Data Protection

Experian and the ICO

About a month ago, the disagreement between the ICO and Experian finally headed towards closure with the following sentence: “The Information Commissioner’s Appeal is dismissed.” This succinct statement was followed up by 57 closely written pages of…


Agencies Marking Their Own Homework

Agencies Marking Their Own Homework

This week I’ve been reminded of a phrase that follows all agencies around. I asked a charity to upload all of the donors they’d recruited since the drop date of their last Direct Mail campaign. I wanted to show them how many people had received a DM…


Myths in Direct Mail

Busting Myths in Direct Mail

I’ve worked in printed media for most of my life and a great deal of that has involved Direct Mail. It’s a much-loved format but for many people it’s viewed with nostalgia, like a Ford Capri, or Debbie Harry. There are a few…


Marketing navigating the storm

Direct Marketing in the Maelstrom

I don’t often lament the fate of marketers. We have a lovely job and generally a lot of fun doing it. That said, with the cost-of-living crisis and the current economic turmoil, we might be forgiven for feeling like our job has become unnecessarily…


Analysis of Data.

CDP, SCV, CRM: TMI

Platform your LTA isn’t cutting it but you can’t switch to MTA or MMM because your CRM isn’t a CDP so can’t deliver you an SCV – sort it out PDQ! Even amongst the ‘Three-Letter-Acronym’ besotted English-speaking (texting) world, the data-driven…


Why Is Everyone Talking About Legitimate Interests

  "…examples of processing that may be processing that is necessary for the purposes of a legitimate interest include … processing that is necessary for the purposes of Direct Marketing," Explosive stuff, no? Well…  maybe. This is a clause that…


Target audience segmentation.

How much data should I test?

I have some sympathy with people who need to buy data for their direct mail campaigns. Apart from learning the bewildering range of different data types and sources and understanding all the things that have been expressed to the data subject while…


Products displayed on top of desk.

Boosting Retention for D2C Brands

Direct 2 Consumer (DTC) brands are still riding the crest of a wave that began before the pandemic and was accelerated during the big stay-at-home, with many referring to this period as the boom years! Arguably their biggest challenges now are not…


gavel block

The ICO and Experian - What have we learned?

On Monday this week, the First-Tier Tribunal published its judgment on Experian’s appeal against the ICO’s enforcement notice. The tribunal allowed the appeal in part and made a substitute decision with such minor ramifications for Experian that…


Women on phone

Zero Party What?

I’d never try to explain the difference between first- second- and third-party data to friends outside of work. They probably wouldn’t remain my friends for too long! But for marketers, knowing which kind of data they are working with is…