Dear Doc,
I read your letter to Meg Whitman. Great. Now what do I do? Quit my job?
I do “marketing” for a European Web-company that gathers consumer reviews – just like epinions.com in the US.
I always laugh about (and relish!) the fact that I work as a marketer who will end marketing because a service like ours will allow people to tell each other the truth about products and services and expose the lies that companies try to sell them.
Apparently, the management thinks otherwise.
Last week I learned, much to my chagrin, that “space” on our newsletter was being sold. I had long asked to make this a cozy, private PLACE where we could present only good offers (special offers!) to our members; now I find out that it’s been debased to just another billboard…
Then I hear a lot of talk about the need to gather information about our members so that advertisers can “target” them better. Finally your letter to Meg Whitman. I agree: ads don’t belong on eBay. Maybe they don’t belong our site, either.
Yes, we do indeed look like a “media company”, intent as we are on counting eyeballs and gathering info and “profiles” for the clueless advertisers who hope to sell the “oh-so-cool” products of the clueless companies they work for by interrupting people who are having a conversation on a site that is all about anti-advertising…
Is this really the only way for us to become profitable? I doubt it. Quite on the contrary, I believe that this approach will bring in some money in the short run, but destroy the only real asset we have, trust. To me, it’s all about trust, respect and clutter.
* if we’re just another ad carrier, why should anybody trust us?
* if companies don’t respect the conversation that is going on and just wish to interrupt, why should anybody want to pay any attention?
* if nobody listens, companies will just scream louder – which will only make things worse for everybody…
Is this the only way? I don’t think so. Why not for example present fewer and less intrusive messages that come not from the advertisers but from us here at The Company, from people who will only present good offers from other good companies because we work FOR our members – not against them?
This is just an idea. But there is no doubt in my mind that for us to go the Yahoo! way is nonsense. We are not in media, no matter how much some of us (not me!) may wish we were.
