At last. Some common sense about the so-called enfant terribles of behavioural targeting, Phorm, and from the mouth of a client to give it added credibility.
John Lewis Direct's head of web selling told an Institute of Direct Marketing event last night that Phorm's model is "good" and that the retailer's website user database has a 60% match with that of Phorm's.
It's oh-so-easy to blame Phorm for the PR predicament that behavioural targeting finds itself in. Phorm's tests with British Telecom last year whipped up the privacy storm that even a new code from the Internet Advertising Bureau hasn't managed to calm.
Now the European Commission (no less) is investigating the UK (no less) for its attitude to the privacy issues around Phorm's technology. Client body ISBA has asked the EC not to proceed.
The words of John Lewis Direct's David Walmsley came in the same week that Amazon wrote to a customer to tell them it was blocking Phorm's technology from tracking its website users.
It's Amazon's prerogative to do so of course. But I suspect it is playing to the gallery. It could have deployed a privacy notice that allowed customers to opt in to Phorm tracking.
Amazon's own targeting will start to look "rudimentary," Walmsley said, as behavioural targeting technology advances in sophistication.
How long before Amazon feels compelled to join John Lewis Direct and other brands and publishers have all deployed behavioural tracking technology) in realising that behavioural targeting is a game-changer for online advertisers?
* The Guardian, Sky, Timesonline etc
