58% of our audience say they’ll buy the Apple Watch Sport

Ahead of the Apple keynote announcement later today we’ve been conducting a bit of research with the Mobile Industry Review audience. Hundreds have weighed in with their opinions in response to my post last week.

I asked a very simple question: Which Apple Watch are you going to buy?

I gave the following response options:

• Watch Sport (“hundreds of pounds”)
• Watch (“about a thousand pounds”)
• Watch Edition (“crazy, e.g. tens of thousands of pounds”)

This irritated a few readers who wanted the option of choosing “I’m not buying a flipping Apple Watch” — however I explained that I was targeted this at those who didn’t have a choice.

I don’t have a choice, for example. The Watch is a big move by Apple and I need to be able to experience it and then discuss it with clients, partners and colleagues. I can’t sit it by and watch from the sidelines. So if you’ve got to buy one… which model?

Let’s look at the results then:

58% of people said they would choose the Apple Watch Sport — effectively the entry level Watch device.

24% said they’d consider the mid-level “Watch” model. And then, unusually I reckon, the balance — 17% — said they would be buying the flipping expensive Apple Watch Edition model. The pricing rumours are all over the place for the Edition — $5,000, $10,000 and more.

I have to say I’m not that surprised that the majority of readers said they’d opt for the basic one. The features are all the same. And if I’ve got to buy a model (whether it proves a smash hit or a total failure), I might as well limit my exposure and get the cheapest one.

Then I asked about sizing: What size are you going to choose?

There were two options: Large (1.7″) and Small (1.5″)

A whooping 84% of readers said they’d choose the larger screen. That’s not much of a surprise to me given the majority of readers are male. The balance (16%) of readers said they’d go for the smaller screen. If this is representative of the MIR audience gender split, we’ve got quite a bit of work to do to attract more female readers.

Ok. Now on to comments. I asked you to give me a one-liner when you made your choice. Reading through them proved highly entertaining. I have resolved to include as many as I can below. Have a read:

• I’ve been using a Pebble as “training wheels” for just under 18 months, so I’m used to checking my wrist for notifications. I just want more functionality (and better reliability) than what Pebble offers.
• To replace my 3 times failed fuel band and use it for iOS development too.
• So that my phone can stay in my pocket and be less distracting. Mindfulness, which is all the rage at the moment, will be easier to practice.
• Cause it is the cheapest and it is stupid to pay extremely a lot of money for the same watch [with] just [a] different strap
• For Apple Pay and so I can see calls/messages without getting my mobiles out!
• Just to try it out. So no Point spending loads of money. Plus there will be a new one in a year!
• Another awesome thing to add to my apple collection
• Exciting new product category for Apple that hasn’t really been done well by anyone else yet.
• I’ve recently got into fitness tracking and I think the Apple iWatch will complement my existing IOS fitness tracking apps.
• Useful for holidays, activities, days out, on the beach – when you don’t want to carry a handbag with your iPhone in around with you. Only problem is – what to do with your lipstick?!
• I want to try it, but I know it will be replaced in a year or so (battery life too rubbish) so I am not going to invest in the best one yet. I am on the fence though, as I have a few watches Rolex/Omega etc and I am seriously considering sell them before they become de-valued, which I believe they will.
• I’m excited about the new possibilities for health, sport and fitness, as well as more convenient notifications. Also basically because I’m a gadget nut and already have several Apple products.
• To better try and understand it and how it fits into the apple ecosystem and how the payment experience works
• Because I’ve fully bought into Apple’s ecosystem, as it fits the way I work and live. I run an IT shop for a living and don’t want the headache of fixing my own at home. Android couldn’t do that for me, and Apple did. So I will complete the set and get an Apple Watch because it will work best with Apple gear. That said, I’ve also ordered a Pebble Time off of kickstarter, simply because I love my current Steel.
• I have more money than sense [Like the honesty!]
• Being in the industry we have to have the newest when it comes to Apple.
• To see what android will copy 

This reader is also totally bought into the Apple ecosystem… so much so that…

• I would buy an apple dildo if they sold them.

