When Geo-Targeting is Too Good

So I’m cruising along a national news website a few minutes ago, catching up on all of the worldly news. I notice a tourism ad along the site of the page, suggesting that I should visit a state… the same state I was in! Now perhaps I’m interested in taking a vacation in my own state– what with fuel prices so high. But I’m not sure they should really be targeting me. Of course so perhaps it was just coincidence–

So I call up a buddy on the other side of the country and ask him to pull up the same page– he too saw a tourism ad, and indeed it was an ad for the same state he was in!

I’m all for geo-targeting, but shouldn’t they be marketing “Visit Maine!” type advertisements to people in say, Arkansas? And if I’m in Washington state, shouldn’t I get a tourism ad for somewhere like Florida?

Don’t let geo-targeting be too good as you’ll just be preaching to the choir!

Located in GPS, Geocoding, Geotagging on Jun 6, 2008