So this is how Facebook sees me

You know what they say: on Facebook, you are not the customer; you are the product. Facebook collects our identity and activity (updates, likes and shares) information. This information is processed by Facebook’s algorithms, and churns out targets for advertisers to promote their products to. Naturally, Facebook keeps their algorithms secret. Though, much has been … Continue reading So this is how Facebook sees me

Too big to fail

I was interviewed, recently, for a school project on financial services. One of the questions concerned the reasons why, sometimes, a bank is described as 'too big to fail'. Here is my take. Anything to add to help this Y12 student? Question: Why was Bank [name of bank] described as 'too big to fail'? Financial … Continue reading Too big to fail

The importance of asking ‘why’

My friend Tim Kourdi brought my attention to this presentation by Professor Clayton Christensen about a market research study done with milkshake consumers: If you abstract from the presentation's background and the fact that he keeps describing the act of buying food items as 'hiring' ***seriously, what's going on there?*** this is, actually, a neat … Continue reading The importance of asking ‘why’

Data collection? There is an app for that

I guess it was only a matter of time. There are apps for virtually any aspect of our personal and professional lines. So, I suppose that it was only a matter of time for a researcher to come up with an app to help with data collection. The researcher is Dan Ariely, a behavioural economist … Continue reading Data collection? There is an app for that

Electronic surveillance: Minority Report minus the precogs

Details are emerging about the USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) secret surveillance programme to collect and analyse data from computer and telephone networks. It is hardly a surprise that the North American government has a surveillance programme. Rather, it is the secretiveness, the extent and the intrusiveness of the programme that is causing shockwaves. The … Continue reading Electronic surveillance: Minority Report minus the precogs

Impact of the economic recession on marketing – B2C vs. B2B

Research into the investment priorities of marketing managers in the UK revealed that marketing managers in the business to consumer (B2C) sector changed their priorities as a result of the 2008-2010 recession. From a focus on target marketing and the development of value-led propositions at the beginning of the decade, marketers turned to pricing, promotions (particularly … Continue reading Impact of the economic recession on marketing – B2C vs. B2B

The price of impatience

If you want to play the Nintendo 3DS game ‘LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins’ you can order it online at £29.99. Alternatively, you can download it directly from the Nintendo channel, for £34.99. This is a puzzling pricing strategy since the game is exactly the same (as far as I am aware, the downloadable … Continue reading The price of impatience

Effect of blog articles on attitude and intention to purchase

This post reports on research looking at the impact of blogs and magazine articles on consumers’ attitude towards a brand, and on their intentions to purchase. Sometimes you choose a topic to write about. Other times, though, it really feels like it is the topic that chooses you. That’s what happened this time. I was … Continue reading Effect of blog articles on attitude and intention to purchase