Comments on: What’s Next for Marketing? Reality Mining

By: Ovidiu Galatanu

Ovidiu Galatanu — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:47:31 +0000

Dear all, I happened upon this particular link while doing a bit of research on reality mining – so excuse my intruding from outside the marketing profession. Thought you’d like to see/read Watchbird – bit of food for thought about privacy issues and Big Brother-like control…

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:02:10 +0000

For future readers of this post, also see this article on reality mining... http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_18/b4082052972385.htm?chan=search

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:08:13 +0000

Jim, thanks for commenting. You are correct in that companies of all sizes have mined their databases for hidden nuggets -for quite some time actually.
What is potentially new, however, is a deeper mining of the data – reality mining – as described above. It could be of huge benefit to both customer and company.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:14:16 +0000

Anybody familiar withthe concept of database driven marketing here? For years every interactionthe average American has with their bank,credit card purchases, taxes, cara nd home purchases, births, most major retailers and every pharma company including perscription info has been recorded, tracked, mined, analyzed and used to target marketing and advertising. All without your opt in. (I was VP at one such company) So now the cell phone companies are going to be doing the same thing with your cell phone – and people are surprised? For the last year I was involved in using eexactly this type of carrier data to target mobile ads – advertisers loved it and consumers had no complaints – not a single one.
Anybody want to learn more about what all this means, how to use it correctly and what the carriers will and won’t do with such data give me a call – I’ve been doing it.

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:21:19 +0000

Tim, you make a good point about transparency. Obfuscation and chicanery doesn’t win friends and it most certainly doesn’t win repeat business. A good customer relationship, much like a friendship is based on trust. Marketers who intentionally break that trust are setting themselves up for a reputation busting and brand killing “YouTube” moment.

By: Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 00:31:34 +0000

The question with opt-in is often “how deep in the clauses is it buried?” I began installing a piece of software yesterday, but had a gut feel it might be sending data about me and my useage. I began reading the legal-speak EULA, and after 10 minutes I gave up and decided the benefit of the software just wasn’t worth any more of my time reading the legal garbage to find out if it was going to spy on me. I’d definitely go with companies that make it clear they respect my privacy.
Sometimes when a site wants to “customise advertising to my preferences” I tick all the boxes. How does limiting the scope of what I’m exposed to benefit me? How does distracting me with the same advertising over and over benefit me?
I’m not a marketer – I read this site to find out what unscrupulous marketers are going to try and hit us with next. I have no problem with ethical marketing – I’ll be in your focus groups and take part in your legitimate U&A surveys, and I’ll even often agree to data collection if you’re up front about what you collect, what you’ll do with it, and make it easy for me to change my mind later. Just don’t invade my privacy or bury what you do with my data in the 31rd paragraph of a policy.

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:03:00 +0000

John, thank you for your comment. It has been real interesting to read Tier one business publications over the past 1-3 years regarding data privacy issues. This issue is rising to the top of considerations that all governments and citizens will have to address.
There will always be a careful balance between benefit and big brother. Some companies cross the line unsuccessfully and have to retreat – others such as Google (Gmail and other apps) seem to navigate the territory more successfully.
Going forward – I am sure you (and others) will stay involved in the discussion – and that’s a good thing!

By: John Calkins

John Calkins — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:07:21 +0000

Sounds like privacy invasion to the max. Patterns will be set by the mining group that will categorize the information. Your grouping may hurt you with insurance, medical services and credit. http://hotcookies.net

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:21:08 +0000

Dusan, thank you for commenting. Your sentiments are shared by many people. A data driven approach to marketing allows us – from bottom up – to learn more about our customers through our daily interactions and transactions. With the available technologies and systems today, we can capture and learn more about our customers than ever before.
The key, as you point out, is what we do with this information. Do we use it to make a better customer experience, improve operational efficiences and increase our profitability? I certainly hope so.

By: Dusan Vrban

Dusan Vrban — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:02:22 +0000

This and other technology is leading to the death of the marketing as we know it?
http://www.kainoto.com/eng/marketing-hrm-knowledge-news/pznanje4.aspx/4/154
I see more and more posts about technology and personal data being networked and as Lewis pointed out excelently – the benefits are unclear. We might think that we will do a better job for someone. But will we? Who wants to be a hero and judge my behavior in a way to “help me”?
I’m a very open person and giving out a lot of my data (I think that’s the best way of protecting for now). Yet some of the things that science sees as progress, kinda scare me.