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Loading ...Today Imagini launched the VisualDNA Shops Beta. Behavioural Targeting is an increasingly hot area. On-line advertising models have a direct lineage from the off-line print world. Although the broad range of digital media enables marketing to be more targeted, most advertising is still based on a broadcast style model – everyone gets the same advert.
What if a web site had enough information about a visitor that it could target ads towards a specific user? Arguably this is better for the user (less irrelevant adverts) and better for the advertiser (better yields from each ad). The sensitivity – and sometimes the controversy – is how that additional information is gathered.
VisualDNA takes a more visible (quite literally) approach to gathering data. Visitors chose from a selection of images. The result of their selections are saved as their ‘VisualDNA’. This is then used to provide more product recommendations from the VisualDNA store. The process is fast and just requires a few mouse clips. I’m trying it out in a couple of spots on some blogs and will track the results with interest. Having tried the camera shop, it figured me out as a Techno Pro pretty quickly. I have a few beta invites, so if you would like to try it out on a blog, go to http://shops.visualdna.com and click “Create a shop”. You will be prompted for an access code – enter benjaminellisvisualdnashop and you should be off.
The VisualDNA store so far include a camera shop, gadget shop, mum and baby shop, phone shop, travel shop, computer shop, and entertainment shop. The shops exist as a widget that allows bloggers and web publishers to embed the function into existing sites, to provide personalised product recommendations. It also provides a new way to monetise traffic, with a percentage of every purchase made through the widget being paid back to the site or blog.
The shops are currently built upon Amazon.com. Imagini plans to also include products from sites such as eBay and Shopping.com in the coming weeks. The technology has a broad range of potential applications, but this first one should build the profile of VisualDNA in the Blogging community, which will be no bad thing for the company’s profile. There are product overviews on the VisualDNAshops site, voiced by none other than Stephen Fry.
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