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> and I'm serving you ads about that one item you've searched on Amazon last week)

As a side note, Amazon is not that big yet in the Netherlands so it would probably be something searched on Bol.com.

The problem I'm having with ads nowadays, besides that they are indeed often out of context, is that they are far to late and outdated. Because most times advertisements for a product start to appear when I already bought said item. So for me if they do tracing in a sense I'd rather have them double down on it and provide real 'value' to me in their ads. But I still prefer no tracking at all.




But they can’t predict the future so the ads will always be bad.

Targeted ads would probably work best in categories of things that you buy regularly, like snacks. I’m not sure how they’d get that sort of information though.


> Targeted ads would probably work best in categories of things that you buy regularly, like snacks.

If you show me an ad for something I already buy regularly, are you hoping it will cause me to increase my habitual amount? That doesn't really sound like an effective ad.


I mean this at a categorical level.

I saw a new brand of ice cream the other day. Bought it and liked it. Will buy again.

Saw a new beer the other day while shopping for beer. Bought that too. Also going back for more.

I’m not particularly brand loyal. There’s lots of things you could show me an ad for and I’d buy it just to try it.


Suppose I know you eat pretzels every day. If I sell pretzels, I want you to eat my pretzels every day.


That's a great idea if I've never heard of your pretzels, but it's still not going to work if I have.


Nearly every beer drinker in the US has heard of Budweiser, yet they still spend millions on advertisements. It may not work on you, but they are definitely getting a return on that investment or they wouldn't keep doing it.


It will be partly to attract new (young) customers to their brand and also to reaffirm the brand image with existing customers.

You see this a lot with car commercials. You won't buy a car after seeing the average car commercial. Most of them don't even explain why you should buy a specific car over another. They focus more on the aesthetics. They sell you the idea of being part of something by driving a car of this brand. And even if you have already bought a car for that brand, seeing a commercial again reenforces your binding with the brand (given you feel positive about the commercial message). This works really well with cars as for most people they are emotional irrational purchases.


Maybe the core competency of advertisers is to convince businesses their services have value, not to convince consumers that products have value. The later is done only insofar as it's necessary for the former.


They might show you ads for a different brand, or ads for a new snack by the same brand.


It tends to be much easier to increase sales of something to a current customer, as opposed to selling the first item to a new customer.

And by easier, I mean cheaper :)


Or restaurants / food chains. One for sure is to target people (esp teenagers / working age) who search for malls, parks or shopping districts.




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