Re-Marketing

If you have been to Palika Bazaar in Delhi, you know that only one “kitne ka hai” about something is enough for them to get behind you like anything. They call you, cajole you, follow you till a distance – their voice does even if they physically don't. Heavy discounts are offered and more often than not they close the deal. After coming out, many times we look down upon the cheap methods by which the sale was done – even if the shopping bags are full.

Well, now even sellers who term the Palika Bazar's methods as 'low market' can also benefit from the same technique. The euphemism that Google has used is 'Re-marketing' or 'Interest Based Advertising'.

The 'advertising innovation' is around 6 months old but came to know about it when Ankit was trying to book air tickets online. Though he did not go through with the transaction, for the next few days, he kept on getting related ads by airlines/travel portals flashed on various websites he visited. It was then we realized that he was being re-marketed.

The concept is simple. Suppose you are on the web to buy let's say an airline ticket for a leisure trip to Singapore. You visit a website which has employed re-marketing and browse around. In other words you have asked a Palika Bazaar dukaanwala(shopkeeper) the price of some thing.

The information gets stored in the cache. The dukanwala has locked on to a potential buyer.

If you leave the website without a purchase, then website uses the cache information to display related advertisements wherever you go on the web. If you leave the dukaan without a buy, the dukaanwala follows you, shouting “Aao to sahi. Kitna doge”.

The ads being popped up offer various discounts on the exact route you had searched for. The same is done by the dukaanwala.

I wonder if Palika Bazaar actually had something to do with Google Re-marketing.

Ulta Pulta

I think it has been in place for some time now but pray my poor observation skills, I observed it yesterday only.

In cricket matches, two ad spots which have perhaps the highest visibility are the ones just behind the starting point of a fast bowler's run up. Shoaib Akhtar used to start from those banners on the ground.

That batsman and the banner behind the bowler used to face the same direction. Once the bowler started the run

up and camera zoomed on the pitch, the advertisement went out of sight. Or in case of spinners, it hardly was visible. One could only see it behind the batsman but it was facing the other way.

Now, yesterday I observed the banner behind the batsman was facing the camera or in the same direction as batsman. So now when the camera zooms on the pitch, you can see the advertisement or in fact read the name of the advertiser as it ought to be read.

Does it make any difference?

On the face of it - may be not because generally it is a popular brand with a known logo or name. You know that it is Airtel or KFC even if you see the name reversed.

But may be at some psychological level, it makes an impact as legible words are in your face.

In any case, it makes sense to have the banner in the direction where it is going to get the maximum footage. No one had thought about it for many years. Now someone, somewhere has shown some creativity and challenged the status quo!

This one is from a game where when the spinner is bowling, the logo in the background is reverse, thus making less impact. Now-a-days it faces the camera.

Images from here and here

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