How Marketers Want To Trick Mobile Operators Into Letting Them Spam You

from the sneaky,-sneaky dept

For quite some time now, we've covered the various ridiculous attempts by bad marketers to figure out how to start spamming mobile phones. They don't quite seem to grasp the idea that mobile phone spamming is significantly more intrusive and annoying than traditional email spamming -- and people already absolutely hate that kind of spamming. Since people have their mobile phones all the time, even when not actively using it, a mobile phone spam can really interrupt lots of other activities. At the same time, it can often cost the user money. So, while it's no surprise that they want to spam people, many (though, certainly not all) mobile operators have at least realized that it's probably a bad idea to let it happen. However, the spammers can be sneaky, and the latest ploy is to try to convince mobile operators to hand over subscriber info for spamming purposes using a bit of backwards logic. The marketers are telling mobile operators that they should give up subscriber data in order to make sure users get less spam-like notifications. Makes no sense? Here's the quote: "Please release the data to us so we can target our campaigns and make them as relevant as possible. If carriers want that ad revenue, they'll have to release that data." Basically, they're saying that they're going to spam users one way or another, but if the operators cough up all your data, then they can at least try (and, most likely, fail) to target the ads a bit (oh yes, and to kick back some money to the operator). Of course, these users haven't requested the ads and most likely don't want them at all, targeted or not. The marketing folks need to rethink mobile advertising and realize that it can't be intrusive in any way. Not even "opt-in" messaging makes sense, because someone may want a message now, but they won't want it tomorrow. For something potentially so intrusive, mobile operators need to learn to accept advertising that users pull. That is, make it easy for people to request the info for that one time only. This can be tied to an advertisement elsewhere (billboard, poster, magazine, TV, etc.) or just having people know to request info when needed -- but every time should be user-initiated. And, for that, advertisers certainly don't need mobile operators to cough up everyone's subscriber data.
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  • identicon
    harry, 30 Sep 2005 @ 5:05am

    Targeted Ads

    I would say people don't want the poorly targeted ads that the marketing industry would try to SPAM.
    Meaning, I would disagreed with the notion that people don't want targeted ads. When done really well, people love them.. the HUGE BUT is the part about doing it well.. You have to know the person well enough, that the ads are actually well targeted.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Captain Caveman, 30 Sep 2005 @ 7:14am

      Re: Targeted Ads

      That is just pure BS! Plain & Simple.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      z0idberg, 30 Sep 2005 @ 8:32am

      Re: Targeted Ads

      "You have to know the person well enough"
      If they know me well enough they will know to never..ever spam my inbox/spam my mobile/send me junk mail/telemarket me/stop me in the street to sell me something....ever. I HATE being told what i need to buy/donate my money to/which religion to follow etc. etc.
      "people love them"
      WHO?!?! no-one I know...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Robert Martin, 30 Sep 2005 @ 9:38am

        Re: Targeted Ads

        Eventually, somebofy's gotta do it...

        free phones and maybe even free phone service in exchange for accepting spam.

        It's inevitable, I tell ya!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          jdw242, 30 Sep 2005 @ 10:53am

          Re: Targeted Ads

          I'll take that offer; you pay me to spam my phone.

          In response to other posts here:

          If my provider allows phone SPAM, I'll be first in line telling them to stop, or I will not be using their service any longer; oh and that payment (for messages received that were not requested or from a known sender) will not be forth coming since they are probably making some profit from said SPAM anyway.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        James Quintana Pearce, 30 Sep 2005 @ 11:07pm

        Re: Targeted Ads

        "people love them"
        WHO?!?! no-one I know...


        People love targeted ads that they opt-in to, because they always give a benefit (specific information, special deals and so on).
        If the ads haven't been specifically requested, they're not targeted enough to be sent.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Just Me, 30 Sep 2005 @ 6:30am

    Dear Gary Towning of OgilvyOne Worldwide

    It costs me money to receive messages on my cell phone. It costs me time to receive messages. It interrupts what I'm doing.

    I have therefore decided to blacklist any company sending me spam. I'll also blacklist the advertising company. I won't do business with anybody who doesn't respect my privacy.


    Plus, the 404 page at http://www.ogilvyone.com/ is rather stupid, since that's the name of your own department. At least auto redirect.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      blankmeyer, 30 Sep 2005 @ 7:16am

      Re: Dear Gary Towning of OgilvyOne Worldwide

      Not only will I blacklist any company sending spam to my mobile, I will post about it on public forums including my blog.
      I'll be pissed at my carrier and will most likely switch to another if they sell my data.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Fredo, 30 Sep 2005 @ 7:37am

        Re: Dear Gary Towning of OgilvyOne Worldwide


        First, I will switch carriers. If that fails, I will turn my phone off for incoming calls. If that fails, I will place it in my glove box for emergency use and switch to per-use plan.
        Let's see how profitable this can become!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Josh, 30 Sep 2005 @ 7:39am

    Will it ever stop?

    Is anybody on the same wave length as I am when I say that the constant barrage of advertising is harmful? How does it affect kids? You can you turn on the TV to just about any station and see ads for ED pills, breast enlargement pills, and every type of drug you could ever want at anytime of the day. You see advertising everywhere, video games, music videos, tv shows (not just the commercials in between), movies, etc. I'm tired of advertising, period.
    A good example: I hate that I pay money for a DVD only to be forced to watch previews of other movies that I can buy before I get to the main menu so I can actually see the content I purchased.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    TJ, 30 Sep 2005 @ 1:19pm

    A use for ringtones

    Happily so far the only unwanted calls I get on my cell are wrong numbers, and no more than a few of those a month. If undesired calls start to be a problem I've already decided on a solution: Use good ringtones for all my contact groups, and make the default ringtone a short chirp or total silence. I've got my ring delay into voicemail set at 30 seconds already so I have more time to answer desired calls. If marketers wait that long I can quickly delete their voicemails, and my provider doesn't seem to count minutes spent listening to voicemail. Unless unwanted calls start coming several a day, it should be a workable strategy.

    As for what I want, absolutely no marketing calls on my cell - targeted or otherwise. A big motivator for dropping my land line what that it was a magnet for unwanted calls.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Gonzarella, 30 Sep 2005 @ 1:41pm

    Grow you cellphone antenna naturally

    SMS.ac anyone? or better known as ScaMs. Without knowing who they were, (I rarely use my cellphone ) I applied for a position with them. They did offer me the job, even offered more money that I asked for. I nearly accepted it, just asked for couple of days to think about it. Went on the net and did a simple search on the domain name. Wow! I mean WOW! What a bunch of frigging crooks they are! I am SO happy I didn't take their job offer.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

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