We’ve talked about behavioral targeting in the past—particularly about the worries that consumer advocates have about privacy. The issue underscores just how important other targeted marketing—particularly permission-based digital messaging—can be to the marketer who wants a comprehensive, multi-channel campaign to which consumers will truly be receptive.

A proposed New York state law can make things more challenging for the digital marketer—particularly the one who shuns best practices (such as getting permission from consumers before sending out advertisements, and ensuring privacy of the consumer’s contact information). It’s a response to the aforementioned concerns about behavioral targeting, in which ads are served up based on a Web user’s behavior (if the user has browsed sites about animals, the site will show ads for pet shops, for example). In a nutshell, the law would make it illegal for certain Internet companies to use personal information without the consumer’s permission.

While this law is specific to the state of New York, because of the no-borders nature of the Internet, marketers nationwide would end up having to follow the law as well, whether or not they do business in the state or advertise to the state’s denizens. At fines of up to $3000 per violation, no wonder marketers are watching this development carefully.

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aka “F.U.D. in N.Y.C.”

The saying is “you learn something new every day.” This week I can happily report that my rate of informational ingestion was significantly higher than that. But the gem for me wasn’t in the factoids, marketing claims, “breakthrough technologies” or other information bits getting past my screen. It was an impression of the state of the online marketing industry I got from 4 days in New York City as an exhibitor at the Search Engine Strategies ‘08 conference.

The conference attendees were online marketing professionals seeking to improve their skills with search techniques and products. The exhibitors were generally somehow involved in optimizing websites to drive more traffic, or showing off their lead generation and PPC networks. I had the pleasure of personally speaking with a couple hundred entrepreneurs, business professionals, consultants, media representatives – as well as several people who appeared to just want a free pen and a piece of chocolate.

Before I tell you what I learned, a little about the conference: There were some really solid presenters that gave high-impact advice on what / how / when / who / where in the online marketing world. Worth the price of a ticket to hear some of the better ones. There were also the prognosticators with detailed descriptions of what will happen next in the industry. The ones who got something right over the last 4 years were designated visionaries; the ones who missed on everything beyond horoscope-like generalities were also there with brand new and exciting generalities. Go to http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/ for a list of presenters as it’s not my intent in this blog to critique each or any.

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Regular readers probably saw mobileStorm CEO Jared Reitzin’s video blog early this week, explaining our latest video services and endeavors.

Talk about great timing! Some brand-new reports prove that Internet video is ready to move from the bedrooms of wannabe filmmakers and into the boardrooms of companies that are serious about keeping their advertising fresh and relevant. We, of course, knew it all along.

The latest? Not content with just posting old episodes of Heroes, NBC has plans to create online-specific video for “ad categories,” according to an interview ClickZ conducted with the TV network’s chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff. Ad-specific video was the primary reason for NBC’s investment in driverTV, which was announced Monday.

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Thanks in part to mobileStorm, basketball fans can now receive phone calls from some of their favorite NBA stars.

A new campaign on the NBA’s site (www.nba.com/matchups) lets sports enthusiasts create “Matchups” between their favorite players. Fans can then sign up to receive messages—via voice, SMS, or email—reminding them when those two players will tip off against each other. These reminders will be sent the morning of the game, giving the time, teams and channel scheduled for the matchup.

I’m betting that supporters of players like Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns and Caron Butler of the Washington Wizards will be stoked to get pre-recorded voice calls from them, telling them exactly when and where the game will be shown! But giving fans the choice of message is smart. Some may like all the details that can be provided in an email, and others may want to receive a text message alerting them to tune in.

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