Now that’s an idea for the team at Cupertino!

And here’s a few from the protest vote:

• I have ticked the above boxes but I wanted to tick a box that said I won’t buy a watch. I am not going to buy an apple watch. I wish I could. My eye sight is worsening so a small watch will not work for me at the age of 60. I have had no ole phones since 1985. I have six Apple iPhones and iPads. But not a watch. I would buy an Apple implant near my ear that could feed me info I predetermine from iPad control. The watch won’t work for old people.
• Actually I’m not. A watch that needs charging all the time is a stupid idea.

I wonder how this will change once the actual details become available later today? My instinct is that the majority who said they’d buy the Sport will still continue to do so, unless Apple do a good bit of manipulation to make us all feel like utter losers for only buying the cheapo one.

Happy keynote day.

Apple’s March 9 keynote: Initial impressions

I sat down and watched Apple’s keynote this evening, end-to-end.

Apple is, without a doubt, a company at the top of it’s game. I strongly admired the work they’re doing with ResearchKit — enabling medical researchers around the world to deploy research apps/services using iPhone sensors. Admirable stuff. All of it with a commercial bent somewhere, but I did get a good feeling. I felt good watching that segment. Which was — obviously — intended.

I did feel manipulated. It was cool suave manipulation though, for the most part. I did take umbrage with some of the selective stats and phrases they used. I could only imagine my 361 Podcast colleagueRafe Blandford blowing out a mouthful of Orange juice at some of the points raised.

The talk show

The keynote turned into a Tim Cook talk show at some points. I had to smile at those points when, for example, the CEO of HBO popped on to promote his new service. It was even more Graham Norton when the model Christy Turlington Burns appeared — Tim even used the prompt, “So what are you here for?” (or words to that effect. You know, the sort of thing a talk show host does to get a Hollywood film star to trot out their talking points.

I don’t have a problem with this. I just think it’s rather special: Is there anything more influential than an Apple keynote? I actually pressed pause on the playback to consider the amount of people who watched (or will be watching) this — whether they’re die-hard Apple fans or not. That audience has to be one of the most, most, most influential. Especially since Apple is expanding to so many new industries.

Reading versus talking

Now we’re getting picky. I prefer it when Apple’s Senior VP of Design, the now globally famous Jony Ive, speaks. In the various product videos today, Jony must have been sat in a studio reading. It didn’t feel the same. The words didn’t quite feel natural. I felt I was being spun, despite the serious work gone into the creation of their new products.

The standard Apple video is getting a bit boring now

When even IKEA is copying the slow-product-pan white-background Apple videos, it’s time for them to change it up.

“Once in a while, something comes along that changes the way we live… A device so simple, using it feels almost familiar…”

That above quote… is it from today’s keynote product videos?

No. It’s from the IKEA bookbook mickey-take introducing their latest catalogue. I kid ye not. Time to change these videos up a bit I reckon.

The New MacBook

Yet again, the other computer manufacturers are going to have to sweat blood to match Apple. At just 13.1mm thick, dear me… “all day battery”, a retina display. Smart. And it will also net Apple a good few billion dollars in fees for $24 plastic USB-C adapter costs.

