(Inspired by this conversation between Jukesie and Himal) Lots of companies encourage their staff to blog. It's free PR! It makes them look like they're on the cutting edge of technology! It helps with recruitment! It can also be a corporate nightmare. What if the developer says something stupid? What if it accidentally reveals something top secret? What if the CEO doesn't like it? And so, gradually, any free-wheelin' developer blog gradually succumbs to the tender mercies of the comms team. …
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I like beer. I like the Internet. What if I could get beer using the Internet?!?! A few years ago I purchased a mixed crate of beer online. I unticked all the checkboxes for marketing messages - but incautiously allowed them to send me special offers. Every couple of months, they'd send me an email offering discount beer. And I'd ignore it. Mostly because I was still slowly working my way through the last crate. But one day their marketing algorithm obviously decided that I was about to…
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Marketing really is crap. Recently, SE Railways sent this piece of email drivel to my wife: We don't have any kids, thankfully - and are not having any in the future. My wife was literally recovering from a sterilisation procedure when the email arrived. So it seemed a bit weird that they'd send her a message like that. My wife has never booked a child's fare. She's done nothing to indicate to them that she has spawned. They know that she's married and female, because she set her title to…
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My Chinese takeaway delivery was late. Very late. I flipped open the confirmation email sent by Just-Eat to double-check I had all the details correct. At the bottom was a "click to call" link. Hurrah! I clicked dial, and this is what filled my screen: An absurdly long phone number. Bemused, I went to inspect the link I'd clicked. This is what it showed: The tel: URl scheme is brilliant. You can write something like: <a href="tel:07700 900123">Call Me!</a> And …
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You're sat in a pub, chatting with your mates. You start to moan about how the cheap lager they serve gives you a headache. All of a sudden, a stranger runs up to you and says: "Oh no! Headaches? Have you tried the refreshing taste of Pepsi® Cola? It's the Flavour That Keeps Giving™!" I suspect you would complain to the bar manager and then find a new watering hole. You might, perhaps, tell the stranger never to contact you again. And, yet, this is what happens fairly regularly on Twitter. I…
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Where in the value chain are you? This is a question that we're constantly being asked. When a customer is doing something, who is she doing it with? Who is she doing it for? With whom does she hold the relationship. Above all - Who Owns The Customer? This sort of thinking always bothers me - I don't see anyone as owning the customer. Yesterday, on the train home, I saw a person using Facebook on an Apple laptop with an internet connection provided by Vodafone. Who owns that customer? T…
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Bluetooth spam. It's been debated for a long time, but it looks like it's becoming a reality in the UK now that the ICO say marketers do not need opt-in consent - although the DMA differs in opinion. I was quietly sat in a London restaurant when my phone bleeped into action. Would I like to receive a Bluetooth message from "Coca-Cola". I was curious and I accepted the message - I fully expected it to be a prank and that I would receive Tub Girl or worse... What I actually got was an image, …
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