We’ve hired Alexis Harrison as our public relations intern for the summer. Alexis, who’s from Branford, Conn., is a strategic communications major at the University of Wisconsin. She also writes for several publications, including the Badger Herald.
Blog
When reporters go out on a limb
LeBron James should have been the unanimous MVP this year, but he didn’t get the vote belonging to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
Washburn spent an entire column to defend himself using flawed logic. For example, he stressed that without Carmelo Anthony (for whom Washburn voted), the Knicks would not have made the playoffs. Yet, the same argument could be made about Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, James Harden and the Rockets and so on.
I just wanted to show how easily a reporter can negatively affect someone. Of course, basketball is a trivial example. Think how many times reporters have revealed the names and addresses of victims of crime or written about leaked information of national security?
And then there are no repercussions. Reporters hardly ever apologize and usually don’t get fired for “doing their job,” so to speak, no matter how egregious the error or lack of common sense. In fact, I wonder how many reporters do this just to sell a few more newspapers? One comment to Washburn’s story nailed it:
“This is another writer/media person trying to make the story about them rather than the sport they are supposedly covering. And, again it works. Gary Washburn gets himslf [sic] (and the Boston Globe) some publicity by making an absolutley [sic] ridiculus [sic] pick for MVP. This is exactly why writers shouldn’t pick any of the awards in any sport. They are clearly unqualified and typically have self serving motives.”
You should read the other comments of Washburn’s article. I don’t recall seeing anyone defend him. He should have said, “I was wrong, I know I can’t do anything now to change my vote, and I’m sorry to LeBron James.”
But we all know that would never have happened.
Retargeting: Helpful or Annoying to Consumers?
Ever wonder why after visiting a site just once, ads for the site suddenly seem to be showing up on every other site you visit?
The answer to your question lies in a marketing strategy called retargeting, which focuses on bringing potential customers back to a site after they have already visited it. A javascript tag embedded in the website generates a list of people by placing anonymous retargeting “cookies” in their browser.
Then retargeting companies are further able to segment visitors by tracking what they viewed while on the site. For example, if you looked at shoes, then it would be in best practice to show ads for shoes.
One retargeting company, Adroll, states that retargeting works by “converting window-shoppers into buyers.” While I am all for finding more shoes similar to the ones I have been coveting while online-shopping, I also think there are potential problems with retargeting.
For one, retargeting calls into question the never-ending discussion of privacy limits on the web. While retargeting offers a great way to keep track of potential consumers, it also may be seen as an invasion of privacy by visitors. It is possible that the average shopper will get annoyed that every time they visit a site, they will start seeing numerous ads.
According to retargeter.com, “for most websites, only two percent of web traffic converts on the first visit. Retargeting is a tool designed to help companies reach the 98 percent of users who don’t convert right away.”
While the goal to increase effectiveness of advertising by targeting only those who have already shown some interest in the products or company makes sense, I think the new strategy should be used with some caution. For example, companies should take ad placement and frequency into consideration and avoid annoying potential customers too much.