• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 10, 2005

The analytics company Compete, Inc. today is expected to launch a permission-based desktop marketing program dubbed Voicebox. With it, Compete will serve coupons or other incentives to consumers, in exchange for their permission to be tracked on the Web and have behavioral data shared with marketers.

While the Voicebox platforms are customized for each marketer, some features come standard. Using banner ads, marketers solicit consumer's consent to participate in the exchange. As participating Web users interact with the application displayed on their desktops, the application molds to meet their tastes, based on the data they provide and the way they interact with the Voicebox.

Marketers' need for such a consenting relationship with consumers is a product of the times, according to Don McLagan, president and CEO of Compete.

"Today's consumers are more informed and more elusive than ever," said McLagan. "Voicebox brings marketers and their customers together in an exchange of equals."

Upromise, which provides college tuition aid, is the first company to implement the Voicebox program. It will offer a Voicebox-powered desktop application for members to receive college savings on their purchases of products from partner companies including Citigroup, Lands' End, Sears, and Coca-Cola, among many others.

"It's like frequent flier miles," said a Compete spokeswoman. "Everyone gets something and everybody wins."