New Eye Tracking Technology for Digital Ads

The Economist had this interesting article about new technology that can be used to track your eyes when surfing the web and decide if an ad is working or not in hopes to get you to take action. Kind of spooky and if it is not Opt In I see major privacy issues and lawsuits over it. I know I would make sure the WebCam lense is always covered. LOL

http://www.economist.com/node/21533362

One point they bring up is the 50% of Ad Spend that is wasted but no one knows which half. (Try 75% of Ad Spend is wasted is probably reality). Why I feel this will not improve things?

First of all it benefits Ad Agencies that half the spend is wasted and their clients don't know which half. Would you as an Agency reduce your billings 50% even if you knew how to fix this?

Secondly there is only a finite amount of time we all have. Now you could theory that the improvement of seeing the right ads will keep the ad spend equal. But I am not so sure that is true.

Third I use Firefox and block all digital ads except on some very specific sites like the Economist. Firefox is used by about 30% of the population and the Ad blocker Plus Ad On is downloaded about 50mil times a year if not more.

Lastly we don't like digital ads. The average click rate is 20 times for every 10,000 page views. I don't think new technology can fix this. The flaw in the advertising business is the ad people say 'It's the ads. If we just create better ads or better technology people will LOVE advertising'

It is the biggest crock of shit ever said yet they truly believe this. It is a crock because 1] they never ask consumers if this is true and 2] if they did and started ranking things in life for importance Ads will always come last.

For example how do you want to spend your time:
Exercising. Watching TV. Reading. Cooking. Travel. Eating. Sleeping. Sex. Sports. Outdoor Activities. Advertising. Shopping. Talking with friends via Social Media. Going out to bars or partying. Spending time with family or friends. Playing video games. Surfing the internet. Entertainment.

Now you go rank where Advertising is going to show up.

Yep. Last. But Ad people refuse to believe this. And it is why not only are they suckers. It is why Brands who hire Ad People for their marketing, waste half their Ad spend each year.

I'm Old Fashioned So Sue Me. But I am a Great Consumer Case Study

 

Most of you think Technology is about Cleverness. But it is not. It is Clever. But it preys on two Human constraints. Time and Laziness. If anyone saw the movie Wall-E, that is where we are heading. All those humans who did nothing but sit and have robots letting them rot into blobs that can't even walk let alone do things for themselves. Isn't Facebook 100% about Laziness? So I don't have to call a friend or see them in person? Isn't online shopping about Laziness so I don't have to get in my car and mingle with other people?

So Technology often is about laziness. Yes please say that again at least 217 times. It is. People will pay good money to cram more things into their days and allow them less effort in doing so.

Great Examples of Laziness Break Throughs:

Digital Phone Buttons: That rotary dial was killing me.

Digital Phone Books: I used to know about 50 people's phone numbers by heart. Now I know none.

Digital Music Collection: Because leafing through albums and then using a record player was a bummer.

Cars: Because Horses were a bitch to house and feed and ride.

But before these breakthroughs in Technology we were completely happy to walk somewhere. Or have long chats with a friend we haven't seen in quite some time.

But there are lessons learned. If you make a Great Product, offer Something Unique, or an Incredible Experience. People will do anything to patronize. We still drive long distances to see or experience, or go above and beyond to do something.

See my list of Blogs to the left, that I read by very thoughtful and insightful people? I do not have an RSS Feed or subscribe to anyone of them. I go there manually on my own, often. Because the content is compelling and exceptional.

And this might upset Marketers and Advertisers. But Great Products, Great Content, Great Experiences sell themselves. Advertising can tell people about something, but if the Product, Content, Experience sucks, it can not overcome that! But Great Products, Content, Experiences can overcome crappy Advertising or no Advertising.

I wish to give credit to @LizStrauss who during a chat last night on the Twitter said "many Brands are not sure what they sell or whom their customer is". She was correct. If you do not know what you sell you can't focus on making it best in class now can you? 

Focus not on honing your message or your branding, though this doesn't hurt. Focus on honing what you sell. The rest will take care of itself. That will condition your customers to come back. Whether it is to visit your website, read your writing, buy your product, watch your content or come to your store or restaurant. And conditioning is not about Laziness or Cleverness. Those Blogs to your left? They all conditioned me to visit on my own. And I do.

*photo credit above Walt Disney Pictures