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Nick Martin
London, England
Data-driven marketing enthusiast and thought leader
Interests: business, direct & interactive marketing, all things French, clarinet & sax, early music and new wave, vinyl (the kind that plays music)...
Recent Activity
Thank you, Capvermell, for the considerable added insight on this offshore data collection operation.
As far as the ICO and OFCOM are concerned, I suppose they are powerless to act outside of their jurisdiction, or with overseas authorities where data protection laws are 'inadequate'.
Of course, it's also the case that the ICO were stretched in their resources even before Lehmans, and must now be operating under increasing budgetary constraints.
What's really needed is a way to pin the bulk acquisition of their data onto UK lifestyle data aggregators or resellers. I cannot believe that with the amount of data that is doubtlessly being collected out of that Indian operation, that there are not large data companies in the UK who are taking significant data feeds in. Of course, they may be unwittingly doing so, perhaps as a result of being 'cleaned/ laundered' through ostensibly credible sources.
In a world where bulk public sources of data are contracting (eg The Electoral role changes) the pressure within large data organisations for plugging the widening, yawning gap in coverage, must be greater than ever.
Experienced direct marketing professionals know that the only other way to gap plug is to model out data, creating large tracts of 'implied' consumer profiles - code for guesswork. They also know that this implied data works significantly less well than real data. Maybe they are less well aware that analysts who create their customer models on the back of this data will automatically score incoming implied data more highly than real, patchier, inputs.
What this means is that there is a ready market for bulk data sources of real data that can plug those big gaps. There will be wholesale buyers of this stuff, make no mistake.
How can we fight back, and identify UK based sources that contain data collected out of this Indian operation?
One sure way is to participate in the survey, fully, but provide a modified 'seed' name that you know can only have been collected via one phone call, recorded to a specific day and time when you accepted the call from the Indian call centre. The seed data you provide must comprise a slightly modified name, but also you may choose to provide data about TV subscriptions and Insurance Renewal Dates, that is wrong.
If you are then contacted by a UK company with the seed name, you will know where the data came from at source. The next step is to determine whether that data was bought via a UK data supplier, and if need be can use the Subject Access Request rules under the DPA 1998 to gain access to the database record that triggered the campaign or contact.
A handful of individuals in a collaborative 'seed network' will provide sufficient information for the ICO to take action against UK companies who buy this data, and deter market participants from funding this unacceptable type of offshore operation.
Questionable ethics of data collection
Who is collecting data on behalf of 'The British Consumer' using offshore call centres? Despite being on the UK's Do Not Call List, The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) for 3 years, I'm getting duplicate calls from an offshore call centre requesting permission to undertake a 'survey' on behalf...
Now for Public Deleveraging
Nearly 2 years ago I wrote about the risks of a double dip recession. Here's what The Economist had to say about likely economic impact of debt reduction, in a study released in January 2010. It (the study) finds 32 examples of sustained deleveraging (at least three consecutive years in... Continue reading
Posted Oct 5, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Dangerous 'peep show' of EU banking sector
A second round of EU banking stress tests - designed to bring transparency and hence confidence to shore up confidence in the eurozone, may well have served simpy to score another own goal. The European Banking Authority said eight of the 90 banks it examined fell short of the required... Continue reading
Posted Jul 19, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Google grips its social tiger firmly by the tail
Posted Jul 18, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Email marketing maturity profile?
Posted Jun 30, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Questionable ethics of data collection
Who is collecting data on behalf of 'The British Consumer' using offshore call centres? Despite being on the UK's Do Not Call List, The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) for 3 years, I'm getting duplicate calls from an offshore call centre requesting permission to undertake a 'survey' on behalf of this... Continue reading
Posted Jun 27, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Dutch Require Consumer Consent to Put Cookies on PC - WSJ.com
The Dutch Parliament passed a law Wednesday that forces websites to get explicit consumer consent before they place small text files known as cookies on a computer. The new law was opposed by the online-advertising industry, which fears the legislation will pave the way for similar moves across Europe. EU... Continue reading
Reblogged Jun 22, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Radian6 highlights shift in Social from defence to value creation
Posted Jun 22, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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CRM 3.0 - where do we go from here?
