Doug Weaver, founder and CEO of Upstream, and frequent speaker at iMedia Summit series gives a great, uncensored look at the truths we tell ourselves in the online ad biz in his presentation on
“12 Dead Internet Ideas.” We talk a lot about consumer privacy and "relationship advertising" here at TruEffect, and how internet advertising hasn’t really changed much in 10 years. We should know – we were there in late 20th century, developing technology to serve the first ad. But Weaver, in Steve Jobs keynote fashion, puts it ever so much more eloquently than a PowerPoint ever could.
Weaver’s dead internet idea called "The Right to Target" calls into question the industry’s never ending quest to pull out all the stops on targeting technology, while lulling consumers into complacency around their privacy concerns by ensuring them that they are exchanging their data for really cool candy – like better and more relevant ads that keep the internet free. Weaver says "We think because we can, we assume that we may."
But by downplaying the relevance of context, we just provide more of the same –thousands of meaningless impressions that nobody is clicking on. To understand what will actually reach, and impact, the consumer has been the illusive grail of advertising since Madmen wrote the Brylcreem jingle.
But Weaver cautions that "the landscape we're destroying is the one we'll need to live in, and profit from, for years to come." Even though it looks as if the "cookie opt-in" clause will not make it into the Boucher bill - for us to "celebrate dodging that bullet is like whistling past the graveyard." He reminds us that if we think that consumers and government don't decide how it goes, one only has to take a look at how the "Do Not Call Legislation" put phone marketing out of business in 48 hours.
But, it’s just a presentation, right?
– Layne Salter
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