Retargeting: The story behind the makeover of marketing

The concept of retargeting, or behavioral targeting, came to a rise in popularity and utilization in the mid-2000s, but it had its start almost a decade earlier in an innovative software program called Boomerang. By using cookies - bits of information stored in a user's internet browser cache that contains information about browsing and search activity - a company called DoubleClick was able to target ads to consumers based on this collected data. The idea was to offer users ads that were relevant to them, specifically, thereby increasing click rates, rates of return traffic and even online shopping cart completions.

DoubleClick, Briefly

In 1996, Kevin O'Connor and Dwight Merriman founded DoubleClick, one of the first application service providers. In 1998, DoubleClick launched a program called Boomerang, which collected data from a user's internet activity to target (or retarget) ads based on their preferences. While this sparked some controversy and serious discussions about internet privacy, the idea was ultimately successful not only in design but also in revolutionizing the way internet marketers approached and created new campaigns. In 1999, DoubleClick merged with Abacus Direct, an agency that collect data from offline sources, becoming one of the largest suppliers of user-specific online marketing information.

The firm went public shortly before launching Boomerang in 1998 and was acquired by equity firms JMI Equity and Hellman & Friedman in 2005. Google acquired the company in 2008 with a hefty payment of $3.1 billion - cash.

More About Boomerang

Boomerang was designed to collect information about an internet user's habits and activity while browsing, searching and shopping. While the first banner ad in 1994 had a low-ish click rate of 44 percent, the first trial runs of Boomerang had results of 65 percent or higher. Soon corporations not in the network of DoubleClick websites were requesting their internet marketing companies and site designers to incorporate this strategy, as well. The birth of a new type of advertising was born, opening the door to creative, mostly unexplored and successful strategies and ideas.

Retargeting is an important aspect of marketing for large and small companies both. The ability to learn about who visits a site - and what other sites they visit - provides useful tools and is data driven, to help ensure a user clicks on a targeted ad. This can help get customers to return to a site to finalize a purchase they left in a shopping cart, and it can also offer helpful data about demographics, making it easier to define and narrow a marketing strategy to specific segments of a broad consumer base.

Source: Retargeting: The story behind the makeover of marketing