Retargeting Ads Follow Surfers to Other Sites

The shoes that Julie Matlin recently saw on Zappos.com were kind of cute, or so she thought. But Ms. Matlin wasn’t ready to buy and left the site.

Then the shoes started to follow her everywhere she went online. An ad for those very shoes showed up on the blog TechCrunch. It popped up again on several other blogs and on Twitpic. It was as if Zappos had unleashed a persistent salesman who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

via nytimes.com

I saw this item tweeted several times today, mostly with the note that it's kinda creepy. I don't know how creepy it is, but I'd be annoyed if the same ad followed me from site to site; I'd be inclined to avoid the site that initiated the process.

How about you? Would this lead you to make a purchase or would the brand suffer in your eyes? Would you employ a tactic like this for your company?

About

I'm Shel Holtz, principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, consulting with organizations to enhance their online communications since 1996. I have more than 30 years of experience in organizational communication, including stints as corporate communications director at two Fortune 500 companies. I'm a founding fellow of the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) and a fellow and Accredited Business Communicator through the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

I've written or co-written six books on communication, including "Public Relations on the Net," "Corporate Conversations," "Blogging for Business" and "Tactical Transparency."

Since January 2005, I have co-hosted the twice-weekly PR-focused podcast, "For Immediate Release," with my colleague and friend, Neville Hobson.

For information on consulting and speaking engagements, visit my website, www.holtz.com.

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