Jim Nail, a senior analyst on online advertising and branding at Forrester Research in Boston, said YesMail.com is among the early leaders in the emerging business of "permission marketing."

"Permission marketing is the next big thing on the Internet. This is going to be huge because of the obvious economic advantage of e-mail, which will cut severely into traditional direct mail," he said.

A recent Vanderbilt University analysis of consumer responses . . . reported that more than 72 percent of Web users would relinquish their data if they were assured of "a cooperative relationship built on trust"—specifically, if the sites would provide statements about how the data were going to be used.

In Mr. Godin's lexicon, that cooperation is the essence of permission marketing, which has three basic components: it is anticipated, it is personal and it is relevant.

Yoyodyne has built its reputation on creating effective online marketing programs which engage consumers in a positive dialogue with an advertiser," said Seth Godin, CEO of Yoyodyne. "We are delighted to present this prize to Paul and welcome him into the Yoyodyne family of winners. The terrific feedback from this program, as well as the remarkable level of participation, is a strong endorsement of our ongoing permission marketing strategy to reach Internet consumers in a considerate fashion.