Apple TV is now $99 $69

I was secretly hoping Apple would announce a $29 Apple TV. Or something that would have us all dropping our jaws in amazement. Of course not though. This is Apple. $69 is better. More folk will take the Apple TV plunge. There’s nothing new beyond HBO at a slightly eye-watering $14.99 a month. That does feel a bit expensive compared to Netflix. Still, they want their cash (and I presume, Apple gets a cut) and their content is pretty good. The HBO advert at the start — they even showed off a new Game of Thrones trailer! – testifies to that. The killer flaw with Apple TV is the remote: The whole Apple TV experience was  comprehensively outclassed since the Amazon Fire TV launched with an audio search button. Apple TV is now a flipping flucking annoying experience, especially when you search. Any parent who’s had to hunt for Fireman Sam through about a hundred flipping button clicks on the Apple Remote will tell you that this just does not work for a 4 year old.. or the harassed parent. And I just can’t be bothered anymore either. I’m going to the Fire TV more often now that I can just say “Fireman Sam” to the remote and boom, it’s there. (Or, when the children are asleep, “Vikings” — worth a look if you haven’t already).

Contactless is not Apple Pay

I have been pretty impressed at how any organisation (vending machine or otherwise) that launches with contactless terminals is branded by Apple as “Apple Pay enabled”. Rather than just contactless… which means you can use Apple Pay. This is how they do it though.

The Watch: Compelling

It looks compelling. It looks like they’ve done a good job with version 1. I think the pricing is ridiculous. $10,000+ for a watch that is guaranteed obsolete in a year… and worse, totally unproven. 18 hours on a charge is promising. But I’ve also lived with an iPhone 6 battery that’s dead after 2 hours of continual use. So I think we’d all do well to set expectations. The demonstrations highlighted an array of use cases that I think will be valuable — notifications and messaging is probably the key area of value for me in the first instance. Google Gear has already demonstrated to me that being able to reply to a text with a tap and a sentence is utterly convenient. Yet again it looks — from the demos — that Apple Watch has got this working perfectly.

The W Hotel example, where you could check-in from the Watch and then open your room door with the Watch….. yeah. Gotta hand it to Apple. Smart.

As for Google… I still find the whole experience a bit disconnected with Android Wear. They need to up their game, big time. No pressure.

I was expecting to want to be pushed to the $1,000 Apple Watch stainless steel model. No. I can’t be bothered. I want to try one: But I’ll happily be smeared with the generic ‘left hand customer*’ brush until the tech is sufficiently proven to warrant additional show-off money.  I had a moment of concern when the pricing options in the mid-tier began to look a bit hazy.

Are consumers going to get carried away with the Apple Watch? On the strength of what I saw in the keynote demo… yes. I think they will buy. I also think a lot of standard normob consumers (“normal mobile users”) will be downright impressed with the experience. Charging doesn’t look too much of a ball-ache (as the phrase goes). It’s still an arse having to take the thing off as far as I’m concerned. It’s not going to be any use tracking your sleep, is it? Not when it’s charging on the counter.

I will also tell you this: I mentioned the Apple Watch to my wife over the weekend. It wasn’t really on her radar so I put it there. I explained there were three choices (small, medium, large) in terms of price and two sizes (men — big wrist, women — small wrist). She queried whether the features between the prices changed.

“No, just the colours and materials basically,” I explained.

“I’ll have the Sport then,” she said.

Unusual.

Usually I’d need to press her to even bother to think about trying on an Apple Watch, let alone wanting to buy one. She bought it there and then. I have standing instructions to get her one. Interesting. This never happened with the Pebble or the Android Wear watches I’ve been using. She tried both on at my prompting and didn’t like them.

She hasn’t even seen the Apple Watch and she’s already sold. How many Apple iPhone customers will see the company’s new Watch ad and make a ‘buy’ decision there and then? And just under the $400 mark, it’s cheap enough for a lot of customers to want to buy one to show off and play with it.

The Fricking Whoop Guy

There’s a chap in the Apple keynote audience who always whoops. Maybe it’s a few of them. But the whooping is becoming seriously distracting.

Similarly, the clapping and audience shots … come on Apple! How many billions will it take before we can just get the information without constant, constant applause. By all means applaud at the good bits — the ‘tah dah’ price or availability moment. Or the big reveal.

