Personalized Digital Ads... Thank you for targeting me...?

David Kenny, CEO of Digitas, a subsidary of Publicis Groupe, says his agency is creating a digital advertising world where individuals are targeted more than groups. The main objective is to create thousands of different versions of ads that are personalized for individual consumers instead of the mass audience. Soon, you'll turn on the TV and there will be an advertisement for a diabetic tester and one for oatmeal because you have diabetes and you eat a lot of oatmeal. I can see this going as far as tapping into personal data that is stored on computers at places you make purchases. Since everything is becoming digital, it appears everything will become connected with data flow. In the future I can foresee this technology allowing advertisers to be able to target someone with a car ad because the consumer was in an accident a few days before. Screw Homeland Security, advertising is what we should be worried about getting our personal data.

On the other hand, I can see how this digitalization/personalization of ads could be more convienent for consumers. One of the reasons I hate seeing ads on TV is because they aren't targeting me most of the time, and I have no interest in them. If ads were tailored to my needs and only presented when I was most likely to give attention, then I can imagine myself not being as bothered by advertising.

Read the New York Times article about Kenny and Digitas.