Here we go, again. The sales!

Ah, the sales season. I have a love-hate relationship with the sales season. Very occasionally I will be very pleased with something that I got on sales. But, overall, it is a depressing time, when otherwise bright people make the silliest of purchase decisions (me included). Here are some of the most common tricks used … Continue reading Here we go, again. The sales!

Coming unstuck – Writing advice from the @WomenWriters community

Argh, I am really struggling with writing. I have several projects already started. And I have impeding deadlines. And I like what I am should be writing about. But, still, I am struggling to get back into the mood and the rhythm of writing, after a 2 weeks’ break. I am stuck. Last night, I … Continue reading Coming unstuck – Writing advice from the @WomenWriters community

Breaking through the filter bubble with social media

The blog has been very quiet for the past 2-3 weeks because I was travelling. It was a mixture of work and holidays, in the US. I had hoped to keep writing during this period. However, it proved frustratingly difficult to have access to fast, reliable and inexpensive Wi-Fi. In the end, I just gave … Continue reading Breaking through the filter bubble with social media

New book: The Surveillance Industrial Complex

Recently, I received in the post a copy of the book ‘The Surveillance Industrial Complex – A political economy of surveillance’, edited by Kirstie Ball and Laureen Snider. In this book, long term collaborators, Kirstie Ball and Lauren Snider examine the nature of today’s surveillance structures. They note that not only is surveillance conducted at … Continue reading New book: The Surveillance Industrial Complex

What I am reading: Sharing

This month I am reading book 'Sharing: Culture and the Economy in the Internet Age' by Philippe Aigrain with contribution by Suzanne Aigrain. According to the description on the back cover of this book, the author(s) hold the view that 'the non-market sharing of digital works is both legitimate and useful.' This is a departure … Continue reading What I am reading: Sharing

Is the second screen killing TV?

The website ‘Marketing Charts’ reported the results of a study conducted by the Council for Research Excellence on TV viewing habits in the US. The interesting angle picked up by Marketing Charts is the extent to which viewers multitask with another screen while watching television – so, for instance, whether you check your e-mails while … Continue reading Is the second screen killing TV?

Challenges of using social media in target marketing

I wrote before about the findings from research conducted by myself, Moira Clark and Paul Fennemore on how social media enables organisations to obtain very detailed insight about markets and target customers, and to deliver tailored propositions. However, at the moment, there are still a number of challenges preventing organisations from achieving the potential value … Continue reading Challenges of using social media in target marketing

I am writing about customer selection during an economic recession

... but at the rate at which this paper is progressing, the recession will be well and truly over before the paper is done. It's not even the case that I do not like the topic. I do. Very much, indeed. It's a really interesting take on the question of what makes a customer good … Continue reading I am writing about customer selection during an economic recession

The downside of choice

Earlier today I was at an information session, meeting people interested in post-graduate education at the institution where I am employed, Oxford Brookes University. I was doing my best to show the potential candidates all the options that they had access to. We talked about the different modes of study (i.e., full time vs. part … Continue reading The downside of choice

When waiting is good for business

This week I came across an interesting counter-intuitive (for me) finding: slowing down service may improve the perceived quality of the product. Watching the video of Steve Souders’ presentation at Velocity 2013 (below), from about minute 3:08 onwards, I learned that: - Designers of the Blogger platform installed an artificial delay between the moment a user … Continue reading When waiting is good for business