For my inaugural post, I thought I’d explain in a little more depth what my MBA thesis is actually about by providing both a very early abstract and an outline, below. Future posts will be thought pieces based on my research, the purpose being to get some ideas “on paper” as I write for my April 6th full draft deadline, but also to vet some of my ideas before I make them part of the “official” thesis. So, I always appreciate questions, suggestions, and comments of all varieties on what I post on the blog. You can also email me at eleanor@sloan.mit.edu.
General overview
In the last several years, fragmentation of audiences has forced much of the advertising community to revise its thinking about delivering messages through mass communication channels. As new media forms have emerged that enable interactive search, collaborative filtering and social networking among consumers, so have opportunities to target advertising, yet how to make the most effective use of these tools has proven more elusive. The purpose of this thesis is to review past and current practices in targeted advertising, understand consumer motivations and attitudes about privacy and ubiquity of ads, and project future trends and directions for designing and targeting personalized advertising content.
At the moment, I’m working with an outline that divides the document into eight parts:
