September 2003 Archives
September 26, 2003
Amazing MSN Messenger marketing co-incidence
An astonishing thing happened today, I'm sure it is just a co-incidence, but down one-side of the Holborn tube station escalators, every single billboard is an advert for MSN Messenger. And in a week when their chat products have been in the headlines so much ;-)...
September 25, 2003
Data-mining Oystercard to detect travel patterns in London
I wrote before about my failed attempts to purchase an Oystercard online due to the "shonky" e-commerce bit of the website (©2lmc) - but I eventually resigned myself to using Internet Explorer and being outside a corporate network firewall to do the transaction. So I am now happily in possesion of a smartcard tracking my every movement around the London transport network. Frankly between that and my mobile phone I assume that someone, somewhere, has got me pinned down...
September 24, 2003
MSN will protect your children
...following on from MSN ditches chat - Gillian Kent urges everybody to adopt Instant Messenger Exercise one 1. Open MSN Messenger client 2. Select contacts >> Search for a contact >> Search by interest 3. Select Teens from the MSN Member Directory. [Note that despite the .com urls the .co.uk address is the logo in the top right-hand corner] 4. View a list of children in the uk who have given out their username, age, gender and interests out...
MSN ditches chat - Gillian Kent urges everybody to adopt Instant Messenger
MSN is ditching unmoderated chat - various interest groups are either overjoyed, or like the Freeserve spokesperson quoted in this Register article, think MSN is just ducking out of the market to save money. Closing down unmoderated chat is certainly an interesting move - Director of MSN UK, Gillian Kent, appeared on BBC News 24 around 9:40 this morning, and did an excellent job of talking up the risks of chat whilst pushing customers towards Instant Messenger. "Most of...
September 23, 2003
Search engine placement advertising hits the broadsheet press
Maybe these sort of adverts have been appearing for ages and I've missed it, but I was quite knocked back today to see an advert apparently offering top 20 positions on "all the major search engines of the internet" on page 13 of The Guardian. And that's the main paper, not even the New Media section tacked on the back of Mediaguardian. ...I wonder what the ROI is on an advert like that?...
September 18, 2003
David Blaine and the history of deliberate starvation in Britain
I was reflecting the other night on how unedifying it has been watching the British spoilsport mentality on such high profile display with people taunting the admittedly ridiculous David Blaine. But I am even more disappointed that the 'disapproval' doesn't stem from what I think are two very strong political objections to the stunt. Firstly, there is the obvious knee-jerk reaction that says that there is something morally questionable about paying someone the alledged television rights figure of £5...