COMMENTARY: Are Spammers Better Marketers?
Issue: Creative spam headlines start to look like good copywriting
Commentary by: David Vinjamuri
A few weeks ago, I began to notice spam. Not that I hadn’t noticed it before; the way a horse notices swarming flies. But this was different. An e-mail with the subject “Obama Shot in Colorado” set my hairs on end. I almost clicked before I noted the sender and realized it was spam. On the same day, I received a valid e-mail from a newsletter that I’d signed up to with the title “Get Ready to Shop” - and almost marked it as spam.
Which raises the question - are spammers working harder for our attention than real marketers? Have we surrendered creativity to the grinding data-consciousness of direct marketers (no offense)? Have the spammers followed the adult entertainment marketers as the next generation of marketing innovators we will refuse to learn from?
July 20th, 2008 at 7:25 am
You must mean those subject lines that go something like this:
YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN FROZEN DUE TO SUSPICOUS ACTIVITY - PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINE BELOW AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS TO HAVE THIS MATTER RESOLVED - BUT DON’T WORRY, I WILL PAY YOU 45% OF $180,000,000 USD IF YOU WILL ALLOW ME TO SEND THESE FUNDS TO YOU FROM MY BANK IN NIGERIA - BY THE WAY, WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE SOME PICTURES OF ME HAVING SEX WITH AN ALIEN - I READ YOUR MARKETING BLOG AND IT REALLY GOT ME HOT! HOT! HOT!
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Uh, yes. I’ve been finding these subject lines quite entertaining. But I don’t seem to be buying anything because of them.
But you make a good point. Some of these spammers are working pretty hard to come up with some good copy. I’ve been thinking about this myself.
REG CROWDER
Freelance Financial and Investment Writer
(no, really, it’s true)
http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Blogs/UserBlogs.aspx?UserID=6304
http://www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/TgTQ/REG-CROWDER
http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Blogs/UserBlogs.aspx?UserID=6304