How Marketers Want To Trick Mobile Operators Into Letting Them Spam You

from the sneaky,-sneaky dept

For quite some time now, we’ve covered the various ridiculous attempts by bad marketers to figure out how to start spamming mobile phones. They don’t quite seem to grasp the idea that mobile phone spamming is significantly more intrusive and annoying than traditional email spamming — and people already absolutely hate that kind of spamming. Since people have their mobile phones all the time, even when not actively using it, a mobile phone spam can really interrupt lots of other activities. At the same time, it can often cost the user money. So, while it’s no surprise that they want to spam people, many (though, certainly not all) mobile operators have at least realized that it’s probably a bad idea to let it happen. However, the spammers can be sneaky, and the latest ploy is to try to convince mobile operators to hand over subscriber info for spamming purposes using a bit of backwards logic. The marketers are telling mobile operators that they should give up subscriber data in order to make sure users get less spam-like notifications. Makes no sense? Here’s the quote: “Please release the data to us so we can target our campaigns and make them as relevant as possible. If carriers want that ad revenue, they’ll have to release that data.” Basically, they’re saying that they’re going to spam users one way or another, but if the operators cough up all your data, then they can at least try (and, most likely, fail) to target the ads a bit (oh yes, and to kick back some money to the operator). Of course, these users haven’t requested the ads and most likely don’t want them at all, targeted or not. The marketing folks need to rethink mobile advertising and realize that it can’t be intrusive in any way. Not even “opt-in” messaging makes sense, because someone may want a message now, but they won’t want it tomorrow. For something potentially so intrusive, mobile operators need to learn to accept advertising that users pull. That is, make it easy for people to request the info for that one time only. This can be tied to an advertisement elsewhere (billboard, poster, magazine, TV, etc.) or just having people know to request info when needed — but every time should be user-initiated. And, for that, advertisers certainly don’t need mobile operators to cough up everyone’s subscriber data.


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “How Marketers Want To Trick Mobile Operators Into Letting Them Spam You”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
13 Comments
harry says:

Targeted Ads

I would say people don’t want the poorly targeted ads that the marketing industry would try to SPAM.
Meaning, I would disagreed with the notion that people don’t want targeted ads. When done really well, people love them.. the HUGE BUT is the part about doing it well.. You have to know the person well enough, that the ads are actually well targeted.

z0idberg says:

Re: Targeted Ads

“You have to know the person well enough”
If they know me well enough they will know to never..ever spam my inbox/spam my mobile/send me junk mail/telemarket me/stop me in the street to sell me something….ever. I HATE being told what i need to buy/donate my money to/which religion to follow etc. etc.
“people love them”
WHO?!?! no-one I know…

jdw242 says:

Re: Re: Re: Targeted Ads

I’ll take that offer; you pay me to spam my phone.

In response to other posts here:

If my provider allows phone SPAM, I’ll be first in line telling them to stop, or I will not be using their service any longer; oh and that payment (for messages received that were not requested or from a known sender) will not be forth coming since they are probably making some profit from said SPAM anyway.

Just Me says:

Dear Gary Towning of OgilvyOne Worldwide

It costs me money to receive messages on my cell phone. It costs me time to receive messages. It interrupts what I’m doing.

I have therefore decided to blacklist any company sending me spam. I’ll also blacklist the advertising company. I won’t do business with anybody who doesn’t respect my privacy.

Plus, the 404 page at http://www.ogilvyone.com/ is rather stupid, since that’s the name of your own department. At least auto redirect.

Josh says:

Will it ever stop?

Is anybody on the same wave length as I am when I say that the constant barrage of advertising is harmful? How does it affect kids? You can you turn on the TV to just about any station and see ads for ED pills, breast enlargement pills, and every type of drug you could ever want at anytime of the day. You see advertising everywhere, video games, music videos, tv shows (not just the commercials in between), movies, etc. I’m tired of advertising, period.
A good example: I hate that I pay money for a DVD only to be forced to watch previews of other movies that I can buy before I get to the main menu so I can actually see the content I purchased.

TJ says:

A use for ringtones

Happily so far the only unwanted calls I get on my cell are wrong numbers, and no more than a few of those a month. If undesired calls start to be a problem I’ve already decided on a solution: Use good ringtones for all my contact groups, and make the default ringtone a short chirp or total silence. I’ve got my ring delay into voicemail set at 30 seconds already so I have more time to answer desired calls. If marketers wait that long I can quickly delete their voicemails, and my provider doesn’t seem to count minutes spent listening to voicemail. Unless unwanted calls start coming several a day, it should be a workable strategy.

