Tesco, this time it’s personal(ish)

While we’re on the subject of dodgy direct mail. A couple of weeks back I got my latest Tesco clubcard statement. Yes, I know, I know, i’m giving all my personal data to the Tescopoly, but there are some infringements i’m willing to bear (and quite a  few erosions of liberty that i’m not.)

What struck me though, is that Tesco as arguably the most sophisticated profiler and user of Direct Marketing in the business uses variable printing for it’s quarterly clubcard mailer.

What does this mean? Well, you receive a nice blue and red leaflet where about two thirds of the black printed text on it has been tailored to you. Offers you might like, your personal details, the address, a cheery greeting like “Dear Mr xxxx”.

So given that the Tesco supercomputer knows i’m a bloke and probably, given the level of their knowledge base, a single bloke with a predilection for cashew nuts.  Why did the front of the leaflet say (in black variable print no less), “Inside, great vouchers to pull out and put in your purse.”

The only guy with a purse that comes readily to mind is Tinky Winky, substitute the word wallet and it wouldn’t have jarred nearly so much.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 9:26 am and is filed under rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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