Monday, February 1, 2010

Technology for technology's sake...why I dislike transpromo and personalization

I joined a little company in 1993 called Continuum Productions, which became Corbis Corporation.  We were scanning a lot of materials, primarily photos, assuming we would find a market for them as the world was going increasingly digital.  Our first real product was an award-winning CD called "A Passion for Art", which was a virtual tour of the Barnes Foundation collection.  For the mid 90's, believe me, this was a pretty cool little project.  Why haven't you likely heard about it?  Because while it was engaging as a new technology it wasn't really the best way to experience art and the museum experience. We had content looking for an audience, a medium looking for a reason to exist.

That's kind of how I feel about transpromo stuff I get in the mail.  Just because you can put my name into some selected fields does not mean it's a good marketing experience for me.  And I don't know exactly why I hate it so much, but I think it's because it feels lazy to me.  As if a software program can actually "know" me.  If you are a company that wants to get my attention, figure out a compelling reason for me to consider your product, don't just fill my name in the blanks.

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