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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solid who wrote (16656)	11/3/1999 1:06:00 PM
From: ld5030	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

I don't think neurologists make very good advertisers. You can stimulate the brain with any kind of sound&fury, but that does not signify anything. Scientists can take apart a computer and figure out how it works, but the same can not be done with a brain. Explain free will. Online advertising does not affect you (or at least you don't believe so) because you are not on the margin, and advertising only works at the margin. An ad can not create desire where there is none. Try selling tampons to men. An effective ad reminds us of desire that is subconscious. I see an ad for Coke and it reminds me that I am thirsty and a Coke would taste great right now. Or, if I have never tried Coke, it suggests the product and I try it. In both cases consumers at the margin are targeted. If your product is well known the ad does not even have to describe the benefits. That's why beer can be sold with cute frogs. Only the suggestion of Budweiser is enough to incite my subconscious desire. Online advertising as it exists now is fishing, but we want to be hunting. It is inefficient to put a passive hook in the water; what we need is to track down that guy who needs to buy a power tool for his brother-in-law's birthday and nab him (in a non-domestic-violence kind of way). The talk has been that online advertisers will target their prey by invading his privacy. Every year he gets spam that says "Hey Joe, it's your anniversary. But a diamond necklace!" This is too obvious and will scare the prey. Privacy advocates will have a field day. I think a more subtle approach is warranted. Maybe two months before his anniversary you change his banner ad to ones suggesting romantic getaway vacations. Maybe if he has a mortgage and rates just went down you change his ad to refinancing options. Even with this approach you are playing a statistical targeting game-still fishing-but maybe fishing with a better pole. Even in television they do something like this. Beer is advertised during football, and feminine hygiene products are advertised during Ally McBeal. Online you have an advantage in that you know something about your prey. If this is taken advantage of without scaring anybody off it could be a real asset. hE.Laughs