{"id":2759,"date":"2017-10-09T15:33:25","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T14:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brainlabsdigital.com\/?p=2759"},"modified":"2025-06-20T18:58:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T18:58:52","slug":"know-youre-pregnant-get-personalisation-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brainlabsdigital.com\/know-youre-pregnant-get-personalisation-right\/","title":{"rendered":"We know you’re pregnant before you do: how to get personalisation right"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is a condensed version of my speech at the Festival of Marketing 2017, for all those who suffer from FoMo…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Personalisation Paradox<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The future of advertising is an exciting, terrifying prospect. It\u2019s not inconceivable that within the next decade we will be able to target people at almost every juncture in their life – in their homes, on their various devices, whilst they\u2019re commuting to work in a self-driving car, at every interactive billboard they walk past – and gather data from more or less every moment of someone\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s thrilling to the advertiser, yet troubling to the individual (which we all are, too, right?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All media will be bought programmatically – whether this happens within the next five years or longer, it\u2019s going to happen. Technology such as IoT and AI, along with the dizzyingly rapid surge in smartphone ownership (predicted to be over 5bn users by 2020) and the promise of 100% global connectivity (potentially 2030), will enable advertisers to connect with people with an unprecedented level of personalisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And personalisation can be an incredibly good thing. But it can also be detrimental. This is why it\u2019s a paradox. Let\u2019s start with the bad side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Target story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s become somewhat folkloric by now, but worth revisiting all the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Target\u2019s loyalty card scheme enables them to gather masses of data about their customers\u2019 spending patterns, which they use to personalise their advertising and promotion. One example is the \u2018pregnancy prediction score\u2019, an algorithm used to determine whether a customer may be expecting and estimate their due date. Given a high enough score, Target will send that customer a booklet of coupons related to babies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, their algorithm doesn\u2019t care whether the customer is still at high school, or if her Dad knows she\u2019s pregnant. Hence the infamously creepy arrival of the coupons, and one irate father. The punchline is that after a very angry call to their customer service team accusing Target of baby-mongering, the father spoke to them again two days later to tell them they were right. His daughter was indeed pregnant, she just hadn\u2019t broken the news to the family yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, Target crossed the line. They went from an impressive use of data to heighten the relevance of their promotions, to a sort of freelance gynecologist causing familial distress. They became creepy – a risk that any advertiser faces when it comes to personalisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first two commandments (what not to do)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What advertisers shouldn\u2019t do can be broken down into two main things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n