There’s no doubt that technology has ‘revolutionised’ marketing. But the ideas of how to use technology in order to attract more customers and make headlines are not always going to bode well with all, as washing powder giant OMO is finding out.

omoOne of the biggest setbacks marketers (and social networks for that matter) are facing these days is privacy. What is out of bounds when it comes to privacy and how far should the humble marketer be allowed to venture into private space. Actually, what is our private space?

Consumers are happy to give away their private details when they are given something in return, as we reported last week, but if they are unaware that someone is ‘watching’ them or taking their details, that seems to upset them.

So when OMO decided to plant tracking devices in its packs of washing powder, it should have come as no shock that consumers would be just a tad upset when all they were offered in exchange was a ‘chance’ to win a video camera…

The Unilever brand planted a GPS device in 50 special OMO boxes in Brazil.

When a winning box is bought, the GPS activates and leads an OMO team to the purchaser’s house in order to give them the prize.

If someone turned up on my door step handing me a video camera and telling me I had ‘won’ I’d be suspicious…and very scared.

In case the person lives in an apartment block, the team is equipped with even more sophisticated tracking equipment that allows them to narrow the location down to a much smaller area.

In fact, according to Unilever, it’s possible the teams handing out prizes could potentially beat purchasers home.

The issue here: fear of not only having your privacy invaded but your details being shared. People are rightly fearful when a major conglomerate can turn around and say “I know where you live”.

Once they’ve got their hands on that data, the temptation will be to try and aggregate it, retain a record and then find a way of monetising it.

Also this week we talked on UTalkMarketing about digital billboards that can gather information about you as you walk past and therefore target their ads at you.

This ‘tracking’ as scary as it sounds, could very well be the future of marketing. That ‘Holy Grail’ Zuckerberg promised all those years ago.