Privacy is Dead

I smell a Pulitzer in the Wall Street Journal's recent coverage of digital media marketing techniques, "What They Know", a series on how  marketers are "scraping" data about consumers from our browsing history, our membership of social media sites and our purchasing history, and in some cases selling that data commercially or to politicians so that we can be more effectively targeted.  It should be required reading for anyone who ever opens a browser, and certainly it has interesting things to say about child safety, and tracking that takes place on sites for kids such as Club Penguin and Barbie.com (parents, click here).

The problem is, that (even if you've not read any of the articles in the series), you kinda knew this was happening anyway.

Anyone who has a Gmail account already knows that the ads they view are determined by the words they type into their e-mails.  Ditto Facebook, which spent the last ten months offering me ads for wedding dresses and bridal planners, doubtless based on my regular updates about our events.  I just checked what they are currently pushing (Volkswagen Jetta for me - although obviously, that will differ vastly for the rest of you folks) - and I'm not sure if that is because one of my friends "Liked" the Jetta, or because somewhere in the data mining they've done on me, they've found a reference to Lucky, my fabulous Volkswagen Beetle.

So what does it all mean?  The purpose of this post is not to encourage bunkerism, or suggest that a return to good old-fashioned paper and pen would be a good idea.  It's more to encourage friends and family (and the few hundred others who apparently read this blog occasionally) to get smart.  I've been dismayed recently by some of the posts from folks I respect that have appeared on Facebook or Linked In.  People I used to work with have posted pretty lurid details of running up bar tabs on work junkets that finished at 6am, only to go to work again at eight.  How can they be so reckless?  Never mind the ethics of whether that's how you should be spending your company's dollar...Do they really think that no-one connected to the company will see these posts?  Have they forgotten how many current, ex and future colleagues could be reading this?  Unfortunately for them, your online imprint is pretty much like an elephant.  It never forgets.  Earlier this year, HuffPo collated 13 incidents of folks who had gotten fired over their Facebook posts.  That's probably a drop in the bucket.  It happens.

I think part of the problem is the desire to present an interesting persona online.  But while most of us want to avoid being the boring Doreens who post such zingers as "Went to Starbucks today" or "I hate Mondays", we also need to find a healthy balance that avoids deeply racy or potentially compromising posts, just to impress our mates.  Think about that audience.  I'm friends with folks online with whom I haven't communicated in months, or in some cases, years.  There's only so much that they need to know about me.

Of course, for me, this is a particularly thorny issue, because as a marketer, I would be delighted to have access to this kind of rich data.  Targeting likely purchasers is the holy grail of marketing, and it has become ever more achievable in our new, information rich, world. But respecting customers is also a basic axiom of good marketing practice.  It's just not clear how many companies are really practicing that respect as they chase their next quarterly earnings goal.

Luxury is Back in Style

Only a few months back, I considered a post on coupon clipping, which the Wall Street Journal declared was the newest extreme sport.  But I'm here to tell you that luxury is back, with a vengeance.

It's not just that Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps debuted two years nearly to the day of Lehmann's collapse, or that on the real world Wall Street Citigroup (which is still part-owned by the Treasury) just hired a banker for $30 million.  It's more grass-roots. 

For example, my parents-in-law showed up for dinner last weekend in a brand new, sky blue Subaru.  A cousin has bought new wheels, too, and its not just my family members who are in on this.  The Washington Post reports that consumer spending is up, largely driven by new car sales.

Personally, I'm not convinced that we can yet say with perfect conviction that the economy has turned around.  But oh my, is there pent up demand.

Let's face it, coupon clipping may be a sound financial strategy, and yield some great bargains, but it simply ain't sexy is it?  (Which is why, dear reader, you escaped a longer post on that subject). But luxury, with its silk sheets, expensive shops, fabulous wines and gorgeous locations, decidedly is.

After two years of gloomy news, bank failures and tanking portfolios, it appears that Americans are in the mood to treat themselves again.  And I say, huzzah to that!

My own personal indulgence this fall combines two great pleasures, walking and wine.  In early November, as part of the Big Sur Food & Wine Festival, we will be going Hiking with Stemware.  What could be more fine than crunching through some leaves, wine glass in hand towards a delicious lunch at a winery?

Wishing you a luxurious October.  Bottoms up!

Happiness Index

"Mate acquisition" as an indicator of happiness? 

Like many people, I would struggle to point out Bhutan on a map.  But this tiny kingdom is responsible for one big idea, the measurement of Gross National Happiness.

It seems that I've been reading a lot about happiness recently.  Yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal, I learned that the "magic number for happiness" - the salary that will keep most Americans happy, is $75,000.  Unless you live in New York, of course, where the number is $163,700!  The day before, in the New York Times, Lisa Belkin reported that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (you remember, the pyramid that had food and shelter at the bottom and self-actualization at the top) has been challenged by a bunch of psychologists who argue that parenting should be the pinnacle with "mate acquisition" and "mate retention" following closely behind. (I think they will have trouble marketing that one).

And earlier this year, in an entire magazine article devoted to the issues surrounding the GDP as a measure of national progress (stick with me here), real academic credibility is being given to including happiness in a dashboard of national success indicators called the State of the USA.

Naturally, Facebook is in on the act.  They now have a Gross National Happiness Index of their own, culled from the positive and negative posts made every day, and which peaks on some predictable days in the U.S., including SuperBowl and, rather sweetly, Mother's Day.

But it seems to me that all of these efforts to track happiness may be somewhat missing the point, since the drivers for contentment are often so very personal.  It's been an incredibly happy year for me, for example, despite the fact that I quit my job, sold my house and moved cross country - all factors which normally show up on lists of stuff that will stress you out.  Of course, getting married (twice!) with scads of friends in tow helped.  And one person's multi $$$ salary may be entirely supplanted by someone else's satisfaction of doing something really worthwhile, that is not necessarily well paid.

It's with that in mind that Eric and I will soon travel down to Los Angeles  to say au revoir to good friends who have decided to pack up the good life and spend a year in Tajikistan (another place I needed to check on the atlas) working to help that country build its economy through tourism development.  I think they are hugely courageous and a bit mad.  But for them, this is just another way to find a fulfilling road...and I wish them very happy.