As for what I want, absolutely no marketing calls on my cell – targeted or otherwise. A big motivator for dropping my land line what that it was a magnet for unwanted calls.

Gonzarella says:

Grow you cellphone antenna naturally

SMS.ac anyone? or better known as ScaMs. Without knowing who they were, (I rarely use my cellphone ) I applied for a position with them. They did offer me the job, even offered more money that I asked for. I nearly accepted it, just asked for couple of days to think about it. Went on the net and did a simple search on the domain name. Wow! I mean WOW! What a bunch of frigging crooks they are! I am SO happy I didn’t take their job offer.

billy mensa says:

Nokia n83 $225usd,Side kick 3 $180usd,Treo 700w $2

BILLY MENSA ELECTRONIC LTD
WE OFFER ALL KINDS OF PHONES,LAPTOPS,IPODS,VIDEO GAMES AND MORE ORTHER KINDS OF ELECTRONICS FOR SELL,BUY FIVE PRODUCT FORM US AND GET ONE FOR FREE INSTANTLY,SO GO ENQUIERIES NOW AND GET EITHER A FREE LAPTOP,PHONE,IPOD,MOBILE POHNE OR ANY OF OUR PRODUCTS:billymensa@hotmail.com

NOKIA PHONES
Nokia n93 for $250usd
Nokia n92 for $220usd
Nokia n91 for $210usd
Nokia n90 for $200usd
Nokia n80 for $200usd
Nokia n83 for $225usd
Nokia n73 fof $220usd
Nokia n71 for $200usd

Nokia 7380 for $190usd
Nokia 7370 for $170usd
Nokia 7360 for $180usd
Nokia 6102 for $160usd
Nokia 6230i for$160usd
Nokia e70 for $190usd
Nokia e61 for $160usd
Nokia 3250 for $160usd
Nokia 6280 for $170usd
Nokia 6270 for $150usd
Nokia 7710 fo $170usd
NNokia 7290 for$190usd
Nokia 6265i for$180usd
Nokia 6101 for $190usd
Nokia 6060 for $180usd
Nokia 6265i for$180usd
Nokia 6101 for $170usd
Nokia 6060 for $150usd
Nokia neo for $160usd
Nokia 8800 for $170usd
Nokia 9300 for $190usd
Nokia 9500 for $190usd

BLACK BERRY PHONES
blackberry 8700c $200usd
blackberry 8700r $200usd
blackberry 7130g $210usd
blackberry 7130e $220usd
blackberry 7100g $210usd
blackberry 7100i $200usd
blackberry 7100t $200usd
blackberry 7230 $210usd
blackberry 7290 $210usd
blackberry 8700f $230usd

PALM TREO PHONES
Treo 650 for $150usd
Treo 700 for $180usd
Treo 700p for $200usd
Treo 700w for $200usd
Treo 750 for $220usd

MOTOROLA PRODUCTS
Motorola rokr e1 for $170usd
Motorola v3x for $170usd
Motorola slvr l7 for $190usd
Motorola q for $150usd
Motorola v8 for $190usd
Motorola v600 for $100usd
Motorola v3 for $160usd

SONY ERICSSON PHONES
Sony ericsson j230 $170usd
Sony ericsson w550 $170usd
Sony ericsson s600i $200usd
Sony ericssson w800i $160usd
Sony ericssson k700i $110usd
Sony ericcson k500i $110usd
Sony ericsson j220 $190usd
Sony ericsson w850 $190usd
sony ericsson p950 $210usd
Sony ericsson p800 $200usd
Sony ericsson w900i $180usd
Sony ericcson p990 $180usd
Sony ericsson w600 $145usd
Sony ericsson p900 $160usd
sony ericsson v600i $130usd
Sony ericsson p800 $170usd

I-MATE PHONES
i-mate jas jar for $160usd
i-mate jam for $170usd
i-mate k jam for $180usd
Eten m 500 for $150usd

SIDE KICKS PHONEs
Sick kick for $140usd
Side kick 2 for $160usd
Side kick 3 for $180usd

