The ACLU, CRM, and CRAP

I'm doing a search for a multichannel retailer who seeks a new Director of CRM.  For those of you who don't know, "CRM" stands for customer relationship management, and it's essentially a companywide database marketing initiative that allows a business to communicate with different customers differently, nurturing a two-way dialogue with them that's CRAP:

• Consistent
• Relevant
• Anticipated, and
• Personal

The goal of CRM is for a company to get smarter about you each time you touch it, no matter where you touch it -- so that its offers address your true needs and values, and so that you never have to tell it the same thing twice.  Next to continuity marketing (which includes membership clubs and subscriptions), the Holy Grail of CRM is for companies to be able to anticipate your needs.  That's the aim of "data mining" -- and it's just a taste of what's to come in The Intention Economy.

To see how powerful CRM can be, check out one of my candidate's links to the ACLU's spoof on CRM.  This post has nothing to do with my personal views on information privacy.  It's just a very effective demonstration of what a well funded, forward thinking organization can do with a well-mined database.  Click here to view.
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Comments

[Kevin Hillstrom]

I had not heard the 'CRAP' reference to CRM before. Funny. You'd think I would have heard that at some point during the past twenty years.

[Sourcing Guru]

http://www.aclu.org/pizza/

is hilarious! thanks!

~jer www.o0.typepad.com

Jeremy Langhans
Jeremy Langhans & Associates
Orange County, CA 9498722328