Behavioral Exchanges, like BlueKai

There is a lot of talk about monetizing traffic, and smarter/more targeted ads. BlueKai is one of a handful of aggregators doing just that. There are others, like eXelate Media and Datran Media; I'll focus on BlueKai because I saw it first (and I like the logo).



Basically, BlueKai & their competition drop a cookie on your PC when you visit one of their partner sites. No big deal--just about everyone does. What they do with the cookie is leverage it to see what you're searching for. Okay, still not a big deal. We learned about the invisible pixel call that Google Analytics & other Web Analytics vendors use this week in class.

What makes these firms different is that they know you're searching in a narrow vertical or two. Let's say you go to Kayak & search for a trip to Vegas. They drop the BlueKai cookie, which knows you're in the market for a trip to Vegas. You may be shown an ad for Vegas travel on another BlueKai partner site. (Full disclosure: I work for an online travel company which is a competitor of Kayak. You'll note I've not hyperlinked either Kayak, nor my employer.)

How does it work? There is an auction where partners on the network bid on segments of aggregated data. Upon winning the auction, they get the opportunity to display relevant ads to the users in that group for a period of time.

The data expires, so they're not trying to sell you a hotel in Detroit b/c you bought tickets to Super Bowl 40 in 2006. And BlueKai doesn't sell any PII data, so privacy advocates can relax--a little. (personally, I'm more freaked out by what Axciom does than BlueKai, but that is another blog...)

Oh, and another thing. BlueKai has an idea or two about how to get around your reticence about participating.

1. They'll show you the categories of data they collect.
2. They allow you to selectively opt out (or in bulk, of course).
3. They appeal to your altruistic side and offer to donate a portion of the advertising revenue for your "profile" to one of several charities.

I think it is brilliant. The ads know what I'm looking for, and show me relevant content. I can opt out selectively, if I want. If/when they become ubiquitous, I may want to opt out.

And about the altruistic side, the charity beneficiary of my advertising? That was an easy call. I'm participating in the 5 Day Food & Water Challenge this week. Did you know:

• every 5 seconds, a child dies from hunger-related causes
• another child dies every 15 seconds from lack of clean water to drink

I have three kids, so donating the proceeds from my BlueKai profile was a no-brainer: Action Against Hunger. Hell, I might even put them on my charity giving list this year.

P.S. If you're looking for a few articles on the subject, here are a few:
Advertising Age
NY Times
Wikipedia

Corporate Blogging: Real Monetary Value?

Blogging is the new black, the New Media (replacing the old guard, newspapers), and now so mainstream that I've begun to do it. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse must be right around the corner!

Is there more than mere vanity involved here? Is there a value proposition with real *value* in it, other than leveraging this as an electronic soapbox in the village square? Are people other than editorial writers able to use this media to generate earnings? Do editorial writers even make money through this media?

I took a look around to see which companies were using blogs with some fanfare. This article celebrates "great" company blogs. And some of these are pretty slick, from a design perspective. They're visually appealing. But is their content compelling? Does it push a consumer to make an actual purchase? I'm skeptical. Another article touts 9 blogs that are fun to read. Okaayyy. I've never heard of any of these companies; when I check, they're pretty small. Are blogs only for the small-mid sized companies?

Socialtext has a handy list of Fortune 500 companies with blogs here. I don't think that Wal-Mart's primary demographic are big into reading blog postings; maybe they're trying to broaden their customer base. For them, perhaps it is a PR play--they don't *need* the blog to generate sales. Best Buy is working the support angle in their blog; again, the play seems to be customer loyalty. Boeing & GM seem to target people who love the industry, as a way to stay informed about news, new products, etc. That, too, is fine.

But what about providing any of the things John Caples suggested in "How to Make Your Advertising Make Money?"

• These blogs can get attention--to those who know they are there. In that respect, the audience is self-selecting.
  
• Holding attention works along the same lines.
  
• Creating desire? Travel blogs do a good job of this, b/c their pictures reach viewers. Financial blogs? I just can't get excited about checking/savings accounts, or even Roth IRAs. Even if Sheryl Crow wrote a song about them and sang it personally to me. Well, that'd work quite well, actually.
• Making it believeable/a bargain. I can easily research whether it is a bargain, and after a while, build trust (or not) of the blog/blogger. Again, though, it is self-selecting. And I have yet to see a firm's blog discuss a competitor's products.
• Make it easy to buy. Blogs work well here: easy links to merchandise are a sure gig. Here, self-selection is an advantage: these are a pre-qualified group of potential customers.
• Give a reason to buy now. The urgency is hard to put in a blog. Time-sensitive deals are lost if viewers don't see the offer prior to expiry.

I think blogs are fine and well for purposes of competitive parity, PR spin, and some element of "geek appeal". I have not seen compelling evidence that they drive more than occasional purchases. As long as we have that expectation, blogs are fine for what they are. Let's not expect that they're a meaningful part of the business plan for a business not fresh out of someone's garage or basement.