Personally Personalized Ads

Back when doing business on the Internet was new, I consulted in exchange for equity for a lot of start-ups. They had no money. Nobody had any experience. It was a perfect match.

One of them had a great idea. They called themselves Yesmail. Today, Yesmail "offers permission based email marketing solutions" and "has the experience and capabilities to create, build and implement email campaigns that directly support client objectives, whether they are built for revenue generation, brand awareness or community building."

But back then, it was a simple model: Opt-in email. The simplicity was dazzling and the customer-centricity of the plan was stunning. In these days before RSS feeds, following, liking, or friending, Yesmail offered the average consumer access to sweet deals via e-mail....

Last week, Target announced customized advertising. In a USA Today article last week, Bruce Horovitz reported that Target is launching My TargetWeekly, purported to be a fully customizable version of its weekly ad that appears online and in Sunday newspapers...