As a ketchup fan (you’ve seen the name of the blog), I’ve just purchased Heinz’s new limited edition Balsamic Vinegar flavour, which I have to say I am really looking forward to trying. What I find more interesting, however, is the fact that Heinz has chosen to sell an initial 3,000 bottles of the stuff exclusively on Facebook.
In order to purchase a bottle of Balsamic Vinegar ketchup (£1.50 + Heinz picks up the postage and packaging, nice), customers have to ‘like’ the page. Before I do this Facebook warns me that Heinz will have access to all of my basic information – name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID and list of friends as well as any other information I have shared with ‘everyone’ (one of those little options that comes up in your privacy settings). My initial reaction was: ‘Are you kidding me, those nosy little b%st£ds.’ But I clicked the like button anyway, damn my addiction to ketchup. Depending on what my privacy settings are set to, I could potentially be providing Heinz with intimate details of my day to day life now. This means from a marketing point of view, Heinz could possess incredibly detailed information about the core audience of people that purchase their products, information that they will be able to tap into at any point in the future. And information that any company would typically pay a great deal of money for.
Heinz could be able to see any brands I mention, places I talk about, people I interact with, photos and much, much more. By allowing Heinz access to my information I can’t really complain about what I initially viewed as this invasion of privacy to be honest. We live in an information age where these little details about consumer habits are incredibly valuable to companies. The online world also means there is so much more information available in such a public forum.
What I find particularly interesting is the ongoing debate as to whether what we say online can really be classed as private, especially if you choose to put information about yourself on what are essentially public domains, such as Facebook and Twitter. The recent case of Sarah Baskerville shows this. Sarah complained to the PCC about articles in the Daily Mail and The Independent after they published details of her tweets, which contained information such as being hungover at work and details of the inner workings of the Department of Transport. Sarah has 700 twitter followers and whilst her Twitter setting is set to private she has chosen to share individual details about herself to 700 people. Private? I think not. So whilst it’s fair enough to feel sorry for her (as she probably didn’t expect the details of her private life to be splashedover the newspapers,) my reaction was to wince and then shrug my shoulders. Why put this sort of info on Twitter, especially when you work for a government department? Surely a bit of common sense about what is appropriate to release on a public domain can be applied here? We share so much information with people we don’t know nowadays, isn’t it worth holding a bit back? As my old Director once said to me: ‘Imagine what you are typing is published on the front page of a newspaper. If you don’t want to see it on there, don’t write it.’ Wise advice.
Whilst I am not particularly happy about Heinz having access to the basic details of my personal life, I chose to hit that like button, and I guess that’s what Heinz banked on – I opted in. And I have to applaud this incredibly clever launch. The fact that Heinz is the first English company to sell a product on Facebook, indeed sell a newly launched product on Facebook, has provided a great news story and created hype prior to the launch of their new ketchup flavour. And I for one can’t wait until my new bottle arrives in the post. Job well done Heinz, you clever little snoops. Note to self. Must never tweet about being hungover…
{ 0 comments }