Has Online Advertising Lost its Serendipity?

Has Online Advertising Lost its Serendipity?
Are consumers missing the boat because they don't have a "prepared mind"?

Let me first say that I am all for the granularity of advertising. The shotgun marketing that some agencies still use can be quite off the mark. I also have been a leader in the cry for better targetability, especially as it pertains to geographic targeting; and I remain a huge proponent. However, have some online companies, some agencies and other media outlets gone too far the other way? Are we now missing "discovery" as a key ingredient in the marketing mix?

Let me explain what I mean. Serendipity is defined as the ability to gain knowledge from accidental events. Many famous new products have been discovered accidentally, but many potential discoveries were overlooked because the observer was not serendipitous (having a prepared mind).

Let's take that definition and apply it to marketing. If we all lived in a vacuum (see, the only word in the English language with "uu" in it, did you know that before this article?) and only went online looking for things via search, or browsing web pages would we accidentally find something we didn't know we needed? I mean, isn't that what marketing is all about -- creating awareness of products and services that Joe Public needs but just doesn't know it?  

But seriously, if we all live in this huge behavioral, geographic and contextual targeted world, are we exposed to things that we might be interested in, but just don't know it? Was the apple falling on Newton serendipity?  Newton himself says it helped him formulate his theory of gravitation by watching the fall of an apple from a tree. It fell straight down--why was that, he asked? Had he planned on the apple falling? If the apple didn't fall, would his theory have never been developed? Perhaps, not by him!

Here's a crazy scenario: Let's say Isaac didn't live in a rural town, but instead lived in the big city with nary an apple tree in sight. He then would be geographically indisposed of seeing aforementioned phenomenon. Going further, let's say he goes online looking for various math formulas. He of course searches the web for words such as math, astronomy, motion and the like. What are the chances that he'll find some online widget that has an apple falling straight down from a tree? Slim to none, I would guess. Heck, even if contextually, he were reading an article about motion and gravity, he's not going to notice the tree falling right beside his head as he reads the Viagra banner ad next to him!