“Retargeting Ads Follow Surfers to Other Sites” from today’s NY Times discusses ads that use shopping cart and other surfing info to personalize the ads that consumers see as they surf the web.  The ads are delivered through the technology of a company called Criteo and you can identify many of them by the line of linked text that says “Why am I seeing these ads” and learn more about why and how you are being targeted by clicking on that link.

• One consumer, Janet Matlin, was being constantly presented with photos of shoes she had looked at but opted not to buy from Zappos.
• In another case, Ms. Matlin was hounded and really made to feel uncomfortable by ads from an online diet service she had used in the past.  “They are following me around and it makes me feel fat” is a quote from Ms. Matlin that really makes the issue hit home.

My take – the “Creepy Factor” is going to bother some consumers more and more.  Others will just ignore the targeting or find it useful.  Grocery chains like Stop and Shop already crunch huge amounts of consumer data and sell it to CPG companies who use the data to present targeted coupons, so consumers already know they are being watched.  I think we are starting to see deeper patterns of consumer sentiment when we look at reaction to ad programs and reaction to online/mobile “check-in” programs.  More on this later.