Recently it has become apparent that display and search advertising are converging.  Search agencies are entering the traditional display agency world (see iProspect’s acquistion of Range Online Media).  Search and display platforms are merging (eg, Google’s merging of the Adsense and DFP platforms in its AdExchange 2.0 due to debut next month).   Numerous studies (examples here and here ) over the last year or so have aimed to prove the impact display advertising has had on search – driven primarily by frustrated display marketers struggling and starting to succeed in proving the worth of the medium.

But the convergence has been driven and demonstrated by more than just actions of marketers and sellers trying to expand or defend their businesses.  Fundamental changes in the industry, primarily technological, are giving display marketers access to many of the tools and techniques that have made search marketing so successful.

Here are just some of the changes that are driving display advertising to a more accountable, scalable, lucrative, and “search-like” future.

1. Intent -  Search, by its nature, reveals the consumer’s intent.  Display has focused on building awareness while the consumer’s mind is on something else.  Display technologies that have tried to directly respond to user intent (eg, contextual adware like WhenU and Claria) or to interrupt the consumer’s focus (eg, interstitials) have been met with consumer anger and frustration.  Advances in behavioral technology, particularly the decoupling of behavioral tracking from media through data exchanges like Exelate and Blue Kai, are now allowing marketers to target display ads based on user intent in a much less aggressive, more consumer friendly manner.
2. Creative -  The flexibility of text ads allows for virtually unlimited versions according to the particular targeting.  These versions can be quickly optimized based on performance data.  Historically display ads were expensive to create and to optimize quickly and economically.  Adready and Google’s Ad Bullder, among others, now make it easy and quick to create display ads that are good enough to test a marketing concept.  Tumri, Teracent and Dapper allow smart marketers to optimize the creative in real time and make sure that the most relevant and best performing offer is presented to the consumer at the right time.

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