Too much information?

Dear data-hungry marketers,

I can see how starved you are of information about me. You mine my customer-loyalty data, capture my search terms, yearn after my click data. You would be slavering over my bank and credit-card transactions and fighting over my purchasing history. I'm not quite sure what to lengths you'd go to get your hands on my anticipated wants and needs.

Being the optimist that I am, I dream of a day when marketing actually gets it right and offers me exactly what I need, maybe even before I need it. In the spirit of openness and cooperation, you will find below some useful information about me that may help that process along a little.

Regards,
Gammydodger

I guess I'm only teasing...although this information might be quite interesting to a consumer psychogist, it is completely useless to a marketer. I am an individual with a miniscule budget, a drop in the ocean of their revenue targets. What they really need is a way to get hold of this information en-masse for significant population that has an appropriately large spending power.

Now what if that information was available on tap and with the permission of each individual who owned it? And even better, suppose it was in a form that could be easily aggregated and worked on? Now there's a thought...

What do I drive?

Cars I have owned

2007 - present: 2005 Subaru Outback LLBean 3.0H6 Wagon
2007 - present: 1989 VW Westfalia Campervan
2004 - 2005: 2003 Audi Avant A4 Quattro 2.5TDI
2004 - 2005: 1999 Smart Passion
2003 - 2007: 2000 Subaru Legacy Outback 2.5 LTD Wagon
2002 - 2004: 1999 Subaru Outback Sport
2001 - 2002: 1997 Land Rover Discovery 4.0
1997 - 2001: 1996 BMW Z3 1.8
1995 - 1997: 1995 Audi A4 1.8
1988 - 1995: 1988 VW Golf CL 1.6

I prefer to buy and sell my cars privately paid for in cash. I will look on Craigslist, Autotrader, Cars.com and Autotrader(UK) to locate a car. I prefer to service my car at the dealer including oil changes and will make sure that all servicing is on schedule and all repairs are done as they are needed. As I sign out of hotmail, I generally browse MSN cars. I also have a portal for the new LLBean Subaru provided by MySubaru.com.

Where do I prefer to shop

What clothing brands do I like?

  • Ted Baker (suits)
  • Paul Smith
  • Georgio Armani
  • Adolfo Dominguez
  • Kenneth Cole
  • Banana Republic (pants, sweaters)
  • Massimo Dutti (jackets, pants)
  • Diesel (jeans)
  • Fred Perry (polos)
  • Lacoste (polos)
  • John Fluevog (shoes)
  • Kurt Gieger (shoes)
  • Donald J Pliner (shoes)
  • Thomas Pink (shirts)
  • Emmett (shirts)
  • Nike
  • Adidas
  • Gola
  • GoldToe (socks)
  • M&S (underwear)
  • North Face (ski wear)

Air Travel

OPPORTUNITY TO MARKET TO ME: I am looking for a coach class return flight from SJC / SFO to LHR / LGW Departing 12.20.07 and returning 01.05.08. I don't mind one connection and I would prefer to travel on American, Virgin or United. I am flexible on travel dates but I want the lowest fare. You will see from the information below, that I do travel this route frequently so you can be sure this is a serious invitation. If you have a good offer for me, leave a comment at the foot of the page and I'll get back to you.

I have published an extensible schema for being able to specify a requirement in machine readable format here so that marketers can use this information.

2008

Date Dep Connect Arr Carrier Price Trip #
02.11.08 MAD JFK/SLC SFO CO return 509
02.01.08 LHR CDG MAD AF 2nd leg 509
01.30.08 SFO CVG LGW DL airmiles 509

2007

Date Dep Connect Arr Carrier Price Trip #
11.23.07 SJC ORD LHR UA return 507
11.11.07 LHR ZRH MAD LZ airmiles 508
11.09.07 MAD ZRH LHR LZ return 508
11.04.07 LHR ORD SJC UA airmiles 507
07.15.07 MAD MIA SFO AA airmiles 505
07.11.07 LGW direct MAD EZY ?? 506
07.10.07 MAD direct LGW EZY ?? 506
07.04.07 SFO MIA MAD AA airmiles 505
05.09.07 ATL DFW SJC AA return 504
05.06.07 ATL DFW SJC AA USD 1163 504
04.28.07 LHR ORD SJC AA return 502
04.26.07 AMS direct LHR KLM return 503
04.24.07 LHR direct AMS KLM USD 488 503
04.17.07 SJC ORD LHR AA USD 540 502
01.10.07 LHR ORD SJC AA return


2006

Date Dep Connect Arr Carrier Price Trip #
12.23.06 SFO direct LHR VS return 498
12.15.06 PEK direct SFO UA return 501
12.09.06 PEK direct SFO UA USD 1389 501
10.17.06 MAD ATL SFO DAL return 500
10.11.06 PRG direct MAD CSW return 500
10.09.06 MAD direct PRG CSW return 500
10.06.06 SJC ATL MAD DAL USD 764 500
08.09.06 PDX direct SJC SWA return 499
08.08.06 SJC direct PDX SWA USD 286 499
04.10.06 LHR direct SFO VS GBP 435 498

Look Up Airline Codes and Airport Codes on Wikipedia


Digg!

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Hey Kaila, I'm not sure about that, not yet anyhow... there have been a number of mentions of personal data sales over the last few years, however they are one off publicity stunts. This might be a marketer's dream to get hold of data like this, but it is not scalable or in a form that they can act upon it. As soon as that infrastructure exists, the value will rise from the estimated $60 per year to something more representative of how much your attention is really worth - just think how much a qualified lead is worth to a mortgage broker or car sales person.

Facebook crossing to the 'darkside' has prompted much criticism in the blogosphere because it is now trading on attention and personal data. While I see this as being nothing new, I would rather a future where my data remains mine.

I'd be interested to find out how VortexDNA might help me here.

Just like this guy did on eBay.

I reckon there could be a worldwide market in personal data as more and more people realize the benefits of being targeted appropriately. Right now companies are trying to obtain it by any means necessary—and paying big bucks for it—why shouldn't the consumer make a bit from the transaction?

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