The skeptic in me says “I’ve never heard of this entity before,” “seems fishy,” “never heard of the award before,” “why did they send it to sales@ - a spam-related email.”
But the optimist in me thinks maybe there is 5% validity to this award.
Should I be a skeptic or think it’s real. Please comment below to tell me your thoughts.
Mahalo is on a role. First, the controversial TechCrunch review of Mahalo’s founder blog entry on expecting employees to work 16 hours a day every day because he does (which I wholeheartedly disagree with). Now, their YouTube retro video is truly good stuff and relevant to the email marketing world. Mahalo, the human search company, is trying to show how pull technology like search doesn’t have the flaw of spam, but the creative is strong enough to get a chuckle out of it.
killROI is our new hero (and a weird coincedence, “eROI” in Italian means hero). The credit goes to our design team and Flash guru who concepted the yellow robot/alien design on the body of a HazMaPo vinyl adult toy (don’t let your mind stray) made by our client Unkl Brand.
killROI is cool.
He kills spam. (Check out KillSpammer.com to see what I’m talking about).
If you are in the email marketing world at all, you have an obligation to kill as much spam as possible at KillSpammer.com. Watch out for the Viagra - it’s lethal.
Just read an article on the UK cracking down with new regulations in effect this year. My overall thought is that the industry should always stay ahead of regulations with more stringent best practices, but it’s good to see that other countries are taking email compliance seriously.
The article reads:
“UK puts new email regulation in effect
In an effort to cut down on spam and to weed out spamming companies, the UK has placed new regulations on email communications. At the start of the new year, the UK Companies Act Amendments of 2006 went into effect, with requirements similar to the US CAN-SPAM act.
by Kristina Knight
As with normal business correspondence, UK companies are now required to disclose the company name, where the company is registered, the registration number (if there is one) and the registered address in transactional email communications. For other commercial messages, such as marketing materials or newsletters, a valid postal address and the company name should be included in the correspondence.”
Read the rest of the article >>
I came across a blog that was right up my alley - The Spam Obituaries! The blog starts with an explanation of itself: “Hi, I’m William Ridenhour. By day I train as a chef under Delia Smith. By night I write the Spam Obituaries.” The blog takes the names from spam e-mails, bring them to life and kill them off swiftly. Odd, but interesting. Check it out.
Oh, how I love intriguing SPAM. Crappy SPAM that accounts for 99.99% of the spam I get is no fun, but there is nothing better than intriguing SPAM.
Here’s how the email goes:
$100 Space Ad
Marketing is about to be taken to new heights…all the way to the edge of space.
Actually, it’s a research mission carrying student experiments. However, ads make it all possible.
“If it’s good enough for sports teams, it’s good enough for science teams,” proclaims John Powell, President of JP Aerospace.
These “ads at the edge of the world” are on a platform carried aloft by high altitude weather balloons. During the flight on board, cameras take pictures of the ads with the blackness of space and the curvature of the Earth in the background. In the past, weather balloons have conjured up images of UFOs; now, images of commerce are being created. After the balloons reach 100,000 feet, they are released, and the platform descends to Earth by parachute. The mission, called Away 27, is the eighty-seventh for JP Aerospace. JP Aerospace is an independent space program staffed by volunteers dedicated to bringing space travel to everyone.
More information and pictures available at www.jpaerospace.com.
We look at ALOT of emails everyday. And we have relied on placing every mail filter in our inboxes to test just how client emails are getting through at every level. Sometimes these measures just don’t cut it with the volume of Spam we get. In an effort to add an extra level of Spam protection to our inbox (and brains) we looked for the right system to put in place to keep those that get through the spam traps and into the inbox. We are happy to release our latest product offering to the general public…. the SPAM Trap Protection System 8000.
I would reccomend that you get out and get one of these today if you are just fed up with blocking spam that seems to seep in no matter what you do. It might be the only way to live with it (as who wants to hit the delete key).
