I have a confession to make. I have never prepared a Xmas dinner. I prefer cheese to chocolate. I only own a couple of pairs of shoes. My shopping trips consist of darting into a store to buy the item I’ve previously identified online.  No, I am not a man. But at this time of year I have much in common with men. You see I am difficult to buy for.  Let me re-phrase that. I am difficult to sell to.

Advertising used to be about how many people you could reach. TV has the biggest audience reach. But it is like the aunt who doesn’t really know me and misguidedly buys into the ‘For Her’ gift suggestions of pink hair straighteners, floral pruning shears and cashmere bed socks.

It is a blunt tool, yet TV advertising still attracts the bulk of the marketing spend. I watch TV but I hang out online. Online knows me better. Tailored adverts feed into my wish lists. I don’t mind (too much) that the brands know who I am, what I like, and what I do.

It all goes back to basics – reaching the right people, at the right time in the right place. I may be a smaller audience – little old me – but I’m more like to engage with the brand than the hundreds of thousands sitting in front of the box.

The difference is this: TV advertising focuses on target groups. Online treats me as an individual. And I like that. But what do you think?