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Privacy and personalization: a marketer’s Catch-22

Coined in Joseph Heller’s classic satirical novel of the same name, ‘Catch-22’ is a term that refers to a situation in which a person is trapped by completely contradictory goals or circumstances.

In Heller’s book, the only way for a pilot to escape his WWII flying mission is to request psychiatric evaluation due to mental instability, and be deemed insane.

However, awareness of his own insanity is considered proof of a rational mind, thus making it impossible to escape his mission, a total and complete Catch-22.

No doubt, many marketers are feeling stuck in this sort of paradoxical situation when it comes to the competing goals of consumer privacy and personalization.

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Building innovation into project management

If your organisation is going to do any sort of substantive innovation, it needs to take on risk. That needs a different style of project management.

Why do you do projects?

For most organisations, the answer is usually something to do with change. “We need to add new features to our product. We need to improve the user experience in our online shop. We need to upgrade the technology running our site”.

That’s kind of odd, when you think about it.

Why the phrase ‘augmented reality’ should be retired

I’m going to nail my colours to the mast. I think augmented reality (AR) technology is already big and can be massive.

The only thing is, I don’t think its best use is in augmenting reality, per se.

Where AR apps have a big future is the creation of a ‘physical world domain’. That’s a phrase used by Ambarish Mitra, CEO of Blippar. It essentially means using objects as the physical keys to information or rewards online.

Blippar signed up with Pepsi and Coca Cola recently and this feels like a game changer. With QR codes failing to be implemented properly in many cases (with bad placement, instructions, URLs, or landing pages), the company could be well-placed to own the discovery and reward space.

FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) feels like a proving ground for this technology (and all reports of the number of scans are good, so far), with immense numbers of units providing marketing real estate to rival any other ‘channel’.

So why might it be so powerful as a tag or key, but not as augmenter?

Should companies in the healthcare sector use social media?

For some industries like travel, beauty and fashion, the advent of social media has been a marketing match made in heaven.

Brands have cashed in on the narcissistic post and boast culture we now live in, offering endless competitions to win ‘money can’t buy’ prizes in exchange for likes, shares or tweets on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

For others the relationship with social media has been less harmonious or practically non-existent.

Sectors such as finance and insurance have been slow to dip their toe into what they perceive to be piranha infested waters.

Thinking ‘dabbling’ in social media is equitable to customer service suicide. 

For the healthcare industry the debate about whether social media is ethical or relevant has been rumbling for some time. Should it be used by healthcare professionals? And if so, to what extent? 

10 trends that will impact your mobile commerce strategy

Finally, mobile devices are at a stage where technology meets and occasionally exceeds the expectations of the consumer.

Although not every retailer is offering a flawless and perfectly persuasive conversion bonanza when it comes to a mobile commerce experience, but most are now beginning to at least think ‘mobile first’ when it comes to ecommerce design.  

Obviously the arguments for responsive or adaptive design can hardly be considered a trend as it’s a conversation that’s been raging for a long while.

So let’s tale a look at some other recent trends that may impact an ecommerce team’s mobile strategy.

Twitter’s analytics update: good news for data-driven marketers

Those of you with a Twitter advertising account may have noticed that their analytics system has had an update this week, and I’ve already seen several posts talking about the impact this will have on social marketing.  

I thought it was worth checking out the changes and seeing if they will in fact lead to a social data revolution…

Luxury brands on YouTube: Does the content match their reputations?

In the early days of social media luxury brands attracted huge followings simply because people liked to be associated with aspirational companies.

I naively thought that those days had passed, but it would appear that luxury fashion brands are still a big draw on social.

It could be that the likes of Chanel and Dior have outstanding content and are excellent at engaging with their fans, but I thought it would be interesting to see if they’re getting by on reputation alone.

According to data from Socialbakers, luxury brands account for four of the top six most-popular fashion labels on YouTube.

Victoria’s Secret is far and away the most popular (453,000 subscribers), followed by Chanel (250,000), Dior (124,000), Quiksilver (117,000), Burberry (110,000) and Louis Vuitton (74,000).

Here’s a look at what these four high-end fashion labels are getting right on YouTube. Or for more on this topic, read our posts looking at Burberry’s social strategy and examining five great luxury ecommerce sites.

Social media in an election year: what can we expect?

Politics and social media go hand in hand. There’s even a social network with political consciousness an implicit demand of its users (Volkalize).

Social media is mature enough now that in America the senate is currently deciding on whether employers should have the right to demand disclosure of social network user names from its employees.

Essentially, we see our free social media activity as a right, as much as we do our vote.

With Alastair Campbell the opening speaker on day two of our Festival of Marketing, and British and American elections in 2015 and 2016 respectively, it seems appropriate to ask ‘what can political parties expect from social media?’

The four pillars of an effective online video strategy

Video is one of the most effective forms of digital content, but also one of the most difficult to get right.

The beauty of video is that it’s both versatile and shareable, so it can be used for a range of functions (e.g. product demos, adverts) and can gain your company huge exposure in the process.

And the stats are certainly appealing. Data included in a report from the IAB shows that in 2013 video accounted for 12% of all time spent online, while separate data published on the Guardian indicates that one in three Britons watch at least one online video per week. 

In relation to ecommerce, we’ve published a number of case studies which show how video can improve conversions if used correctly.

But how do you go about the tricky task of devising your fledgling video strategy?

I’ve delved into the Econsultancy Online Video Best Practice Guide to bring you some advice on where to start.

Exterior of Fenwick High Street Department store showing company name, logo, brand sign and signage

Fenwick: 10 tips for a potential ecommerce giant

Why would a department store close its online store while building a new one?

And, having done that, what should the company do to make sure the relaunch maximises the opportunity?

Here are 10 suggestions for one particular retailer doing exactly that.

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