I came across this site while surfing it’s http://www.i-allow.com , It a new site just launch in Europe with the aim of protecting consumers date from marketers.  “ALLOW” as it is called is the brain child of Justin Basini and Howard Huntley. Recently Launched in Great Britain it has had some followers already.  The premise behind the quick success is the promise of freedom to consumers from junk and unsolicited marketing communication of all sorts.

Allow, which is a free service, will act as the go-between in an advertising campaign. The consumer will register and then opt in for the kind of advertising they are will to receive, it can be very targeted up to the brand allow if I understand correctly. ALLOW will them contact the advertisers who can then sent their ads to that person for a predetermine period. The consumers will also have the opportunity to opt out any database so as not to receive any king of solicitation.  This would work in both the electronic and hard copy communication; a little like a broader no call list.

On the site Basini state that the European Convention on Human Rights enshrines individual privacy as a right that must exist in civilized culture and right now on a daily basis that right is being infringed upon and burdened by unwanted advertising. ALLOW will advise consumers on how their “data” is being 100 mg viagra used thus giving them control of their personal lives without any more intrusion.

On the site it also state that in the current situation regarding personal data information, the consumer, the owner of the data does not really known where their personal data are stored and who have access to them. Furthermore with the apparent inexhaustible computer storage, the ease of use of advance data analysis software and the apparent simple action as using Facebook, Twitter fall in the gray area of information exploitation at the detriment of the data owner. All this is supposed to be only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to monetization of “data”.

In an interview Basini said “This concept of data storage is universal, the next big revolution of the Internet is connectivity of data, and it can either happen with consumers in control or out-of-control.”

So what does that mean to us marketers? Is this the beg inn

ing of a new era in marketing?  As we each try to answer these questions and stat having some strategic planning, I believe we should also look at the man behind this concept.

Who is Justin Basini? In Europe Basini became notorious when at the head of brand marketing at Capital One Europe, which he let in June 2009, he had the brand move from direct mail customer’s recruitment to digital marketing. During his tenure it is reported that over 2 millions of e-mail -this sound a little like spamming to me- was sent out to recruit customers. Well this 36 year old seam to have always follow up aggressively on his action and succeeded.  

Well I think I have just found another angle on this train of thought….well, I am digressing, draw your own conclusion!