Imagine mass media getting targeted. That's the ultimate dream of every one-to-one marketing professional. Google is testing targeted delivery of TV commercials. Google has maintained in the past that TV and Radio will remain high priority opportunity for them to sell measurable advertising solutions. According to an article:
- Google has begun a test run serving up TV commercials to cable subscribers in Concord, people familiar with the matter say. Google's pilot project to bring its approach to cable boxes represents a foray into the $54 billion U.S. market for TV advertising -- much bigger game than its online turf.
- In the test, advertisers are buying commercial placements through an auction system, people familiar with the matter say. But it is at an early enough stage that the buys are being handled manually by Google salespeople, rather than through a full-fledged automated auction system like the one Google uses to sell ads online, one of the people says.
- Rather than every household seeing the same commercial, Google in theory might tap databases with information about the demographics of an individual's neighborhood and examine the content of the program being watched at a given moment to better select which ads to beam through the TV. So, for example, a household in an area with lots of children might be more likely to see commercials for minivans than for sports cars.
- Its traditional media-advertising efforts have also been bumpy to date. Google's executives admit to problems with the company's first tests of print-ad sales; they have given the system a major overhaul. Analysts say Google hasn't yet lined up enough radio-ad inventory to make its efforts there significant.
A few years from now, when you watch the TV commercials, your neighbours might not see what you see. Your telemarketing calls will get filtered a lot more precisely basis your geo-demographic data. Your SMS messages, mobile advertising and internet ads will be a lot more coordinated.
Welcome to the world of 'orchestrated engagement'.