Howtotarget.com aims to define behavioral targeting and explain how it can benefit advertisers, publishers and consumers. Content comes from industry experts like Revenue Science CEO Bill Grossman and other sources around the web and includes links to news and articles from around the web, a list of industry events, and links to behavioral targeting “success stories” that show how behavioral ads have performed better than standard online ads.

“We saw that there is a need for a simple, yet informative Web site that explains both the basics and the details of targeting,” said Marla Schimke, Revenue Science’s marketing VP in a statement. “Providing a one-stop-shop for behavioral targeting information will enable everyone from advertisers to publishers, to educate themselves and ultimately lead to more, smarter behavioral targeting use and better results.”

Revenue Science plans to add an interactive section where users can ask questions, share stories, and share behavioral advertising ideas. According to Schimke, a site like this that brings behavioral targeting information together in one place will make it easier for advertisers and publishers to get involved in the industry, and eventually lead to better targeting results.

“Our publishers have been inundated by advertisers with behaviorally targeted campaigns, to the point where our publishers need more inventory for a wide variety of audience segments,” said Richard Foster, managing director of Revenue Science UK, in a statement. “By working with Advertising.com UK, we can help publishers meet this demand by leveraging the largest network in the UK while maintaining the value and ownership of their audiences and preserving advertiser relationships.”

Current Revenue Science client Guardian Unlimited has already committed to participating in the program.

“More and more advertisers are including behavioural targeting as part of their strategy. This is especially true in high-value categories including technology, automotive, travel and personal finance, where we regularly sell out of targeted impressions,” adds GU’s head of Business Development Tristan Leaver. “The network extension program eliminates that limitation by allowing our advertisers to reach their targeted Guardian Unlimited audiences on our own site, and across the Advertising.com network.”

“Revenue Science has demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of our needs and how they can help us to expand and continue to offer maximum value to all of our advertisers,” said Jack Williams, president of Gannett Digital in a statement. “As the leader in behavioral targeting for online advertising, we believe Revenue Science can help Gannett to deliver improvements to our behaviorally targeted advertising program in terms of service, flexibility and overall performance.”

Revenue Science will help Gannett target specific types of users like travel buyers, auto buyers and tech enthusiasts. Audience targeting profiles can also be customized on a per-campaign basis, and Revenue Science’s solution will let Gannett play around with customer profiles in real-time to determine optimal campaign performance parameters.

Revenue Science currently offers behavioral targeting in Japan across a network of sites through its partner Digital Advertising Consortium (DAC). DAC will assist NIKKEI NET in implementing the Revenue Science technology.

“NIKKEI NET has always strived to be the most valuable online media for both users and advertisers, and today we continue that by launching a behavioral targeting program to enable advertising that matches our users’ interests,” said Mr. Noboru Yoshioka, Executive Officer & General Manager, Electronic Media Bureau for NIKKEI. “Installing this revolutionary new technology will add significant value for NIKKEI NET.”

Brad Hefta-Gaub, senior VP of media operations for Revenue Science, added, “We are very pleased to have NIKKEI join other leading financial brands from around the world as a Revenue Science customer. Our presence in the Japanese market has been very successful, and partnering with a world-class media company like NIKKEI can only help us grow that leadership.”

With Revenue Science’s services, CarandDriver.com will extend its in-market inventory and increase the volume of high-value impressions available to advertisers who want to reach automotive enthusiasts.

Jim Keplesky, VP Interactive Sales for HFM US, explained in a statement, “We chose Revenue Science because they have the most sophisticated targeting capability available,” he continued. “We will have the ability to segment audiences not just by vehicle make and model, but now by specific visitor behavior. For example, we will be able to target consumers who have read two or more articles about a particular type of vehicle.”

Keplesky adds that, “Behavioral targeting has become an important element of major advertisers’ online marketing strategies, and we are happy to be working with Revenue Science to meet their needs. We expect to see a high level of adoption.”

“We selected Revenue Science because of its ability to deliver its sophisticated technology and services to our US Hispanic business as well as throughout our extensive network of 19 country sites in Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain,” stated Fernando Rodriguez, CEO of Terra. “Behavioral targeting has hit its stride as a solid option for marketers and we are excited to include this within our suite of services.”

Audience segments that are being targeted with the new advertising solution range from automotive enthusiasts, men, women, and youth, as well as frequent premium visitors to the health and personal finance sections of the site. Brad Hefta-Gaub, senior VP of media operations for Revenue Science, felt that Terra’s selection of the network validates Revenue Science’s industry leadership. He notes, “We are confident that our ability to deliver the most sophisticated targeting available in both Spanish and English will enable Terra to offer its advertisers great new opportunities to reach their audiences.”

