Ad Tech is one of many words or terms used to describe the Advanced Technology being used in advanced marketing. This started as an advertisement placement or delivery technology that enables sellers to place specific ads in front of a specified demographic groups. Where a shoe company used to pay to place an ad on the TV or in a newspaper, Ad Tech refers to the science and process that goes into placing an expensive dress shoe on a specific website that attracts affluent females of an appropriate age. Another example might be that there is no point in paying to advertise men’s hair restoration services on a teen social app. Ad Tech is even more sophisticated and now allows two people, viewing the same website at the same time to see different advertising, specifically tailored to each.
The tailoring is based on evolving profiles created based on the sites visited, and the purchases made. This information is obtained by accessing cookies stored on your computer. Ad Tech goes farther by merging Big Data sets that can include information such as where your cell phone travels, and the purchase histories from every credit card or ATM card you use. Facebook and other companies are in the business of selling targeted marketing potential to advertisers. When you add the profile mentioned above to your internet search history, what you think, who you know, what you like, all merge to form a comprehensive picture of each user. Even people who do not participate are drawn into the pool if someone you know communicates with you online or has you saved as a contact.
Axiom has developed a massive data base of consumer behaviors. For about 96% of American households, Axiom’s databases contain the names of their family members, their current and past addresses, how often they pay their credit card bills, whether they own a dog or a cat, and what breed it is. Whether they are right handed or left handed and what kinds of medication they use, based on pharmacy records. The list of data points is at least 1500 items long and growing.
This concept is built around the idea that if the content a consumer is fed, is something they enjoy, they will spend more time on the site, and be exposed to more advertising. This time spent translates to greater profit for the platform. This relationship between the consumer, the retailer, and the social media platform make up the “Attention Economy” where “Likes” translate to money. Five of the largest companies in the world, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft depend on the use and sale of your personal information to make billions.
William Ammerman. The Invisible Brand: Marketing in the Age of Automation, Big Data, and Machine Learning. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2019.
Ammerman, William. The Invisible Brand: Marketing in the Age of Automation, Big Data, and Machine Learning. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2019.
Peter Warren Singer, and Emerson T.. Brooking. LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. Boston: Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.
Richard Stengel. Information Wars: How We Lost the Global Battle Against Disinformation and What We Can Do About It. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2019.
