still missing the point - not really a post

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

I went looking for some info on putting the long form census back in place and found this. So maybe it we had the census Target might have gotten it. But I doubt it.

and the winners are... - not really a post

CBC announces the top marketing blunders of 2014, and in the video part (sadly not the printed version), Target Canada is called out for failing, apologizing for its failure but not actually doing anything to fix the failure (at about 1:42).  Plus some other doozies.

And we'll start the year out with a few more.

your algorithm thinks i'm fat

If you're a Loblaw’s fan you've probably been participating in the new points program aimed at getting Loblaw’s and affiliates a massive amount of information about how you shop and eat.  And if you marry that with a PC MasterCard about how you do just about everything consumable. 

However that's not quite how they positioned it. Something about targeted offers, bonus points and meal and recipe suggestions all FOR YOU. The pay off though, points for free food make it worthwhile. Let's face it everything you do is being tracked anyway so why not get a perk or two.

I'm loyal to Loblaw’s for a lot of reasons - which we've discussed here before.  Among which is proximity to my home and a wide selection of mostly ready to eat things that I can eat without feeling like everything I ingest is takeout.  PC Blue has been a godsend in that at least one thing isn't totally horrible. (Read that fine print. That list is an 'or' list as in whole grain or low fat or low salt)

I know expecting a computer model to interpret complex human decision making processes is, in a word, inane. But I think your algorithm just told me I'm fat.

For the longest time I got recipes(!) - first poor assumption - for things I don't eat or do eat but never at home.  I like barbecued chicken but I don't own a barbecue and for some reason someone always leaves me a bottle of barbecue sauce which since I rarely use eventually gets tossed.

I got that recipe 4 times.

The soup recipe came in a heat wave in July.  I think I can safely say no one wanted soup.

The single steak I bought over the summer when a friend and I rented a cottage and I paid for groceries has resulted in many offers for beef and pork despite having never again purchasing any other red meat.  So the chicken bacon salad suggestion ain't gonna do it either. 

Finally, one day, perhaps after I bought all the ingredients for Turkey Bean chili did I get a winner.

So what can I surmise?  Well at a first blush. Loblaw’s your system needs some tuning.  And some work. Why can't I easily opt out of offers every week so the system can more quickly 'learn' my habits?  That is when I can even get to the site which 75% of the time is off line minutes after you send your weekly e-blast.

And finally why does someone with no cat keep getting offers for cat food?

oh come all ye faithful

With each year that passes we all seem to feel that retail Christmas creeps just a little bit further ahead stretching the season for all it’s worth.  But here’s the thing I can’t quite grasp.  People will Christmas/Hanukah/Insert-Holiday-Celebration-here shop regardless of when you do or don’t start the festivities.

A veteran of retail sales, I can tell you I am almost completely immune to the charms of Christmas carols, unless they became popular after 1993 and that I have a healthy antipathy of the mall during December.  Let’s just say I’m a big fan of order it and pick it up at the store options, letting me get in and out fast.  A quick trip to the liquor store and I’m content to head home and enjoy the holidays that way.

A colleague who has started her own online store asked me what my opinion about when to start talking about the holidays on her site.  I suggest 4 to 5 weeks before her last day to ship, which puts us pretty close to now.  And this is where I see both sides of the argument; 5 to 6 weeks is about what is needed to be successful at a season in retail and like it or not that puts Christmas pretty much immediately, like the-next-day immediately, after Halloween.  And in order to do that well, a retailer has to put stock out with Halloween.  However I do concur that going to Metro on October 31^st and finding a giant Christmas tree made of soda cases, wearing a red hat, was off-putting. 

SDM did a survey via their twitter feed asking when people thought it was a best time to start the caroling and December first was the consensus.  I was a little surprised, I suggested November 23^rd figuring it was a month prior to the holiday and so a decent interval, although, as mentioned above, I’m somewhat immune. 

I guess what I’m trying to say dear retailer, is that they will come faithfully.  So stop trying to shove it down our throats quite so early.

we are never getting together

In my head I’m humming Taylor Swift’s ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ while I write this.

I hate telemarketers… I say hate because abhor doesn’t not cover it.  In fact I pay $8 a month to avoid speaking to them, which, the more I think about it, the angrier I get.

So in my real life I do inside sales, which is to say a large part of my job is to talk on the phone.  The other large part of it is to convince people to part with large sums of money - although not their own - but perhaps of their own budget.  So this should make me empathetic to the plight of the average telemarketer, but I’m not. 

Business to business solicitation is one thing.  Bugging me at home, during the precious time of a day that I’m not at work or asleep, is another thing.  Especially since I’ve signed up for the Do Not Call list for this exact reason.  And routinely do not answer your calls.  And now I’m upset again.

I’m not the only one.  Marketplace ran a segment on this subject recently.  In answer to the pleas of ‘leave me alone’ in this segment, it turns out that some companies use cheaper off shore companies to solicit for them and they fail to abide by the Do Not Call list.  In fact they are a large part of the problem.  Since we can’t complain to the mostly useless Better Business Bureau, we’re stuck with the ring, ring, ring every night.

Recently I purchased a mattress at Sears, as part of the transaction I agree to be phoned the day before and shortly prior to the delivery.  Sears called twice, both times from a blocked number.  The delivery service called just before they arrived, their business name and number showed up on my call display.  A prize to who can guess which call I took in person.  But it begged the question of why Sears, a huge North American general retailer, did not identify themselves when calling a customer, particularly when consent was given.

In my mind it comes down to this one simple issue.  Clearly this works, companies would not continue to spend advertising and marketing dollars on methods that don’t work, so who goes for it?  And why?

I strongly believe in voting with your dollars, and so now I’m in a pickle about a company that I just received decent service from, in large part because of a blocked number.

As an aside, as I was writing this evening, The Carrie Diaries was on, which, set in the 80’s, had a scene dealing with white lies using telemarketers as an example of when it might be OK to tell as LWL.  It reminded me of the days before call display.  How DID we manage?!

So since I only know the chorus to this pop song, I will end with a little ditty to all telemarketers who persist.  After calling me 20 or more times take the hint… we are never, ever, ever, getting together.