Help: Steve Wynn Is Following Me

I visited the Wynn Las Vegas web site last night to see if I could send flowers to a friend who is staying there.

Today, banner ads for Wynn are popping up all over Thesaurus.com when I use it. (And I’ve never seen them there before.)

Is this a coincidence? Or does technology now exist that enables this level of web tracking and ad customization?

The world is starting to feel a lot more like “Minority Report” every day.  

Comments

[Lauren Schwartz]

Hey Frank,
Agree, it all is kind of freaky.

There was an article in nytimes.com this week about the conference of the association of national advertisers held in Phoenix. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft was talking about TV sets that are fed with intelligent signals from your online searches,so that commercials will be targeted to you. The example give:

"The fact that his wife has been searching online for tile for their beach house could lead to a commercial for Italian tile turning up amid the beer and car spots as they watch TV sports togther on a Sunday afternoon....A commercial like that would not typically be expected during a Seahawks game, but its in context - not in the context of the show, but in the context of her behavior."

Essentially, behavior targeting. I wonder what other ads will be thrown your way. Pay attention to your inbox!

[Frank J. Oswald]

Hey, Lauren--

Thanks for joining the conversation! Steve Ballmer as Big Brother. Now that's a VERY scary image!!!

Frank

[Frank J. Oswald]

A Columbia professor was kind enough to drop me this note:

"No I do not believe it is a coincidence! You may be served ads based on the websites that you are visiting. Search engines calculate what ads may be of interest to you based on your surfing history"

[Christy]

Funny thing. A month ago I purchased a Flamingo gift certificate for my sister who celebrated her birthday there. I couldn’t find what I needed online so bought it over the phone. I don’t recall giving them my mailing address—in fact I remember finding it odd they didn’t ask for it. But, last week I got a Harrahs magazine in the mail!

Maybe they got my address via exchange and it's a coincidence. Maybe they obtained it retroactively from my debit card company. (Can that happen?) Maybe I gamble in my sleep…or…

Maybe Sin City IS attacking us!