I'm increasingly firming up the view that the desire of marketing services providers to sell meta systems to large enterprises is not shared by those target organisations, nor, significantly, the big 4 Consultancies. These are the guys with the ear of the Boardroom, and their views matter - to an... Continue reading
Posted Jun 20, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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PETs to the rescue of OBA?
Industry presented plans for self regulation to the European Commission last month , following a public statement by Commissioner Neelie Kroes, in which she established clear benchmarks that a self-regulatory instrument would need to meet in order to be deemed acceptable and sufficient by the Commission. These are: 1. Effective... Continue reading
Posted Jan 12, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Teradata gobbles Aprimo to top marketing services leaderboard
Late last month, Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), the world’s largest company solely focused on data warehousing and business analytics, announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Aprimo. . . . And that, my friends, is how to start the New Year with a BANG! Seriously, though, I see... Continue reading
Reblogged Jan 11, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Welcome to 2011
I unapologetically reproduce an economic viewpoint for 2011-12 from a Chinese source (Andy Xie: my1510.cn) since continued short term economic relative stability is surely inextricably linked with China. Before you question what an economic piece is doing in a marketing blog, let us just agree that the global economic context... Continue reading
Posted Jan 10, 2011 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Nick Martin is now following Liv-ex
Oct 12, 2010
No title
Posted Oct 5, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Who ate all the pies? Social marketing.
New research from Sherpa shows - surprise, surprise - that social media marketing is absorbing increasing marketing spend, principally in support of driving traffic, lead generation, sales revenue and SEO. In an improving but cost-conscious environment, this new slice of the pie means that other slices will continue to shrivel,... Continue reading
Posted Oct 5, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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UK freezes in face of new ePrivacy Directive: Respond to the Consultation
The UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has just published a public consultation on the implementation of the revised EU Telecoms Package. The Telecoms Package, a set of five directives that regulate the electronic communications sector in the European Union, contains the so-called e-Privacy Directive. As part of... Continue reading
Posted Oct 1, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Call centres & the rise of personal assistants
Posted Oct 1, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Spying for Secrets?
Posted Sep 30, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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The price of customer engagement
How many consumers start a transaction, only to drop out before agreeing terms or completing payment? The truth is, winning the attention of consumers - then proving the value of your product or service in an increasingly frictionless environment - is tougher than ever. In a recent consumer survey by... Continue reading
Posted Sep 21, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Basle III - Banks mauled by sheep
So the regulator's tough love turned out to to be missing the tough bits. The banking lobbyists can claim a comprehensive victory. Even proposed Chinese regulation makes Basle III look tame. The long implementation window of 2013-2019 presumably is a tacit admission that the banks won't lend anytime soon if... Continue reading
Posted Sep 21, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Banks Wriggle On Hook Of Basle III
The Financial Times reports today that 'economic growth in the eurozone, the US and Japan would be cut by 3 per cent between now and 2015 if current proposals to force banks to hold more capital and liquid assets go forward unchanged, the world’s leading banking industry group warned Thursday.... Continue reading
Posted Jun 12, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Customer Management Trucks
Customer communications management has become tougher and tougher. Marketing services platforms have struggled to keep up, and in a fast evolving world, a fresh strategic approach is advocated. Continue reading
Posted Jun 7, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Marketing in the cloud
Marketers should have their heads in the cloud. If you haven't read The Big Switch by Nicholas Carr yet, you need to add it to your list. Cloud computing — that is, computing infrastructure that is based somewhere out on the Internet, rather than installed on hardware locked in your... Continue reading
Reblogged May 31, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Email marketing on a wing and a prayer
Posted May 30, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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Planning for the double dip
Posted Mar 22, 2010 at Nick Martin's Marketing Pages
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