Specific Marketing

Having just returned from holiday in Portugal (very nice, by the way), I read about the fact that Microsoft live has received a face lift in the meantime. I thought I should check it out.

I was amazed. Not by the layout, but by the search result. The search for my family name - Lapinski - returned ca. 122,000 results. And my wife is in first place! Well done Microsoft!!

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Yesterday I got a call from my bank, HSBC. A young guy from my local branch called in to briefly talk to me. The conversation went a little like this:

HSBC: “Hi, I am just calling to follow up on the discussion you have had with one of my colleagues about the mortgage.”

Me: “Excuse me?”

HSBC: “The mortgage…?”

Me: “No”

HSBC: “So, you did not have a discussion about a mortgage?”

Me: “No”

HSBC: “Well,…are you interested in a mortgage?”

Me: “No”

HSBC: “Because, we have some very interesting offers…”

Me: “Listen, I don’t have a mortgage, I don’t want a mortgage and I will not be wanting one for some time. Do you think it is a good idea take up a mortgage right now?”

HSBC: “Aeh…”

Me: “Good bye, have a nice day.”

Excuse me? WTF? HSBC, the bank that lost over $10bn in the mortgage crisis in the US thinks it is a great idea for me to take up a mortgage in the UK, just as the market here is about to crash?

Yup, that is true, as I found out when I searched for this on Google News. They have a major push to sell people UK mortgages right now. See this Financial Times article here. Just to be clear, these guys know that I don’t have a mortgage and they tried to sell me one. They are not trying to help me get out of a tight spot.

Fantastic. These guys will never learn. I guess it doesn’t matter what is right or wrong, let’s just make a quick buck and to hell with everyone else.

Maybe my adaptation of the VCwear.com T-shirt says it all:

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Earlier today, I tried to read an article by the German online newspaper Der Spiegel. Funniest thing happened. As I opened the article, an invitation to a questionnaire poped up: “Your Opinion is wanted”

The only problem was: the acknowledge button is hidden behind an ad. See a screenshot here:

I have a hunch that this market research initiative might not be quite as successful as originally envisaged…

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