A Market of One

Personalized Playing Field

Much is being made of the new user-centric Web developments. Time magazine recognized the power now available to individuals when, in December, it named “You” as its 2006 Person of the Year. Some Web sites, such as YouTube and Wikipedia, where content is provided by individuals and available to anyone with a Web connection, have become extremely popular. Another major force is “MySpace, where every single page on there is customized,” says Jim Bendt, president of Gabriel deGrood Bendt, an advertising agency in Minneapolis. “What you’re finding is that the everyday consumer has the ability to go out and customize their own space and identities and share that with the world.”

For marketers, that means the focus is all on the consumer. “Users control what, when, and how they choose to interact with you and your brand,” McMillan says. And the evolution of the Internet and its foundation technologies (see “The New Edition,” page 104) has made it possible for companies to create personalized interactions with customers.

Consumer-focused companies, such as Amazon.com, have led the way in personalization. Amazon meticulously tracks all its customers’ site activity and uses the information to recommend books, movies, music, and other products based on users’ previous purchases, expressed preferences, and product searches.

But before companies can effectively use technology to customize products and services, it’s important to research the target audience. “Even if you have the technology to make something great, you must talk to the consumer first,” says Kasey Worrell Hatzung, principal at Fusion Hill, a marketing firm in Minneapolis. “Make sure the consumer is at the heart of it, not just your capabilities or competencies.”

It’s not hard to find examples of personalization on the Web. Services such those offered by Google, Findory.com, and Pandora.com are one category of customized Web experience. Findory.com, for instance, customizes a Web site based on your news preferences. As the user chooses from the site’s news, blogs, videos, and podcasts, the site uses that information to build a home page of similar or related items for the reader.

Pandora.com recommends songs and artists by analyzing the musical properties of your favorite tunes. If you note that you like Tony Bennett, for instance, the site would recommend other songs featuring a mid-tempo dance style, smooth vocals, romantic lyrics, or light drumming.

Google, however, is particularly aggressive when it comes to personalizing the user experience. For example, users of Google’s e-mail program Gmail are shown advertising based on the content of their e-mail messages. If a friend encourages you to “stay warm” before signing off, you might see a sponsored-link ad for thermal underwear next to the message when you open it in Gmail.