Politics, Advertising, Magic

As I start my rainy Western Oregon day today, cup of coffee in hand, I checked Facebook -- not my normal behavior, but one of my daughters mentioned she'd commented on a picture I posted -- and there was Barack Obama on the front page.

Today is our deadline, in Oregon, for voting. We all vote by mail. Today at 8 pm is our deadline. Most of us have already dropped the ballot in the mail. I tossed my ballot into the downtown drop box yesterday evening.

To me that's another reminder of how cool the Web is, how much we can target our ads if we're really doing it right. For those of you who grew up with the Internet, you have to realize that just a couple decades ago advertising was like fishing. We had to choose the medium, make the ad, and then hope. Like throwing a line in the water. And we rarely got to know. The waters were murky.

Contrast that with this ad. First, it knows I'm in Oregon. Second, it knows today is our deadline. Third, it knows I'm likely to vote for Barack because I've identified my politics (part of the Facebook profile).

Living in the times we do, we suffer the down side of it all, the war, global warming, tough times. At least we should occasionally step back and enjoy the magic of it too. And this, the ability to tailor an ad that exactly to the audience, is magic.