IPODS
Apple 6 GB iPod Mini Blue M9803 $120usd
Apple 6 GB iPod Mini Silver M9801$110usd
Apple 20 GB iPod M9282 $150usd
Apple 4 GB iPod Mini Pink M9435 $120usd
Apple 4 GB iPod Mini Blue M9802 $100usd
Apple 4 GB iPod Mini Pink M9804 $120usd
Apple 4 GB iPod Mini Green M9806$110usd
Apple 40 GB iPod photo $120usd
Apple 4 GB iPod Mini Silver M9160$110usd
Apple 60 GB iPod Photo M9830 $100usd
Apple Ipod Nano 2GB $130usd
Apple Ipod Nano 4GB $180usd
Apple Ipod video 30GB $130usd
Apple Ipod video 60GB $100usd
Apple 60 GB iPod photo $130usd
Apple 30 GB iPod Photo M9829 $140usd
Apple iPod 1GB Shuffle $120usd
Apple 4 GB iPod Mini Blue M9436 $100usd
Apple 20 GB iPod U2 Special Edition$120usd
Apple 6 GB iPod Mini Green M9807$130usd

LAPTOPS
Toshiba Tecra 8200 (laptop)
850MHz Notebook with WiFi for onfiltered$400usd
Dell Latitude C400 (laptop) $550usd
Ultra Lightweight 866MHz for onfiltered$490usd
ThinkPad T42 2373 – Pentium M 735 1.7 GHz$430usd
RAM 512 MB – HD 40 GB – CD$590usd
ABS Mayhem G3 notebook Athlon$500usd
64 3200+ 512MB 60GB/7200 CDRW/DVD 15.4$490usd
Windows XP Home$800usd
AVERATEC 3150P – Athlon XP-M 1.33$500usd
GHz – 12.1? TFT$600usd
Toshiba Tecra M4-S435 (laptop)$1350usd
Acer TravelMate C314XMi Tablet PC$1300usd
Dell Inspiron 700m ===$1020usd
Dell Inspiron 700M for Home (Pentium M 1.70GHz, 512MB, 40GB)$1100usd
Dell Inspiron 2200 for Home (Celeron 1.50GHz, 256MB, 40GB)$1000usd
Alienware Area-51 5300 – P4 530J 3 GHz$590usd
Alienware DHS 5 (Athlon 64 1.8 GHz)$1590usd
Alienware Aurora ALX SLI$2100usd

SONY VAIO A217S? 100GB? 512MB RAM? XP HOME $400usd
SONY VAIO B1VP? 40GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP PRO$430usd
SONY VAIO T370P/L? 60GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP$330usd
SONY VAIO A215Z 60GB HD? 512MB RAM? Xp$550usd
SONY VAIO A397XP? 80GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP$400usd
SONY VAIO B100B08 60GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP$350usd
SONY VAIO B100B08 60GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP$500usd
SONY VAIO FS295VP 80GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP$450usd
SONY VAIO FS215Z 100GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP$450usd
SONY VAIO A417M 80GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP$550usd
SONY VAIO B1VP? 40GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP PRO$340usd
SONY VAIO T370P/L? 60GB HD? 512MB RAM? XP PRO$500usd
SONY VAIO LAPTOP? VGN-A117S$400usd

GAMES
play station 1 $85usd
play station 2 $130usd
play station 3 $280usd
Microsoft Xbox 360 Platinum System cost$150usd
Microsoft Xbox 360 Core System $150usd
Microsoft Xbox 360 System Bundle $150usd
Xbox 360 Customer Choice Bundle with Hard Drive$180usd
Xbox 360 Live Bundle $120usd
Xbox 360 Core Bundle $130usd
Xbox 360 Core System Bundle $140usd
x_box 360 $150usdGame boy latext edition $130usd
Microsoft Xbox 360 Platinum System cost$200usd
Sony PSP “Super Value Pack” – 3 Game
UMD Sampler Pack $200usd
Sony PSP Super Value Pack w/2 Games,
Spider Man Movie, UMD Sampler $160usd
Sony PSP – 3 Games, Spider Man Movie $270usd
Sony “PSP Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 Remix ValuePack $200usd
Sony PSP “Sports Value Pack” – 2 Games,
UMD Sampler Pack $160usd

FOR ORDERING,CONTACT US AT:billymensa@hotmail.com

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...