It pays to have some ground rules when dealing with the internet. A very big one that I’m sure that you all observe is: don’t do business with spammers. If a Nigerian prince tells you he has $5 million for you, ignore him. There are tainted email lists that have been going around for […]
Tag: marketing
Don’t give the keys to the company Twitter to just anyone
A few thoughts about Twitter from the last 24 hours, other than ‘Please leave grown-up discussions to grown-ups’: (a) it’s probably not a smart idea to get aggro (about a joke you don’t understand because you aren’t familiar with the culture) from your company’s account, especially when you don’t have a leg to stand on; […]
Read More… from Don’t give the keys to the company Twitter to just anyone
GM’s Holden to abandon C and D car segments, delivering them on a silver platter to competitors
Stuart Cowley for Lucire I haven’t spoken to Holden New Zealand to see if we’re following suit, but as far as Australia’s concerned, 2020 will be the final year for the Astra and Commodore, as Holden transitions to selling only trucks (utes) and SUVs. Here we are, with its most competitive C- and […]
Business as usual at Wikipedia
I know Wikipedia is full of fiction, so what’s one more? I know, you’re thinking: why don’t you stop moaning and go and fix it if it’s such a big deal? First up, for once I actually did try, as I thought the deletion of a sentence would be easy enough. But the […]
How to come third in a mayoral election
One mayoral candidate recently asked me for my advice. I won’t name who it is, since I want those who contact me to know I’ll keep their communications in confidence. Now, the first thing to do is to get a time machine and ask me the same question 18 months earlier. But I […]
Capturing a buyer: some advice to Renault New Zealand
On this Pope Gregory Arbitrary Calendar Start Day, I wrote to a contact of mine at Renault New Zealand. In mid-2018, I joked that, since Renault had no dealers in Wellington (never mind what’s listed on their website—the only people who can see a dealer there are psychic mediums), I could sell them out […]
Read More… from Capturing a buyer: some advice to Renault New Zealand
Keeping the Victoria in Victoria University of Wellington
A letter I penned today to Prof Grant Guilford, Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington. I support the official adoption of a Māori name (I thought it had one?) but removing Victoria is daft, for numerous reasons, not least the University’s flawed research, dealt with elsewhere. Wellington, August 8, 2018 Prof Grant Guilford Vice-Chancellor […]
Read More… from Keeping the Victoria in Victoria University of Wellington
If FCA kills Chrysler today, then it’s another chapter of a company weakening its brands
There’s a rumour circulating that Fiat (specifically, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA) will kill the Chrysler marque today. The range currently consists of two models: the ageing 300 and the relatively fresh Pacifica. It seems to be another step in the mismanagement of car marques, especially US ones, something I wrote about many […]
Ford to stop selling passenger cars in the US and Canada, save for Mustang and Focus Active
The Ford Focus Active: by the turn of the decade, this will be the only four-door passenger car Ford will sell in the US and Canada In a surprise move, Ford has announced that it will cease selling passenger cars in the US and Canada by the early 2020s, excepting the Mustang and the […]
Cambridge Analytica is merely Facebook’s ‘smaller, less ambitious sibling’
Beyond all that had gone on with AIQ and Cambridge Analytica, a lot more has come out about Facebook’s practices, things that I always suspected they do, for why else would they collect data on you even after you opted out? Now, Sam Biddle at The Intercept has written a piece that demonstrates that […]
Read More… from Cambridge Analytica is merely Facebook’s ‘smaller, less ambitious sibling’