Thursday, April 19, 2007

Sell Phones?

African-Americans, particularly young ones, are the most marketed to group of people on Earth. Just in case you thought tv, radio, telemarketers and spam email weren't enough, check out this interesting story from Business Week. Hat tip to BlackElectorate.com, where I found the link.

Advertising is about to get very personal. Marketers are taking tools that they already use to track your Internet surfing and are preparing to combine that information with cell-phone customer data that include not just the area where you live but also the street you're standing on. The aim is to target the exact person who is most likely to buy a product at the precise moment they're most likely to buy it. It's the ad industry's dream come true: a perfect personalized pitch. For privacy advocates, though, this combination of behavioral and geographic targeting is an Orwellian nightmare. read more...

5 comments:

T.C. Dipped said...

Thanks for the link. I don't know if I am feeling the concept of marketers using GPS tracking systems to let consumers know the location of the new Jordans!

These brands are becoming more and more hardcore with their techniques but it seems to be working.

That ringtones thing blew up and it was very interesting to see how they used hip hop culture, balla culture (basketball AND football) and sell phones to make millions of dollars.

I am a Black American woman in my early 30s and I promise you I have never downloaded 1 ringtone on my sell. But I'm starting to realize that I wasn't the target audience (and I am a HUGE music lover, like you).

I am reading a book written by a psychologist about narcissism in romantic relationships. He says that being out on personal time with his family is when he has the best opportunities to do his doctorate research in studying courtship and attraction.

Whenever he spots someone with a flashy/unique/over the top material possession he says he asks himself (in this case it was a tricked out lowrider truck with huge rims) "what kind of person would drive a car like that...what social purpose would such a car serve...what kind of message would it send out and who would be the ideal target of that message?"

He mentioned that he speaks to marketing and advertising people who tell him that if you don't like a t.v. commercial or a widget/gadget/something or other, you were probably NOT the intended target audience.

The problem that I have with that is that so many hustlers have unquestioned access to the black community and we allow ourselves to be persuaded to give all our money to THEM instead of recycling this money back into our own communities.

Then you have the black folks who USE the black community long enough to gain support and credibility to get rich; then you never see them again.

Okay, I'm rambling, sorry. It will be interesting to me to see how this GPS tracking works and if it will become the next big thing.

DP said...

T.C. - thanks for the comment, and no, you're not rambling! It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out. it will be even more interesting to see what happens next; it's a very short path from tracking consumers for advertising purposes to tracking them period. I'd have to think that privacy should enter the equation at some point.

T.C. Dipped said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
T.C. Dipped said...

Hey dp,

"it's a very short path from tracking consumers for advertising purposes to tracking them period."

I think this will be very important issue as companies try to sneak, yes, SNEAK tracking into this technology.

Remember the Sony rootkit cd disaster?

Ugh! Now I know why my cousins give fake names when they're trying to win free stuff at the mall...

(sorry about the previous mumbo jumbo, I had to delete it b/c I pressed "publish your comment" too fast)

DP said...

T.C. - Where Ya At?