Targeted Content

I'm fascinated by all the context sensitive/targeted media that is making it's way into the mainstream.

The other day I was reading an email from my wife having to do with bringing some milk home and something about a recent trip we had taken. The Google ads on this page were some that you'd expect - one on how to save gas, another for a baking product. The one that really surprised me was an ad for silica gel?!?

Silica gel is a moisture absorber and usually found in the little packets that say "Do Not Eat" included when you buy a new pair of sneakers and many other products. This was intriguing to me because there was no mention of anything related to this in the body of the message. However, my wife works for a company that produces these products and sent the email from her work address. Not only was AdSense was smart enough to pick up on the from address and trace it back to an actual company, it knew what the company produces, and suggested an appropriate ad to match their product (it was actually an ad for a competitor). That's pretty cool!

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