Tech and t-t-t-timing

After a recent bout of online Christmas shopping, a ski helmet we’d been checking out  kept on appearing on the non-ecommerce site we visited afterwards.   And in sites that REALLY weren’t related.  Music videos?

 

The ability to target someone so narrowly with a relevant ad will undoubtedly produce better results over the long run and at a lesser cost.  

But the logic of showing a product right after steering away from it didn’t impress.  

Displaying it 24 hours later whilst surfing, in case we just ran out of time or simply wanted to think about it, would have been far more appealing…and intriguing.

Cookies, tracking, and geo-targeting has certainly built a far better and more measurable mouse trap.  But there’s still missing magic in knowing where and when to place the cheese.