The Big Job

A few weeks ago I noticed an ad in the Sunday Times for a new Information Commissioner. All those rules about standards in public life mean that jobs like these must be advertised for a fair selection process to take place - no room for a tap on the shoulder in the golf club anymore.This has led me to wonder about the balance of skills required for this job. My list got as far as: ·         Independence of affiliation to any lobbying area·         Exposure to public policy making processes·         Leadership (of course)·         Advocacy and communication My list interestingly doesn't actually mention data, either from a marketing, security or public perspective. What have I forgotten?  I suspect that the future holder of this role will have to spend less time arguing about Identity Cards. A cash strapped future for public finances now appears to be the theme for 2009 and 2010 and would seem to suggest that Identity Cards might find them selves kicked into the long grass of public sector projects.

What goes around.....

An interesting aticle on The Register this morning highlights the fact that even a data literate DM'er like myself has to aknowledge the power of brands.

The idea that a sales model driven via an intermediary should be sucessful runs counter to much of the fashionable thinking over the past decade. Remember the word disintermediation? Yes, Not heard that one since the days of phrases like "clicks not bricks" and the idea that every supermarket would close down and be replaced by a delivery service.  It's not happened has it.  The reality is that whatever the business model a strong brand is the differentiator. Comparison web sites have been with us for some years but how many of us pick the absolute cheapest and how many the cheapest of the brands that we've heard of and of which we have some residual positive feeling?  Direct communication always works better on a bedrock of of a brand. It's an element of the mix frequently forgotten in the data world and measuring the effect of a brand on response is far from simple, but very worthwhile.