But…

{WHOOOOOP… CAMERA PAN…. AUDIENCE FEEL THEY HAVE TO CLAP}

It does get a bit…

{WHOOOOOP… CAMERA PAN…. AUDIENCE FEEL THEY HAVE TO CLAP SOME MORE}

Annoying…

{WHOOOOOP… CAMERA PAN…. AUDIENCE FEEL THEY HAVE TO CLAP}

After a while.

By the end of the 90-odd minute keynote, it looked like the clap-a-minute routine was getting old, fast.

I know this is a good tradition — it does add excitement. But it’s quite painful when the whoop guy(s) doesn’t get the cue quite right. Either stick up an APPLAUSE sign or cut it out please? 

In summary

Another keynote masterclass from Apple. Some of the guests could have been a bit smoother but it was another brilliant delivery from Tim, Phil and his colleagues. A company at it’s best. The billions will continue to flow in. I did start watching the keynote with my arms crossed ready with a few choice pained-smiles to deploy but I didn’t need them. My wallet is already ready for two bog standard Apple Watch Sports.

What about yours?

What did you think of the keynote?

*Left hand customer: An Apple customer who always buys from the left hand top side of the company’s product pricing menu. If you’re “along to the right and down to the bottom” you’re obviously buying the most expensive they have — which coincidentally is what I did this morning in the Apple Store Basingstoke when I bought a new iPad.

TalkTalk focuses on improving chat-based customer service

It’s rarely a pleasure calling customer services for any company – long delays, a poor quality connection, and inevitably not achieving what you were trying to do in the first place.

British MVNO operator TalkTalk seems to have recognised this, having conducted a customer behaviour survey that concluded that subscribers “increasingly prefer to self-serve online”, although there is of course probably an element of cost saving involved.

TalkTalk discovers customers prefer chat support

The solution for the operator is to spend the next 12 months boosting their online chat services, and thus lowering the number of calls to their existing telephone support lines.

Technology provider LivePerson has teamed up with TalkTalk to help the telecoms provider move from a traditional telephone-based customer service to a more advanced online engagement technology. Over the next 12 months, TalkTalk aims to quadruple the number of customer service enquiries it handles via online chat agents.

The move comes about after TalkTalk’s customer behaviour surveys showed their customers increasingly prefer to self-serve online – but also want to make sure help is on hand if they need it.

“Our customers don’t always want to have to pick up the phone or send an email when they need help online,” commented Sholto Mee, Head of Customer Services for TalkTalk. “They want fast help, in real-time, while they are on-site. We believe that digital customer service is the future, and we want our customers to be at the forefront of that revolution.”

Working with LivePerson, TalkTalk wants to continue to reduce the number of telephone calls into their contact centre, which has halved over the last three years. Over the same period they’ve also seen customer engagement via their online ‘My Account’ service increase dramatically.

With more and more customers choosing to self-serve online, introducing what TalkTalk describes as ‘the human touch’ to online experiences is key.

“As the traditional ways of interacting with customers, like telephone hotlines, become obsolete, it’s vital that we invest in new technologies like LivePerson’s LiveEngage to maintain high levels of customer service in the brave new digital world”, explained Sholto.

TalkTalk’s investment in digital customer service comes off the back of its best ever results for mobile, TV and fibre sign-ups in the last quarter of 2014, with 50,000 people signing up to TalkTalk Mobile and 115,000 to TalkTalk TV.

How mobile is revolutionising shopping

Over the past few years, the way we communicate has been revolutionised by advances in mobile technology, and the ubiquity of smartphones and other devices. The way we shop has also changed forever, as retailers embrace new ways to optimise their products, and shoppers use these tools to research, compare and purchase goods.

Mobile has benefits for shoppers and retailers

Shoppers can now walk down the aisles of stores with their smartphones, helping them to make better and more informed choices about purchases. Marketers and retailers also have better access to information about what is happening at stores as shoppers enter and leave, partly due to devices such as beacons and other presence technologies.

The smartphone is now an essential item that everybody carries with them (just like their keys and wallet, is a huge resource for brand discounts, and at-a-glance information about what is on offer at stores, enabling marketers to deliver brand messages at a specific point in time (instead of waiting for the shopper to leave).

Armed with mobile devices, consumers not only reap the rewards in terms of simpler, more powerful and efficient shopping, but can also help retailers better understand what is catching the eye of the busy shopper.

What do consumers enjoy about using mobile technology for shopping? This chart from Statista is a very telling set of statistics:

Besides using mobile apps in-store to augment the traditional shopping experience, shoppers are also using dedicated online shopping apps that are targeted for smartphones and tablets. Zalando [Google Play / App Store] is one such app that has capitalised on the success of mobile shopping, by offering a fully-featured fashion store with a huge selection of items (many more than could be viewed in a traditional bricks-and-mortar store). Such apps also have unique features that aid shoppers in finding items of interest – for example by scanning a barcode with their smartphone’s camera which then links to the product.

Deals on demand

Sites such as VoucherBin can be accessed anywhere by customers using mobile devices (customers can also directly search VoucherBin stores to find items for specific brands), which makes them accustomed to being able to quickly find money-saving deals at any time. For example, a consumer might visit a particular isle in a department store if they have a coupon for a specific brand on their mobile, or if they see a mobile ad that influenced them to buy that product.

Apps also have geofencing capabilities, which allows retailers to send customised push notifications when customers reach a predefined area. These notifications also may offer deals on products the moment a consumer enters the store. For example, McDonalds trialled such mobile technology, installing beacons initially in dozens of stores in the US, to offer thousands of redemption coupons. The result was a rise of more than 8% in sales of fast food items, which then prompted the company to expand its beacon programme to hundreds of restaurants.

Increasing brand loyalty

Through social media such as Twitter and Facebook, consumers are able to engage in conversations with brands with ease. Using hashtags, consumers can also help to promote a brand and generate a buzz that helps them spread their message; conversely, with the wrong hashtags, brands can appear to be insensitive. Consumers who are discussing the shopping experience on social media might be followed by retailers and marketers looking to seize an opportunity, to increase brand awareness and create dialogs with those shouting out their products.

In-store research

Consumers in stores can research any product at any moment, looking up reviews, prices, product information and more. Companies are even leveraging customers’ smartphone usage while they are shopping. For example, in the US, Walmart and Lowe’s provide mobile apps to help shoppers navigate their stores. But information can also flow both ways – brands can use shoppers for research on their products or competitors’ products. Smartphones themselves are powerful tools for research with photos, video, barcode scanning and mobile survey capabilities, that brands can use to get access to thousands of respondents to obtain insights into the shopping experience.

Final words

Mobiles are already helping consumers enrich their day-to-day shopping experiences – it’s all about convenience and access to the right information, at the right time. Besides browsing for products and conducting research, mobile payments are also starting to gain popularity, with Apple Pay perhaps the leader in terms of adoption.

But the smartphone is a tool not only for consumers, but for retailers and marketers too – in fact, it seems that everybody stands to benefit when mobile technology is used to augment the shopping experience.

Apps that changed the world

In the first of several posts, we take a look at mobile apps that changed the world in one way or another, for better or worse.

There are dozens of apps that could lay claim to having changed the world or had a far-reaching impact – some of these are simply mobile versions of websites, perhaps Facebook or Twitter for example. However, in trying to come up with some really great examples, I thought it would great to discuss what really kickstarted the app revolution – and many would agree it was Apple’s App Store.

The App Store heralded a new era of mobile apps

Earlier this year, Apple announced the first week of January set new records for revenue from the App Store, with customers worldwide spending almost half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases. New Year’s Day 2015 was the single biggest every day in the App Store sales history. That comes as no surprise when you consider Apple had a blockbuster holiday season last year, selling at least 70 million iPhones, thanks to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which have both been massive hits with consumers.