Recent studies indicate that behavioral targeting is rapidly growing as the preferred method of reaching consumers amongst marketers. 52% of US marketers already use behavioral targeting while 17% are currently pilot testing it. By the year’s end, 31% of advertisers are expected to begin using the advertising technique.

During his tenure at Expedia, Ruckelshaus managed the development and finance departments, and for the last two years had lead the company’s acquisition and central strategy efforts, spearheaded key partner relationships, and evaluated opportunities for broadening and extending the scope of operations across all Expedia properties, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com and TripAdvisor.

“Working at Expedia when the online travel marketplace really exploded, I learned firsthand about the challenges of establishing and maintaining a leadership position during a period of tremendous growth. I am eager to put that experience to work for Revenue Science as it continues to build upon its leadership role in the behavioral targeting marketplace.” said Ruckelshaus in a press statement. “More than anything, I am excited about the opportunity to join the outstanding executive team assembled at Revenue Science.”

Ruckelshaus arrives at Revenue Science with almost twenty years of broad finance, banking and online corporate development experience under his belt. Prior to Expedia and IAC/InterActiveCorp, he served as director of technology mergers and acquisitions for Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group, where he advised the firm’s software, services and Internet clients in a variety of strategic transactions.

Specifically, 63 percent of those surveyed said that Internet marketers should “always” understand their interests prior to sending them advertising, while 55 percent stated that online ads of interest to them “improves” or “greatly improves” their overall online experience.

The Ponemon Institute, a research institute catering to privacy management practices in business and government, polled more than 1,700 people to learn about consumers’ motivations and preferences in receiving online advertising, as well as how knowledge about cookies impacted these issues.

“This study shows that not only do consumers prefer relevant advertising, but also that advertisers should consider behavioral targeting methods for providing consumers with more relevant ads as long as privacy and anonymity are assured,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder and chairman of Ponemon Institute. “The tables are indeed turning and the advertising community would be well served to pay attention.”

The study also reveals that cookie deletion is trending downward. When asked how often they delete cookies from their hard drives, only 8 percent of the participants answered “very frequently” compared to 18 percent in a 2004 survey. Meanwhile, 24 percent indicated they “never” delete cookies, which more than doubles the 11 percent from the previous survey.

“What’s especially interesting is that knowledgeable respondents appeared to be much less concerned about the use of cookies,” said Omar Tawakol, chief marketing officer at Revenue Science. “In fact, 63 percent of respondents stated that they’re likely to click on an Internet ad that reflects their interests and preferences regardless of whether it utilizes cookies.”

WhitePages.com’s In-Market Targeting aims to tweak the standard behavioral targeting model by enabling advertisers to target high-impact display ads to consumers who are actively searching WhitePages.com’s business listings in a particular category. Targetable audience segments range from broad interest-based categories like travel, to more narrowly defined segments such as auto dealerships.

Ads will be served during the consumer’s initial search and over a specific period of time during subsequent visits, depending on the category or segment. When paired with geo-targeting parameters, national marketers can further refine their local efforts by targeting specials or promotions unique to the location of the consumer’s computer.

The proprietary technology supporting In-Market Targeting is provided by behavioral targeting leader Revenue Science and positions WhitePages.com as the first business listings site to enable this type of targeting technology.

“WhitePages.com’s high reach to active online consumers creates a perfect opportunity for this type of behavioral targeting,” said Nick Johnson, chief revenue officer for Revenue Science. “The addition of geo-targeted keywords like city, state or ZIP code gives national advertisers a unique value-add not found with other search engines or portals.”

Analysis by independent research firm Knowledge Networks/Statistical Research Inc (KN/SRI) suggests that 86 percent of consumers who search business listings ultimately make, or are more likely to make a purchase.

WhitePages.com will offer customizable behavior-based segments ranging from broad, interest-based categories, such as “people who have recently searched travel related business listings,” to more narrowly-defined segments, such as “people who searched for a travel agent and a car rental company.” In order to further refine local marketing efforts, advertisers will be able to overlay geographic city, state, ZIP and keyword targeting on behavior-based segmentation of targeted audiences.

“Because of WhitePages.com’s high reach to active online consumers, we can offer significant behavioral- and geo-targeted inventory that can play an important role in an advertiser’s overall campaign strategy – whether branding, direct response, or both”, said Susie Kang, senior vice president, WhitePages.com Network in a press statement.

Revenue Science Senior VP of Business Development Nick Johnson adds, “The first phase of implementation will be to roll out Revenue Science’s proprietary technology across the WhitePages.com site. However, as demand increases we look forward to working with WhitePages.com to maximize the value of its audience for advertisers.”