The Conversion Scientist™

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The Evolution of Online Advertising Man

August 19, 2009 on 2:30 pm | In Behavioral Marketing | No Comments

You can’t give a Chimpanzee a Cell Phone and call it “evolved”

We all go through stages as we endeavor to grow — to evolve — into something greater, grander or more worthy of dating. The same is true of online advertising.

Through my columns on ClickZ.com, I have looked out of the cretaceous pool that spawned my online marketing life and have seen great beasts walking the land.

I have seen brands that are capable of amazing feats of targeted advertising.

I have seen fantastic creatures capable of sorting through volcano-sized mounds of data in milliseconds.

I have seen technological wonders through which what we see online magically congeals into its most pleasing image.

I have seen the Google Mammoth and the Sabre-toothed Yahoo carving rough trails through the jungles, enough to let us lesser-evolved forms taste the power of targeted advertising.

Yet, I know that there is a process at work here, and have attempted to document our evolution from Web site advertising to full-fledged, self-aware behavioral display advertising. The earliest stages are these:

• Homo Webilisite: Web Site Man
• Homo Searchenginus: Search Engine Man
• Keyanderthal Searchilis: Paid Search Man
• Keyanderthal Convertis: Conversion Man
• Keyanderthal Displayis: Contextual Display Man

You will find them defined in this month’s column on ClickZ. Next month, I’ll document the advanced stages of evolution through Homo Optimizapien Man.

BTW, when I refer to Online Advertising “Man” I mean the species Man, which includes women, though they may prefer to downplay such an association.

Photo courtesy http://www.sxc.hu/profile/code1name