• by Joe Mandese , February 11, 2008

Talk about starting your conference keynotes off on a downer note. After noting that the media business is fundamentally about delivering advertisers “influential and qualified buyers,” and egging the audience on by suggesting we are moving to an “age of intent driven media, as opposed to an age of brand driven media,” OMMA Behavioral keynoter IAC Media and Advertising CEO Peter C. Horan identified a fundamental flaw in the behavioral movement.

Citing an example of Chevrolet’s use of behavioral targeting in the marketing of its Silverado trucks, Horan said it generated impressive effectiveness: “Our cost of acquisition went down, and we are only talking to qualified customers,” he paraphrased the Chevy marketing team as saying, “but there was three of them.”

The fundamental problem with BT he said, is that it doesn’t build mass media brands.

“The job of advertising is not just to preach to the converted. It’s also to convert,” he said.