What I saw at Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica

The funny thing about working at the new edge of the advertising, marketing and technology industry is that you get to see the world through some very interesting prisms. Here’s an example: I was on a panel at DH in Santa Monica (yes, the hotel was ridiculously gorgeous and the beach scene made it difficult to contemplate coming back to the east coast) that included some amazing heavyweights from the Blogosphere, the technosphere, the “Searchesphere” etc. All from big companies that You Have Heard About.

They spent a lot of time showcasing how they are getting better and better and better at finding out WHO you are… WHAT you like… WHAT you buy and don’t buy, WHERE you buy it, WHY you visit certain media and WHEN you do, and HOW you actually do the transaction with which card and for what kind of payment, etc. etc. etc. It was awesome seeing how sophisticated the tactics, techniques and technologies are getting.

Moreover, it was amazing to hear from the clients that they needed both MASS to get their message to lots of people, but CLASS to make sure it was targeted at the exact right sliver of potential or current customers. But…. No one…. And I mean no one, said that the messages had to be tailored and the actual advertising itself has to get smarter and smarter.

I loved it. It seemed like such an obvious gap. Why oh why do brand managers choose one message, then spend a lot of time and money find the right to put it, and finding the right people to receive it?

Because it costs a lot of time and treasure to get different messages to many people.

-Mark

About the author

Mark is the founder and CEO of GeniusRocket. Prior to GeniusRocket, Mark served as Chairman and CEO of VerticalNet from August 1997 to July 2000. Before joining VerticalNet, he was a Senior Vice President and corporate officer at America Online, Inc. He founded and managed AOL Enterprise, the business-to-business division of AOL. Mr. Walsh also served as the President of GEnie, General Electric's online service, and as the director of New Business Development at HBO.

Commenting has been closed for this blog entry.