Best of luck in the War on Spam at your office and rest assured that we are taking every precaution needed on our end.
Jim - you are freaking me out. Your “from” line is Jim and email address is blatantly spam-like. You hooked me with a spam-like subject line “my dream come true” and waddya know, it’s SPAM with a beautiful twist. Jim is not a man - he’s a pretty girl. If you are going to spam me, don’t get me all gender confused.
“—–Original Message—–
From: Jim [mailto:ixyantt@shaw.ca]
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 9:28 AM
To: ryan
Subject: my dream come true
Do not ignore me please,
I found your email somewhere and now decided to write you.
I am coming to your place in few weeks and thought we
can meet each other. Let me know if you do not mind.
I am a nice pretty girl. Don’t reply to this email.
Email me direclty at nice@free4mail.info”
I love these. A crappy looking email is sent from the CEO of a large company telling you if you forward this on to X friends that you will get a gift certificate. And below in another color and font some text that says, I just tried this and it really works. Right. This stacks up with the old Bill Gates emails and Nigerian spam in my eyes.
The problem is, they work, and people are suckers. I got this from a relative with little understanding of email and the web. We will always have those that don’t know and accept things as true that come into the inbox. It’s a hard battle for legitimate marketers and a bad brand experience when they use a valid company name to spam.
I love that this email shows at the footer a large call out claming it to be CanSpam complaint. If this is a not a red flag, what is? I mean if I tell you something on the internet, it is true right?
So the volume of junk we get is amusing. What makes it funny is the kinds of “soft” offers that are showing up. Not all the Viagra or porn emails, although we do get a few of those, but all the Vote emails that are filling the honeypots (inboxes set up to trap).
Here is one asking you to vote for Coke or Pepsi. Harmless enough and I am sure it gets click throughs, but will respondig to this unwanted crap just get you more? The answer is yes.
This is such a trustworthy email and such a new tactic that I had to post it to the Email Days blog. It’s all in the implementation. Enjoy!
“Greetings from Queen,
I got your contact from our country’s chamber of commerce through web search. I am Miss Queen Gnassingbe, the daughter of the late Togolese president (Mr. Gnassingbe Eyadema), who died of heart attack on the 5th of febuarary 2005 on a good Saturday.
After his death, my elder brother(Mr.Faure Gnassingbe),was quickly acknowledged as the new president of my country, and till date there are still outstanding problems and on steady decisions it really look like he is going to discontinue as the leader of my country. Due to this effect, i wish to move some funds lodged in by my late father before his death in an account in Europe to your country for a private investments abroad.
I am seeking for your trust to assist me move this funds into your country for private investments now, and i am assured in me that you are a trustworthy person that can not only assist me get the funds into your country alone, but also keep it safe for me until i come over to your country and we shall make proper arrangements for good investments together. I shall thank you after this funds has gotten into your country through your assistance.
Please respond to my personal Email address: miss_queen_gnassingbe@walla.com , if you do accept, But i will be deeply disappointed, if you do not accept but then would respect your decision.
Best regards.
Miss Queen Williams Gnassingbe Eyadema.”
Email, as with most things, is all in its delivery. Implementation is everything. The following SPAM was pretty generic until the strikingly real photo of a priveleged Ms. Nicole Johnson. As one of my colleagues commented after reading the SPAM, “Oh, you sent a photo. Well now I trust wiring you some funds.”
“Hello,I am Ms nicole johnson and I was married to Dr.Henry Nnobi who is the Audit and Computing Manager of
(U.T.B) Bank Johannesburg South /Africa
Attached is a copy of my Photo Picture.
I really would like us to talk about some issues.
Kindly try as much as possible to reach me back if its ok by you for us to talk these matter.
I am German by Nationality but my ex-husband is a South African.At the moment,I am here in Johannesburg(South Africa)
Kindly reply me on my Private e-mail address: n26nc@netscape.net
Now,till I read from you, Have a Nice Day,
Friendly Yours
Ms nicole johnson
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