Gary Stein writes:
"...marketers should realize that personal information is currency, and that it shouldn't be taken without giving either some form of control over how it is handed out, and the provision of value for its exchange. If Battelle's vision plays out, that "transparent system" should be thouht of as the consumer's checking account, not simply his or her profile."
The company is Root, which is offering the first open market of exchange of customer data thro' trusted participation.
Pamela Parker has this to say about this company and concept:
"Our goal is to be a neutral, independent exchange where we try to get out of the way of the market participants," Seth told me. "We want to provide some open market data and an environment in which people can compete and trade and do business under a level playing field. There's no black box where we're hiding performance data."
To work, the idea requires the participation of four different parties: publishers, advertisers, consumers, and investors. Publishers would be able to bring their leads to market and sell them at a set price, so long as someone's willing to buy at that rate. Advertisers could place orders for leads, saying what they're willing to pay. And investors could play the middle -- taking risks on leads and making money on the spread. Root Markets creates the marketplace.
The consumer piece of the puzzle is especially intriguing. Root Markets plans to tap into the AttentionTrust concept, which believes consumers own their own data -- be it click-stream data, del.icio.us tags, credit reports, or something as fundamental as name and address. In the ideal Root Markets world, consumers who want a chance to win a free iPod or want a mortgage quote would simply allow a selective peek into his Root Vault -- a central, individually managed repository for consumer data.
I think this is indeed an efficient way of driving sanity to the lead generation & customer relationship services market. John Hagel had written about the coming of this revolution in his book NetWorth.
This I believe is a true transformation of permission marketing to participation marketing where the advertisers, media, customers and investors participate. I think this has the potential to take-off.
I would love to hear comments on this.