Was the age of television advertising so long ago?

It sometimes seems that way. That’s how far the current advertising climate has changed over the past quarter century since the internet took flight.

Television, and for that matter, radio and print, didn’t have the tools to measure an advertisement’s success in engaging consumers — at least not with the immediacy and granularity of current methods.

Nielsen ratings and focus groups seem like quaint relics — and a lot of work for little payoff.

The internet spurred a new approach to advertising. Its very nature based on numerical coding spawned new waves of software companies that could storehouse information about individuals and begin to predict their online behavior. As this trend has gathered pace, the companies and agencies availing themselves of this technology, have been able to craft increasingly detailed profiles of the people interacting with brands in the virtual world.

They now know in real time and increasing detail which content has drawn the biggest, most intense followings and which items fail to connect. This information, and the speed with which it can be accessed, has allowed organizations to target their content with greater precision, and to adjust seamlessly when consumer reaction changes. But the age of tech-fueled advertising has had some unintended, less desirable effects.

We can no longer click onto a site without cookies attaching themselves. Visiting a website now signals a long-time commitment, and never mind if it’s a relationship we crave. The world’s largest, best-known platforms, Google and Facebook, are also its major brokers of information. The companies keep tabs on its billions of users, yet has been at best lax about controls or protections on their usage.

Indeed, Facebook’s name has become synonymous with data privacy issues over the past year after a political consultancy harvested information on 87 million of its users. A lawsuit also accused Facebook of selling data to favored organizations, a policy known as white labeling. Google has drawn hefty criticism for the scope of its efforts to learn about its users, including their daily schedules and geographic locations.

A Countermovement And Opportunity

This drumbeat of bad news has prompted a countermovement to prevent the compromising of data — ad blockers and related technology. But it has also created an opportunity for blockchain technology to address these systemic problems and others.

Consider AMARK’s blockchain-based platform, which measures the meaningful interactions that occur in stores. AMARK provides data-based consumer targeting without compromising personal information. It represents a true paradigm shift in how marketers can approach the challenging task of building relationships with consumers.

AMARK measures individual attention, including the quality of someone’s engagement with content, enabling companies to target consumers more effectively. AMARK’s system also represents an improvement over blanket marketing programs and other longstanding methods that provide poor returns on their investment.

For example, direct mail by consumer goods manufacturers and retailers do not distinguish between loyal and potential customers. The advertiser spends on distribution to consumers that it doesn’t need to convert. Because this outreach also frequently involves discounts, it may cut into revenues the company would otherwise have received by charging full price. The average Groupon 50 percent discount may mean a 70 percent cost of sale for local businesses after service fees figure in. These aggressive methods invariably do not make as much financial sense as they seem.

By compensating consumers for their attention and rewarding them for their patronage, however, AMARK increases the likelihood of meaningful engagement. AMARK creates a fairer, more balanced ecosystem that ultimately will lead to more effective marketing and the accompanying financial windfall.

Learn more about AMARK: amark.io