An evolving value proposition
As you might imagine, all of the BT experts interviewed by iMedia say that most consumers don't mind targeted ads. Rather, they believe people understand that advertising is the price they pay for free online content and services, and the majority of them prefer relevant ads over irrelevant ones. This sentiment was summed up by Sheldon Gilbert, whose Proclivity platform helps marketers and merchandisers create consumer behavior banks. "Our premise is really very simple -- create a win-win scenario in the market," he says. "As an end-consumer, you will no longer be carpet-bombed every day with irrelevant offers, but with certain brands that are in tune with what you want."
BlueKai's Tawakol says the existing value proposition will evolve as consumers realize just how valuable their data are to advertisers. "I would say, maybe seven years from now, that people will consider data a first-party asset," he explains. "Like money or mileage, where I might get a trip to Hawaii every year and a half because I gave my data to this particular group."
Andrew Monfried, CEO of Lotame, agrees. His company specializes in providing advanced monetization techniques to social media sites. "I think consumers will be rewarded for their attention," he says. "There's going to be a not-so-subtle tradeoff now, where consumers are going to control more about what I call the 'attention economy.'" This "attention economy," says Monfried, is likely to be most evident among younger consumers who devote a lot of time to online activities. They will increasingly look to trade their attention for something of value to them, be it reward points or music or some else.
On the other hand, Scott Knoll of Datran Media believes the trend toward compensating consumers for more comprehensive data will be limited. "I think there's always going to be a model out there, where a small sampling or section of the audience will be willing to receive some sort of reward in exchange for allowing more information on the cookie, but I don't think that's the norm," he says.
Likewise, ValueClick's Ardis thinks the current value proposition on which BT operates works just fine and will remain the norm. "The reward that people get for the use of their information is twofold," he says. "One, they get the continuing freedom of all the content, the entertainment, the shopping, everything that they get online that otherwise would have to be subsidized by some other method like subscription. And the second is the relevant experience they have -- hopefully, they're only seeing ads or messages that are relevant to them."
