Spam, spam Marketers and spam

Now the Diary doesn’t like to pick on people, but as this story is known to several hundred senior marketers already – not all of whom come out with much credit – the harm has probably been done. So, step forward BCC Marketing Services sales executive Matthew Binley.

Early last week, a large number of marketers received an interestingly punctuated e-mail from young Binley, advertising BCC – a company run by one Brian Binley.

Unfortunately, in his enthusiasm, the lad forgot to use the e-mail function which bears his company’s name, thus giving his disgruntled targets an instant mutual introduction.

Several of them then compounded the error by replying angrily – to all recipients – with requests to be removed from the list. The Diary’s personal favourite was the marketer from a large publishing company who, in an e-mail sent to hundreds of disclosed recipients, castigated Binley’s contravention of the e-mail marketing code.

As the dispute got nasty, Binley and his boss sent out apologies to the (by now undisclosed) list. Unfortunately, one apology blamed the affair on a virus, the other on over-zealousness, resulting in at least one abusive marketer from a Hertfordshire system integration company rejecting them as spam – in a message to 540 people…