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Re:Ask HN: What kind of fresh ideas does advertising need? by JacobAldridge on Monday July 06, 2009 @11:55PM (#690879)
For me, the big shift is a contextual one. Advertising has always seemed to come from a 'Take' mentality - 'we are advertising XYZ so we can take money from you'.

Product Specials (Sales) as a marketing tool, and then specials (and, now affiliate links etc) through advertising, helped garner attention. They were 'Giving' me a special deal.

Viral advertising works largely because it 'Gives' as much as it takes. It 'Gives' humour, for example, or a gaming experience, or (if the morons on my mailing list are to be believed) a bottle of Veuve or some free cell minutes.

I can't wait until advertising is fully personal, in a way that AdWords touches upon. When advertisers know my wants and needs, they can Give me the opportunity or motive to buy their product. I win. They win. But most importantly, they focus on me winning first rather than their own needs (clearly within reason), and then benefit in the long term.

When that happens, I won't ignore ads - because I know they want to give me something I personally want.

How you make that happen is the difference between my day job and you featuring on the cover of Wired.

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