How do they decide which ads to include in banners, emails?

[milee]

So I get the "Men's Health" emails (don't judge - they have better exercise recommendations than Women's Health!) and get a kick out of how the Men's Health articles are always filled with perfectly chiseled men and dewy women...

Today's Men's Health email has the normal workout and health articles with associated pictures of perfect male models.  Then, at the bottom of the email, there's a large (larger picture than any other in the email)picture of a pretty, but very large woman in an advertisement for "Zulily".  It was an interesting contradiction to the rest of the email. 

So it got me to thinking - how do they pick (or how does the algorithm select) the ads for the emails and banners?  Zulily looks like a women's clothing store that offers flowery clothes for plus size women - neither of which would have anything to do with the Men's Health target market.  I have never searched for anything related to Zulily and am not a plus size, so can't think of anything I've ever searched in Google for that would identify me as someone who would want Zulily clothes.  Wonder what caused this particular ad to display for me?  Any ideas?

What are some of the weird ads you see on banners or emails?

[milee]

And the banner ad at the top of Pro Boards for me is now "American Girl." 

I don't have girls, have never searched on girl stuff like that and have no idea what would make them think I'm remotely in that target market...

Maybe someone's using my computer without me knowing about it?


Edited to add - now it's for Stovetop Stuffing.  Which, although I haven't eaten it in years, is pretty darn tasty.  So that's at least on target. 

[Deleted]

I've found them closely related to sites I've visited recently. If I was looking for a hotel, I get Hilton. I just went on a credit-card binge (re-evaluated what perks we're getting on each and will cancel some current cards) so I get credit card banner ads.

On other sites I've gotten banner ads for sites I've visited with pictures of specific products I've clicked on (but not bought). It's a bit creepy.

[Deleted]

Google tracks your every move

[Deleted]

I get mostly ads for places I have visited.

[Deleted]

Nov 23, 2013 20:27:28 GMT -5 @mmc said:

Google tracks your every move

I believe it.  I was typing an e-mail to a friend in gmail ranting about the evils of high-fructose corn syrup.  The banner ad was from sweetsurprise.com, a site the corn producers set up to tell you what yummy, healthy, natural stuff HFCS is.  Now they're trying to get permission to call it "corn sugar".

[8 Bit WWBG]

I think that zulily is more of an online retailer for Moms and kids in general; vs a plus size line.  Apparently it went public recently, and was founded by the team that founded blue nile.

The ad for me right now is Xfinity.

I used to love those commercials where Verizon was taking jabs at Comcast and the FiOs guy was getting sign ups while the cable guy was getting cancellations.  I love how the Xfinity logo blows off the van revealing a comcast logo!

[Blonde Granny]

My banner ad is for the Obama re-fi program.  Gosh, maybe I qualify? Oops, nope, you have to have a mortgage first and we paid cash for our house. Needless to say, I haven't researched that either.

[Deleted]

Nov 24, 2013 8:41:52 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

I think that zulily is more of an online retailer for Moms and kids in general; vs a plus size line.  Apparently it went public recently, and was founded by the team that founded blue nile.

The ad for me right now is Xfinity.

I used to love those commercials where Verizon was taking jabs at Comcast and the FiOs guy was getting sign ups while the cable guy was getting cancellations.  I love how the Xfinity logo blows off the van revealing a comcast logo!

My current top banner ad says "Work from home and earn $13,xxx a month!".. And I'm thinking to myself, why would I want the pay cut...

[Deleted]

Last week I got on the Destination maternity web site because I'm thinking of getting DDIL a gift card from there and wanted to get an idea of what they sold at what price ranges.

Yesterday the top story "selected for you" when I logged onto LinkedIn was about interviewing for a job while pregnant. Coincidence? I think not. And I still don't know how they came up with a couple of suggested connections, both people I'd dealt with for DS' and DDIL's wedding (a florist and a caterer). I'd never looked them up on LinkedIn and my only e-mail contact with them was from an e-mail address that LinkedIn doesn't have. I've never let them mine my e-mail address book for possible contacts. As I said in my earlier post: creepy.

[Nazgul Girl]

   Mine is to play The Sims 3, which I have no interest in.   I don't really like Farmville or its multiple copycat entities.

[milee]

OK, so for the past two days the banner at the top of the board has been for Streakers Streaking... naked guys.

I think Virgil is having me punked. And I like it...

[milee]

OK, so for the past two days the banner at the top of the board has been for Streakers Streaking... naked guys.

I think Virgil is having me punked. And I like it...

[Virgil Showlion]

Dec 2, 2013 15:13:41 GMT -5 milee said:

OK, so for the past two days the banner at the top of the board has been for Streakers Streaking... naked guys.

I think Virgil is having me punked. And I like it...

Dr. Virgil's Internet Lore, Lesson 28 - Banner Ads

There are numerous online ad agencies, the primary one being Google's AdSense technology, that track your browsing movements across sites, searches, etc., and attempt to match your preferences with paying advertisers. Your location also plays a big factor, as many advertisers select particular regions they want their ads to appear in.

Google's technology is actually one of the simpler ones. Facebook's tracking technology is like something out of an Orwellian dystopia. It aggregates information about your biometrics, friends, hobbies, scans your photos in an attempt to identify people and objects, and attempts to build a comprehensive consumer profile. Facebook advertisers can make requests as specific as "I want my ads to be seen by 18-24 year-olds in Kentucky that have visited Europe in the past 2 years and who like soccer."

Facebook's problem is that its technology isn't as pervasive as Google's, and in most cases its beholden to what you give it. That is, it can't tell much about you except what you into your own Facebook account.

In the case of Proboards, judging by the page source, they have ad agreements with at least 6 ad firms. Furthermore, all of the page contents are sent as extra information to advertisers, hence banner ads may be targeted to specific threads as well as specific users.

Getting "weird" advertisements is usually a sign that the ad servers don't know much about you, or--just as likely--that the pool of willing advertisers for a site is small and you're basically getting whatever the site has to give.

[milee]

Ok, well I'll take it.

In all fairness, I did get an ad today that seemed on target - it was for a payroll service.  I posted about a payroll issue in another thread.  But I don't recall posting about streaking or naked guys anywhere.  Not that I'm complaining!