The Marketing Conference Blog

We have reasons as to why we can’t do certain things until we are of a certain age. I’m fairly sure I don’t have to list the majority of them.

I find marketing to those who we have deemed to be financially immature in a legal sense to be amoral at best and immoral at worst.

As this article points out:

Protecting children under the age of 13 was one of the biggest issues addressed by the latest Mobile Marketing Association Consumer Best Practices Guidelines released on July 17. [report pdf]

The guidelines are there because there’s obviously a school of thought that believes children should be protected from over-zealous marketing. However, the only suggestions the article highlights are the use of ‘exhortative language’ such as ‘only’ and ‘just’ and adding mandatory double opt-ins when using interactive voice response or the mobile Web.

As effectiveness goes, we’re probably talking ashtrays on motorbikes.

I know the argument that children are going to spend their money on something, and who is anyone to dictate what that something may be. Children especially love their phones. They should have access to ringtones and other assorted modifications that suit their lifestyle choices and represent who they are as little people just like the big people. It’s their choice. It’s up to marketing associations to decide the moral boundaries as to what can or cannot be peddled.

In fact, this has more to do with the morality of marketers than those being marketed to.

But, I’ll ask anyone to find me someone under the age of thirteen who is able to purchase an iPhone and sign a two-year contract with AT&T independently without requiring a co-signer or raiding the ‘mom bank’. (Spoiled little brats with monstrous trust funds in place that they’ve been able to access since birth don’t count.)

Find me a child along those lines and then we can have a discussion.

This past couple of weeks I’ve been doing a spot of furniture shopping and there’s been at least one thing in common with a certain portion of furniture salespeople – they’ve got limpet tendencies.

Is there any situation you can recall where you’re cock-a-hoop over anybody, whether it be a better half, a pooch, or a salesperson appearing from every nook and cranny to either surprise, lick, or ‘just see how you’re doing’.

If only we could take out injunctions against stalking salesmen with stale aftershave in the same way we can with an ex who’s determined to get themselves back in your good books by setting fire to your belongings.

It comes as no surprise that people aren’t overly keen on being pestered by advertisers on their cell phones either. According to this article:

Nearly two-thirds of mobile phone owners said their phones were very personal to them. Mobile users also had definite preferences about what types of ads they found acceptable.

70% deleted ads as soon as they saw them.

And here’s the projected spend:

eMarketer Senior Analyst John Gauntt predicted how the US mobile ad market will develop:

“After a lot of hand-wringing and some spectacular successes — as well as flameouts — mobile operators, brands and consumers will learn from each other about what works and what does not work, just like they did for online.”

Here’s what works for me – while I understand everybody has to put food on the table, I fall into the two-thirds majority described above. I very rarely even bat an eyelid at any form of advertising or unsolicited sales approach. In fact, I make a determined effort to avoid individuals or companies that use these tactics.

I might very well be an awkward customer, but the advent of the internet has at least allowed me to become an empowered shopper with the ability to garner more information about a product or service than your average salesperson might possess. I want information that I determine to be relevant as opposed to weird pop-ups and texts that cost me a quarter to view.

If I’m looking for a chair, I’m governed simply by aesthetics and price – my backside knows if it’s comfortable or not. I also might buy into a brand or I might not. A good salesperson will point me in the right direction and inform me of anything I might not know and be of benefit to me in the buying process. A bad one will follow me around like a bad smell hoping for a sale or at least some contact information.

Saying that, I’m a sucker for a fantastic sales pitch!