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If you were ethical from the outset, GDPR is already done

by | May 23, 2018 | business, marketing, op-ed

I’ve been highly amused at the passive-aggressive tone of some of the GDPR related comms I’ve been receiving here at Delevine Towers.

The awful Myspace wannabe Reverb Nation flounced off an ultimatum worthy of a manipulative teenager. “It’s been too long since you logged in … In fact it’s been about two years since you used any of our powerful tools. This will be your last e-mail unless you log in.” To which I reply: “Buh-bye.”

“This is your last chance to connect,” warns an airline I have never flown with, who got my e-mail address from an online ticket broker and started spamming me. Buh-bye.

Elsewhere, whole forums of net-preneurs are pulling out their hair about the implications of GDPR-compliance.

But it’s very simple.

If you ran your permission marketing and privacy ethically from the outset, GDPR is already done. And if you’re worried — you’re why it was necessary.

The great content Ponzi scheme

by | Sep 29, 2016 | content, marketing, op-ed, strategy

I can tell you how to earn six figures working from home. Just read this post about how to win at content marketing — which is in itself a piece of content marketing — and join my mailing list to get a free download.

Does anyone ever click on this awful stuff anymore? (more…)

Turned out niche again

by | Jan 30, 2016 | consumer markets, marketing, op-ed, publishing

A writer friend announces he’s working on a history of game shows. Someone critiques: “A bit niche isn’t it? Wouldn’t your efforts be better spent writing a telly show?”

The implication is that, when a project is being pitched, the ultimate goal should be broad, populist approval. If the project can’t have mass appeal, then it should be abandoned and efforts reallocated to something that might.

It’s the model by which most arts funding operates and, crucially, the way UK book publishing has been running itself for the last couple of decades.

Why? (more…)

Facebook to tip off state surveillance targets

by | Oct 19, 2015 | marketing, op-ed, strategy

no2phoneEspionage news

In an interesting twist to an ongoing story, Facebook has revealed it will now tip off people whose profiles it suspects are targets of espionage carried out or “sponsored” by nation states.

Users whose accounts have been compromised will now receive a pop-up notification warning them that “state-sponsored actors” (i.e. secret agents) are possibly now in control of their profile and that they should switch on an additional security feature called “Login Approvals”, which enables two-factor authentication. This kind of authentication might include entering a secret code sent securely via SMS to a burner phone in a dead drop in the laundry room of a Madrid hotel, among other methods. (more…)

Gotcha marketing is over

by | Sep 9, 2015 | marketing, op-ed, retail

But did anyone get the memo?

Two sales promotions caught my eye recently. One was from French retailer Relais, who offered “Your choice of sandwich plus any drink for 5,20€”. When the cashier asked me for 7,30€ I mentioned the offer and he pointed to some tiny print on the ad that basically said only one or two sandwiches were covered by the deal. It was “your choice*” — by which they meant: “our choice”. And the sandwiches actually included in the deal were not available on the shelf. Gotcha.

“It’s not illegal*,” the clerk said, apologetically. “But it’s not cool.” (more…)

Why Google logo haters miss the point

by | Sep 4, 2015 | branding, marketing, op-ed, strategy

A well-known company has only to change its logo in order to activate a flood of tired journalistic tropes.

First off is the “How much??” story, in which non-designers say the cost was ridiculous. “I’d have done it for a tenner,” says a man with Photoshop on his computer.

Then there are the hatchet jobs. Some are delivered by paid hacks whose editors have given them a hating brief and some are delivered by injured professional parties who insist they would have done a better job had they had landed the contract. I’m not sure which of these is worse. (more…)