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Private Information.

I�ve been feeling a little paranoid lately. A lot of media attention�s being paid to privacy issues,

so I don�t think I�m alone.

Concerns about privacy have been spawned by advances in technology and the sudden ready-access of personal information about anyone by anyone. But marketers have been collecting personal information for years!

We can reach market segments comprised of precise (and even obscure) demographic and psychographic characteristics. We�re not invading anyone�s privacy. We�re making offers that are likely to appeal to the people within those segments.

Now, for arguments sake, let�s turn the table. After all, marketers are consumers too.

For example, other marketers know a lot about me. They know where I live, my financial status, my preferences for foods, special interests, health concerns and more. Lots more.

Even with that knowledge, in the early years of email marketing, I was shocked more than a few times. Messages appeared in my inbox with subject lines that appeared to be targeted to my personal interests:

�Eat more, lose weight.�

The message presented a compelling tome about a product developed by renowned medical researchers who concocted a mixture of exotic rain forest herbs that �burn fat� as one eats more and more. A product with my name all over it!

I was about to click �order now.� When our production manager walked into my office to tell me about a major photo shoot that might go into overtime. It was a big expensive shoot.

The news made my heart pound. Tension enveloped my body. I began to sweat. I placed my hand on the phone thinking about how I�d break the news to the client. I dialed the phone and my body trembled.

At that moment I realized that my body was �burning fat� -then and there.

I�d just saved $79.99, so I ordered a $4.00 sandwich!

Some weeks later, a message appeared on my screen announcing, �Mark, your $12,461 bank deposit has been received.�

�A new online service from my bank?� That�s what crossed my mind.

I read on. �How would you like to see messages like this every day? Now you can! With our new automated Internet power selling software.�

I read with interest. �A new addition to the agency�s online capabilities,� I wondered?

My train of thought was interrupted by the phone. A long time client gave us the �go-head� on a long-on-hold web development project written it off as dead.

There�d be no time in the foreseeable future to implement the �$12,461-a-day� strategy. We�d have to pass on this opportunity and work for the money. So much for Internet wealth.

A few days passed and it was business-as-usual. Happy, busy days meeting with clients, answering emails and working with staff.

But something interrupted. I didn�t expect it. I logged on to check my email. And among the assortment of familiar names, my eyes fixed on a message from a �Dr. Stone.�

Subject: Enlarge Your Penis.

�Oh my God,� I shrieked. What did Dr. Stone know I didn�t? I covered my screen with a research report grabbed off my desk. Punched the �delete� button with my free hand.

What database or databases had Dr. Stone profiled to identify men who likely have small (but treasured) organs? Should I have read the message? Had I been hasty in pressing �delete?�

Don�t think so. For years I�d been playing well with the card I�d been dealt. The only equipment problem of which I�m aware is strictly technology-related.

Nope. I�d been �spammed.� I�d been (and still am ) receiving what legislators call �U.C.E.� or Unsolicited Commercial Email. This wasn�t the kind of privacy issue I�d imagine.

We�re all subject to spam these days. And the problem�s growing. It�s growing to the point of a major nuisance. And the problem for marketers is that it�s created thick advertising clutter making it much more difficult to grab the attention of likely customers.

Fortunately, State and Federal legislators are working on the problem. That means that the problem will be solved in, well�

Maybe I should be worried.

Find out how confident I�ve become about breaking through the clutter � even with an inbox full of spam. Call me, Mark Levit, at 212.696.1200.

Mark S. Levit