In 2004, I was a paying member of this Internet music service. A paying member gets “special” treatment and that means – no advertisements in my way on the web page, just straight music. When I met president and founder, Tim Westergren, in 2007 he asked me, “Why are you paying? You are probably the only one who does!” I guess I didn’t care since I felt like I was supporting internet radio and what they were trying to achieve; a community of like minded people who can connect and share the music they love amongst each other.
Every three months the Gods’ of Pandora would take $12 out of my account automatically. I didn’t notice it much until my credit card expired and all of a sudden advertisements started showing up all over my experience. At that point, I became intrigued. Pandora was targeting me as a savvy consumer.
Now it looks like they are taking ad’s one step further and creating experiences around them. In an article found on “The Future of Ads”, they go about explaining Pandora’s innovating advertising by way of banner experiences. Not only will they show me an ad, they will create some personalization around that ad to get me to notice and interact with it. Since they already know me (i.e. my musical style and my demographics) they are able to widget into my Pandora station interface and get me thinking…
Ah…My favorite Christmas station reminds me of chestnuts and open fires, friends and family. Oh wait; I need a new shovel and salt for the driveway to get them in, this is Minneapolis!
-Jodi
.jpg)
5 comments:
I've never been a paying member, but I use Pandora religiously. After a while you just get used to the ads.
I can see getting used to the ads, but being a paying member also lets you skip as many songs as you'd like (instead having a limit/hour). Just a thought.
I think the question that is being asked is if creating a "marketing experience" through online data is an invasion of the consumer, or does it make for a more enjoyable consumer experience w/ more relevant messages? I really don't know the answer to this question.
I think the ads are genius. They do such a good job of targeting consumers via the data they gather from the stations. And sometimes the ads give the Pandora station that you're listening to a cool wallpaper background. Everything is bound to have advertisements eventually. If you watch Hulu, or tv on your computer at all, you should be used to them.
Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also...
Post a Comment