Similar App Store milestones seem to occur every year – for example, in 2014, app store billings rose more than 50% and apps generated over $10 billion for developers. Apple says it has paid App Store developers more than $25 billion from total sales of apps and games since launch – pretty impressive numbers.

It was Apple that kickstarted the app revolution with the App Store, which launched in 2008. Since then, an entire industry has sprung up around app design and development. In nearly 7 years, iOS apps have helped to create more than 600,000 jobs in the US alone, according to Apple.

And today, the App Store has more than 1.4 million apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, spread across 155 countries, with more than 725,000 apps made especially for the iPad – a fact that Apple is particularly proud of.

Part of the App Store’s success is its diversity – there are an incredible range of apps in dozens of categories – such as games, social networking, productivity, health and fitness, travel, kids and many more. The phrase “there’s an app for that” is now truer than ever before.

Steve Jobs opposed the App Store at first

It seems strange today to learn that Steve Jobs was against the idea of allowing third party apps for the iPhone, at least at first. According to Walter Isaacon’s biography, Steve wanted developers to create web apps that could be used through the Safari web browser. An Apple board member, Art Levinson, said that “Jobs at first quashed the discussion” of allowing apps on the company’s debut smartphone.

Art apparently called Steve “half a dozen times to lobby for the potential of the apps”, but Steve was against them, “partly because he felt his team did not have the bandwidth to figure out all the complexities that would be involved in policing third-party app developers.”

Thankfully, web apps didn’t really take off, and Steve change his mind in due course – it was announced in October 2007 that a development kit for the iPhone would be released the following year. Then in July 2008, the App Store was born, and has since become one of the iPhone’s main selling points – it’s also arguably the most successful mobile app store, with billions of downloads since it first opened.

Today, despite the fact that Google Play has caught up in terms of numbers of apps and total downloads, the App Store is considered by many to be superior – in part due to its more curated experience (Apple attempts to weed out apps that don’t conform to its strict guidelines), plus the fact that many blockbuster apps, games and so on appear on the App Store for iOS first – developers still find iOS a more profitable platform than Android on the whole.

With the ‘app’ buzzword firmly entrenched in popular culture, the humble mobile application has come a long way in the past seven years since the App Store was launched. It’s going to be one hell of a ride to see what capabilities and features that apps on every platform will offer in another seven years…

For the next ‘apps that changed the world’ post, we’ll choose an app that’s made a profound or enormous impact on the world. In the meantime, we would love to hear your own suggestions for apps that deserve the title.

Yes, the mainstream retail experience is still really rubbish

I’m back in London now, if you haven’t been following my updates on LinkedIn.

Being back in London means I am now once again being exposed to all manner of excitements and frustrations, rather than simply driving to Swindon every day and having a pleasant experience at the hands of BaxterStorey’s finest.

This evening I had a bit of a headache. Probably brought on by the stress of having to get out of bed in the morning after a good few weeks struggling through on 10 hours sleep a night with just the school run to contend with.

I thought I’d lighten the load this evening in Waterloo by popping into Boots and buying some Lemsip. And some reasonably priced bottled water. I popped upstairs and picked up a box. I spied the huge queue of people waiting for the one or two servers to process their purchases.

“No thanks,” I thought to myself and I swiftly headed downstairs, picked up a bottle of water and walked over to the self-checkout area. All five tills were fully utilised but I could tell I’d have a space in about 10 seconds.

A Boots helper chap — the nominated guy who has to hang around the self-checkout tills in case there’s a problem — politely acknowledged me. I spied the lady in front of me vacating the check out machine. I walked forward.

I was interrupted, dear reader, as I was striding to the machine.

Horror!

Well… small horror!

The helper chap turned to me and asked, “Would you like to go to the till?”

I looked up and saw the flipping manual till had a space. There was another polite chap smiling ready to greet me.

I didn’t have the heart to say, “No.”

