Friday, June 13, 2008

Ryan Pitylak Marketing Blog: Bluetooth + Cellphone + Popcorn ?= Viral

Ryan Pitylak Marketing Blog: Bluetooth + Cellphone + Popcorn ?= Viral

Viral Marketing is turning interesting. A recent post on my marketing blog explains how bluetooth maker created a popcorn ad that hit upon the fears of cellphone users. Are you telling me you've never been afraid of your brain frying from cellphone usage? Well, if it can fry popcorn, it can surely fry your brain. Or, at least that's the message the ad is trying to convey. It's a great stunt to catch the attention of the consumer, and considering the spread of the video, it worked really well.

Ryan performs writes about marketing for consumer companies.

Monday, June 02, 2008

700,000 Mobile Phone "Do Not Spam" Registrations by Ryan Pitylak

Monsters and Commerce wrote about how 700,000 mobile phone users in Hong Kong have signed up for a "do not spam" mobile phone registrar. That's definitely an interesting idea, because it's seemed to work pretty well here in the United States.

"Since then 3,064 people in the city of 6.9 million have registered complaints with the Office of Telecommunications Authority about unsolicited calls. Of those, 2,091 related to faxes, 439 emails and the rest were SMS and pre-recorded messages, and others."

What's interesting to me is this: do the 439 emails that people complained about fall under this "do not spam" regulation? If so, companies who are sending out emails to members, assuming they're not restricted to any "do not spam" mobile phone registrar, might run into trouble if they did not realize the email messages were being delivered to the mobile phone device.

As email permeates into many different devices, a way to comply with all of the relevant laws will need to be addressed. A third-party service that specializes in email delivery would probably be the best way to stay compliant.

Ryan Pitylak is an anti-spam activist.