit us as an ad sales organization. Our advertisers want to be able to reach as many people as possible who fit a similar interest/demographic profile. As a sales organization we want to sell the most inventory we can without losing audience value for the advertiser.
So what’s next if the Google and AllThingsD approaches aren’t the answer?
I agree with Max Kalehoff’s conclusions in his column: It’s time to act as a unified group of (verifiably) non-threatening online media properties. Maybe we could work with the OPA and IAB to launch an industry-wide consumer PR and marketing initiative. Maybe we should invest in helping the NAI to build out a centralized consumer profile management system. These and other possible tactics were discussed at a WhitePages panel of advertising and privacy experts hosted last year in Seattle titled “Privacy: Who’s Responsible?”
Feel free to watch the video of this event (warning: it’s an hour and a half long) and tell me what you think by posting a comment below.
Ingrid Michelsen
Dir, Advertising Strategy
www.twitter.com/ingridmichelsen
www.linkedin.com/in/ingridmichelsen
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
right on the money. sometimes too much information for the masses about what takes place just confuses and scares folks more, especially when it comes from a bunch of different pubs, all with different “versions” regarding what it means and what they do. if there is to be “documentation”, it should be from a clear, neutral source (not a pub) so people can actually get information in a clear fashion, without worrying about any spin factor.
Thanks for your comment Erika! Curiously, do you see the NAI taking on this centralized opt-out/communication role, some other independent org, or another solution?