At the iMedia Agency Summit in Austin yesterday, Yahoo! spoke about some innovations with their Smart Ad program that have sparked our curiosity.

Essentially, the platform is built to utilize the multitude of information that Yahoo! has available about the consumers who visit the site and network partners. They are referring to it as the DNA behind the targeting to ensure that the right ads, right messaging, right color palettes, right offer, etc., are all nicely bundled and reaching the right consumers at the right time throughout the Yahoo! network.

What’s so innovative about that? Yahoo! says it’s a much-awaited advance in targeting, allowing for many, many creative iterations to be deployed at the drop of a hat, er…online cookie. With so many variables, this new Smart Ad will allow for the creation of hundreds of thousands of ads on the fly. It definitely doesn’t mean that the creative team members will be blurry eyed sitting in a dark room making these hundreds of thousands of ads.

What’s our early take on the new Yahoo! approach? We think it sounds smart, and it has been done by quite a few publishers and agencies, to a degree, through what we’ve all referred to as dynamic ads. Now, this takes dynamic ads just a bit further by encompassing all of the variables that could change within the creative. We’re very interested in this from a costing standpoint: will it allow them to open up the media placement as a run-of-site deal (meaning that media houses will benefit from the efficiencies)?

What does it not really account for? We have to wonder while the targeting and tailoring of the ad to the consumer is definitely there, do we sacrifice the contextual targeting? Or, will Yahoo! take it that one extra step and still allow us to purchase without the ROS layer and use the service across selected properties, content and sections? Also with the vast amount of data points for providing results, will there be a stable enough base of impressions and clicks across the multiple iterations of the creative to provide a sound direction in terms of results? We think it’s great to have a fit for all; however, at what point is it actionable? Word on the street is that the “buy in” on this action is somewhere in the early six figures.

While many questions remain unanswered (this is fresh off the presses here at iMedia), we’re looking forward to the chance to sit down with Yahoo! and hear more about this intriguing possible advancement in ad targeting.

If you ask my kids, I’m a Luddite. Totally out of it when it comes to technology, in spite of all evidence to the contrary — the cell phone, the iPod, the iMac and the digital camera. Not to mention my mad TV remote skills.

In truth, many of us are loosely anchored between two emerging forces, Facebook nation and the 3G mobile world. We’re older and wiser, but not ancient. We spend plenty of time online, but don’t live there. We have cell phones, but they don’t double as umbilical cords. We depend on technology, but don’t gasp for breath without it. We’re tech-savvy, but weren’t exactly weaned on it.

Strangely enough, because we grew up in the Dick Tracy era, we have a longstanding fascination with mobile devices and can fathom their potential maybe even more than our Boomer kids can. Indeed, we stand in awe of the possibilities of mobile technology, not only in the U.S., but in countries where mobile is blooming in the absence of a suitable infrastructure for more traditional communications technologies.

Even as mobile apps flow freely into the market and devices amaze us with their capabilities and interfaces, it’s clear there’s still plenty of room for growth.

Where’s mobile headed and what do we want out of it? For users, the answer is more. More ways to connect. More ways to search. More ways to share. More ways to download. More ways to operate on the fly. For marketers, it’s smarter ways to reach and engage users. Smarter ad-funded content. Smarter targeting and analytics. Smarter viral advertising. And rock-solid protection for users who don’t want to receive mobile ads.