Optism™

After a bit of shameless self-promotion to start off this week’s roundup, we look at other recent news in the world of permission marketing. Unfortunately, one of the big stories this week deals with what not to do with people’s information. But first, let’s talk about us…

We’re pleased to see that the Wall Street Journal has picked up on our Permission Marketing series, and promoted it on their website. Thanks for that plug, WJS.

We’d also like to draw your attention to a recent video interview our own Lisa Ciangiulli did with BnetTV covered in GoMoNews during the MMA Forum in London. Lisa explains what Optism is all about and why Alcatel-Lucent chose to get into the permission mobile marketing space in the first place. She clearly identifies our key differentiators and why smart operators, marketers and brands will want to check us out!

Now, on to some bad news. Dan Goodin’s article in The Register looks at hundreds of websites that are sharing usernames without permission. According to research conducted by Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, 61% of websites tested “leaked personal information, sometimes to dozens of third-party partners.” This kind of behaviour works against all of us in the industry — we need to be demonstrating to people that they can trust us with their personal information. It also makes it harder for operators to argue that Do Not Track legislation is unnecessary. The Stanford research report’s author, Jonathan Mayer, writes, “We believe there is now overwhelming evidence that third-party web tracking is not anonymous.” As an industry, we need to do a better job of safeguarding people’s information if we want to avoid mandatory regulations.

Moving on to happier news, Mobile Marketing takes a look at the candidates for this year’s Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. Award nominees’ campaigns have leveraged the unique capabilities of mobile to advance their brand’s messages in a variety of situations. For example, OpenMarket worked with the Disasters and Emergencies Committee to develop a campaign that would quickly get donations flowing to the communities in East Africa in desperate need for food, water and emergency healthcare. The campaign made it possible for people to donate by texting a single word to an easy-to-remember short code. Over £1.2m has already been raised through these SMS donations.

Another award candidate is Pepsico and Rabarba. Their campaign encouraged consumers to text in special codes found under Pepsi can lids to win a range of prizes. By relying on a broad range of content the campaign appealed to a wide demographic. As a result of the promotion, Pepsi has reached “its highest market share in the country in eight years.”

In other news, The Drum reports on the promotional campaign Tullo Marshall Warren is spearheading for the Infiniti automobile brand. The pan-European campaign, which “will include press ads, online advertising, email and mobile activity,” is going to be one to watch for. The marketers will be taking full advantage of mobile channels, including “an SMS text back call to action.”

We believe that adhering to permission marketing principles such as the MMA’s Code of Conduct for Mobile Marketing and U.S. Consumer Best Practices will address most people’s privacy concerns. What do you think? You can reach us on Twitter @Optism or join the conversation on our Facebook page.