7/31/09

“No one cares about privacy anymore.”

Facts: new technologies are being adopted with such wild abandon that it is hard to believe these are just passing fads-as once television was considered. And acceptance is crossing all generational lines so it’s not just the tweens, teens and those generations ending with letters. And the type of personal information willingly being exchanged through these channels may indeed indicate that the issue of privacy is not as important as it once was. Let’s look at this stuff.


- Cell phones
- Cell phones with cameras
- Cell phones with cameras
- You Tube
- Sext-ing
- Facebook faithful and all social networks-posting the minutiae of life
- Twitterers
- Chat rooms

Do you use any or all of these? Do you really care about this type of privacy? Or is it a very subjective “caring” I guess it depends upon whether you have anything to be private about. Right now, in the U.S. with emphasis on all the real-time forms of social and business communication, many people don’t care. Some do. I don’t. In fact I’d love it if a bank called me-texted me- e-mailed me-mailed me- saying they have reviewed my monthly mortgage payment, checked my FICO score and can offer a much better rate and save me $500 a month. Just sign here. Or a hotel or airline I do business with…or not…offering me deals based upon my travel history and preferences. Sounds like highly targeted and relevant direct marketing to me. Save me money, make life more convenient or give me some simple pleasure and I’ll volunteer some information.


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7/24/09

Thought of the Week

Global Markets Add Fizz as Soda Sales Go Flat in U.S. & EU

Coca-cola announced higher than expected 2nd Q profits due to strong sales in emerging markets with India and China leading the way. Nothing new here. 80% of Coke’s earnings come from overseas markets.

  • North American sales fell by 1%.

  • EU sales grew by 1%.

  • India grew by 33%.

  • China by 14%.


Overall, global volume grew 4%.

How many other companies are profitable largely due to their overseas expansion strategies?

How many other companies could be profitable if they expanded into at least one overseas market?

7/22/09

Jerks and spammers, swines and scammers

Let’s look at a swinish virus then segue into swinish tendencies by certain marketers. Hard to fathom, I know. I am very happy the Swine flu didn’t become a global pandemic. But I didn’t really think it would. Just so much hype. Another case of the media “crying wolf.” And losing a bit more of its rapidly disintegrating credibility. What happens if/when there is a global pandemic or something? Will anyone believe it before it is too late? Here in the U.S. we saw a barrage of news reports, daily, almost hourly, at the local, state and national level. Were these designed to inform or just scare? If the latter, it guaranteed a steady steam of viewers at least until the crisis had passed. Here everything on the news is scary. Don’t eat that. Don’t go there. Don’t buy this. Don’t do that. Don’t fly. Don’t drive. Don’t breathe. But don’t die either.

But for certain roguish marketers, global pandemic scares = money-making opportunities. The entrepreneurial spirit continues to thrive here in America. Not just vaccine producers saw a goldmine in the recent Swine flu hysteria. It didn't take scammers long to latch on to the latest hot-button topic to try to make a quick buck. Scams built on fears of Swine flu spread like, well, a highly contagious virus, across the Internet. The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued an alert warning of a number of e-mail scams related to the Swine flu. The attacks arrive via an unsolicited e-mail message typically containing a subject line related to the Swine flu. Dozens of new Swine flu domain names were registered in the days following the media scare. The Federal Trade Commission and Food & Drug Administration sent out alerts about bogus products related to this “killer flu.”

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7/14/09

Recession Indicators

Many have heard about the “McDonald’s or Big Mac Index, as a method of determining salaries and disposable income and thus how well off a nation is. It is based upon how many minutes or hours a worker in a major world city earning an average salary needs to work in order to purchase a Big Mac. Tokyo used to be the winner with something like seven minutes. New York and London were not far behind. Some cities in developing countries could take as long as 20 hours. Sounds simple but it was a very effective indicator, really.

But times have changed. That was a 90’s Index. Now we are entering the second decade of a new century and need a new index. So I am proposing the Pole Dancer index. Certain “industries” are considered recession proof. Most have to do with sin or vice depending upon whether you are religious or a police official. For average folk, we call these necessities. These would include gambling, drinking, smoking, fraternizing with women who demand cash upfront, etc. The “Gentlemen’s Club” one would think, would fall into this category. But wait. A few years ago, these clubs were thriving. Believe it or not, there are publicly-traded strip club corporations that were seeing 300-400% gains in their stock price by an aggressive expansion strategy. Use the word expansion anyway you see fit. But recession anxiety, like performance anxiety, manifests itself in mysterious ways. With the onset of the recession, sales began receeding at these clubs faster than their clientele’s hairlines.

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7/9/09

Marketing Celebrity Worship!

RIP Michael Jackson-a supremely talented individual. Robbed of a normal childhood by exploitative parents.

Is the marketing and media blitz out of control?

I am convinced that we hold celebrities and athletes in such high regard, well out of proportion to reality, that someday we may even worship one. The “Gloved One” is definitely a candidate for deification. But the #1 candidate has to be Elvis. Think about it. He’s already referred to as “The King.” People have “altars” to his memory in their homes. His home, Graceland, is a pilgrimage destination. I predict he will be worshipped and people will wear little gold guitars around their necks in his honor. Maybe another 200 years.

Right now, the worshipping is being done by the marketers but who can blame them as fanatical Michael Jackson fans are ready to buy, read, listen, view, or do anything Jackson related.

7/7/09

Welcome to Doug's Corner

This blog is designed to comment upon U.S. and international financial, cultural, demographic, social and political events that affect marketing, media, data, trends and consumer behavior.

It will draw upon research from my monthly column in DMI www.dmionline.net but will have many additional features and observations.

It will be written from a global perspective to offer hands-on, practical information for all those involved in or considering taking their business international.