In fact I wondered what kind of signal it would send.

My preference was the self-checkout machine.

I don’t want to speak to anybody. The fact I actually have to checkout is already hugely frustrating. The fact Boots haven’t sorted it so I can just walk in, pick up something and walk out is quite annoying.

I had forgotten just how annoying the normal checkout experience is. So I smiled and walked over.

“Would you like a bag?” the chap asked.

“Sure,” I said.

He scanned the few items I had and then read me the price. I could already see the price shown on the till display.

I had to indicate to the guy that I would like to pay with contactless.

“Ah, have you got a Boots card?” the guy asked.

This interrupted the flow somewhat, from my perspective anyway.

“No, thank you.” I replied, cursing — politely, you understand — the Director of Till Systems or Information Systems or whoever it is that is responsible for this utterly annoying question.

Boots cards, nectar points, all that jazz, needs to be seamless. It wants to be seamless. It should be seamless. I don’t want to have to stick in a second card to get some points. I don’t want to have to carry an additional piece of plastic.

Maybe it makes shopping into some jolly excursion for the legions of Boots card holders. Like you’ve ‘won’ something, every time you transact. I wouldn’t know.

But I would like the Director of Whatsit at Boots to implement a system that automatically rewards me based on my credit card number. Or something else. It’s your problem, Boots, to figure it out. What I don’t want is friction.

Asking me if I’ve got a Boots card is unnecessary friction.

I see why they do it. I’m sure the loyalty card system is seriously popular for Boots. I am not, I suspect, the core target audience for them.

The sales chap pressed a button, the contactless terminal lit up. I tapped, done.

He stuck the receipt in the bag and then handed it over to me.

That’s another thing that needs fixing: Receipts. Don’t get me started on paper receipts.

The biggest annoyance, however, came just after this.

I was about to take hold of the bag when the chap suddenly stopped. He’d obviously looked at his screen and seen a prompt.

“Oh, wait…” he exclaimed, “Your voucher!”

He had almost closed the till door. He opened it up and brought out a little pad of generic vouchers. He tore the top sheet off and stuffed it in my bag with a smile.

I saw the offer: £5 off No7 skincare and £3 off No7 make-up.

Thanks for absolutely nothing Boots.  [ Er, apart from the shop, the good service, stocking the products I want, the convenient opening hours… what have the Romans ever done for us?   ]

What kind of targeting went on there? You and I both can guess. None whatsoever. Especially given the chap was pulling the top sheet of a pad of the same vouchers.

They could have probably got me to buy a new shaver. That Gillette one with the ‘ball’ — the Dyson-shaver. But no. They insisted on spamming me indiscriminately with the usual generic tripe.

It’s definitely a #firstworldproblem.

I’m just amazed that in about a year, there hasn’t been any discernible innovation. I wrote about the frustrations with receipt voucher spam last year and it’s still happening. it must be working for them. Or they wouldn’t be doing it, right?

Mercedes and mobile advertising: Constantly in the wrong gear?

I trust there are embarrassed faces all round in the marketing team at Mercedes UK.

I saw a Facebook ad today on the iPhone. It was for a funky looking Mercedes. I thought it might be useful for my brother so I clicked to take a look.

Here’s the actual Facebook ad:

Here’s what I got when I clicked through:

I was shocked to be taken to a full size web page that either didn’t load correctly or wasn’t compatible with mobile.

Seriously shocked.

That’s a good amount of money Mercedes will be paying for that.

I was expecting to be sent through to a custom-designed page with a photo (or photos) of the car and a bit more detail. I was then intending sharing the resulting URL in an email to my brother.

I didn’t bother.

Out of interest I scrolled through a few more ads and came across a Renault ad. I clicked on that.

Here’s the Facebook ad:

And when I clicked — or tapped — through?

Boom.

They know what they’re doing over at Renault.

What happened, Mercedes? Just an off day? Mobile redirector not working at the moment?