Behavioral targeting's
new contender

Mediaplex, a subsidiary of ValueClick, is launching a suite of Dynamic Behavioral Targeting tools.

The offering lets clients tie available inventory to currently-running promotions. It includes:

• Dynamic Behavioral Targeting, which lets advertisers segment customers based on prior activity. Relevant creative can be served dynamically — meaning it can be swapped at the last minute.
• Optimization. Marketers define their own conversion criteria, and resulting reports measure the quality of a campaign based on that material.
• Dynamic Rich Media Creative This enables users to serve interchangeable marketing messages in existing rich media ads.
• Granular Reporting. Metrics are provided for individual offers.

Similar offerings include Akamai's Advertising Decisions Solutions, which projects what users are likely to buy based on past purchases.

Another firm, Headup, is a Firefox plugin that tracks user activity at the browser level, then serves related media where relevant.

More ambitious companies, like US-based NebuAd and UK-based Phorm, approach behavioral targeting at the ISP level. Privacy advocates fought these models, and users were alienated when ISPs — including BT and Embarq — launched pilot tests of behavioral ads without explicitly informing them.

NebuAd currently faces a class action suit, and all US-based executives have taken leave of Phorm.