• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 11, 2008

It’s not even time for the midday break at the OMMA Behavioral conference, and the cherry metaphor already has been utilized twice to refer to behavioral targeting. No, it’s not because it’s still a virgin digital marketing application, it’s because some gurus believe BT is a small, but crowning part of a tasty dessert.

First IAC Media and Advertising CEO Peter Horan described BT as, “the cherry on top of the whip cream on top of sundae. It’s a beautiful thing, but it’s not enough.”

During her “next big thing” panel later this morning, Netplus Marketing’s Robin Niefield invoked the fruit analogy again,

“Maybe behavioral is that cherry at the top,” she said, comparing BT to the way agencies and marketers thought about search marketing five or six years ago. When clients would come to her and say, “We want to do search,” she would reply by saying, “What is your objective.”

“It’s tough to make that objective if you’re doing 100% behavioral,” she concluded.

The FTC’s Michele Rosenthal made no notes on her legal pad.