Amazon Sponsored Content Local Seminars

Amazon has a new feature on the checkout page, local recommendations. In the example screenshot above, seminars.

Amazon has this to say under What’s This.

LEADERSHIP AND BUSINESS SEMINARS
These ads feature third-party offers that complement the products you’re shopping for on Amazon.com. They are shown on relevant product pages and are always clearly labeled. When you click on an ad, we get revenue. Generating additional revenue from advertising allows us to offer lower prices to you — something we are dedicated to doing in every way we can.

These advertisements are provided by Clickriver Ads. Clickriver is offered by A9.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com.

A9 is part of Amazon. The question is whether Clickserver retains any user information or if Amazon is just passing anonymous location information. Is it a privacy risk?

Admittedly, most Amazon users might be interested in targeted ads instead of random ones. Some users are very open about their address information. The flip side is likely true of most users, they don’t want anyone they don’t explicitly allow having access to their information.

This particular ad shows up on a page only visible to the customer and not visible on the users profile page.

What’s your take?

Your company claims they can’t innovate. It’s because a) this isn’t that type of business, b) there’s no money, c) time is better spent on marketing via ads etc. That might even be the words coming out of your mouth as you read this.

Seth Godin shares an example to challenge that. Imagine being in airport and hearing music. Normally you’d be listening to canned music of some sort. But imagine now that you’re listening to the music and turn around to see a live band. Yes.Live.Real People.Real Instruments. Seth had that experience.

It leads him to question how your company and mine ‘can’t’ innovate when even an airport can. Did it cost them some money? Yes. Did it return some value? Absolutely. Chance are that Seth wasn’t the only one to notice.

In an age when even busy businesses are struggling, innovation is no longer an option. Even staples can’t count on their customer base for keeping sales up. It’s about the truth of real needs versus a bit of emotion attached to those basic needs. People buy what wins their hearts as much as what’s practical.

Who is your customer? Why do they buy from you? What would increase their interest? How could you spend a thousand dollars to win some hearts? A hundred? How about an intern for a week?

Amazon has this running on the side of the main page. What exactly is the deal? Are they selling politics to get folks onto the site? Is it really relevant? How is this supposed to influence my shopping?

As the election draws closer, many blogs and other sites are taking advantage of it to draw traffic.  It seems Amazon is no less susceptible to the desire for hits.  The funny thing is that it’s actually a turn off for me.  I prefer to shop on Amazon, not get my news, politics, or even the weather.

Am I the only one this bothers?