Cookies, data and who they think you are… Jeffrey Rosen in the NY Times on web marketing, data gathering and online targeting. The writer takes on two identities (one Democrat, one Republican) and proceeds to track marketers’ efforts to reach him. Pluses and minuses like with most things, but Rosen points out there are some things that should be of concern. “Designated market segments — like “safety-net seniors” or “midscale thrift spenders” — aren’t just troubling only from a privacy perspective; they can also lead to tangible economic harms like profiling, redlining and price discrimination” Rubin also points out, “Personalization can lead you down a road to a kind of informational determinism in which what you’ve clicked on in the past determines what you see next — a Web history you’re doomed to repeat. You can get stuck in a static, ever-narrowing version of yourself — an endless you-loop.” A long way from the “Mad Men” era, but we don’t think we have anything close to the full force of new technology. Once the code has been cracked to reach you on tablets, phones with few speed and data limitations, it should be quite a marketing party… Btw, great illustrations of consumer types by Edward del Rosario.
Month: December 2012
in the house… Great series of print and TV spots for Carter’s, part of the “Count on Carter’s” campaign by BBDO Atlanta. Short 15-second spots (“Warm & Cozy”, “Life of the Party”,“Baby Soft Microfleece”) are wonderfully simple, cute and emotionally captivating. Kids ain’t bad either…
Best early-winter farmstand art direction… Montgomery Place Orchards, Red Hook, New York.
