Posts Tagged ‘Yahoo’

BP combating bad press with paid search

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Search for “oil spill” on Google and you’ll get this:

Click here to enlarge

On Bing you’ll get:

British Petroleum ยท www.BP.com/GulfOfMexicoResponse
Get Info about the Gulf of Mexico Response Today

Yahoo:

BP – Info about the Gulf of Mexico Spill Learn More about How BP is Helping. www.bp.com/gulfofmexicoresponse

Normally, I’d say this is Responsible Marketing: Use paid search to share the positive and combat the negative. Bully for BP.

But where’s the competence? Where’s the character? I see neither and BP has lost my trust.

They’ve stumbled so badly, so often and on so many fronts this feels like a desperate ploy to manipulate public opinion. Actions speak louder than words and I’m no longer listening.

In fact, I’ve boycotted BP.

So what do you think? Does this feel like smart marketing or slimy spin?

And what will it take for BP to regain your trust?

Comment below to weigh in.

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Posted in advertising, corporate responsibility, digital marketing, no trust, responsible or not?, search | 1 Comment »

Personalization v. privacy: Online marketers get too close for comfort

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Online privacy

It’s a sticky subject and it’s not going away anytime soon.

Some have called personalization the Holy Grail of marketing. If you can connect with people in a highly relevant and personalized way, you’ll dramatically improve your response rates and marketing ROI. What’s more, most people prefer personalized ads–ads delivered to their name, at the right time, the right place and with the right message–to irrelevant, poorly targeted online ads and SPAM.

Sounds like the perfect marriage, right? Well, as you would expect on this blog, it’s not that easy.

A study conducted in 2007 at UC Berkeley of California adults found that 85 percent of all respondents do not want websites to track their web behavior in order to improve advertising targeting.

The New York Times had comScore conduct a detailed and broad estimate of the amount of consumer data that is transmitted to Internet companies like Yahoo!, Google, MSN and others and shared it in To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You. In short, it’s a mind-numbing amount of data.

As consumers, we want it to be relevant.

But we don’t want marketers to have the tools necessary to make it that way.

A bit of a catch 22, isn’t it?

What do you think?

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Posted in privacy, roi responsible, socially responsible | 1 Comment »