As someone who had worked in the direct/target marketing industry, I will be the devil's advocate here.

Yes, direct/target marketing faces challenges now that consumers can better share information.

PG wrote that there should not be a system "where only a few privileged benefit" and you favor benefits be "accessible to all, rather than a chosen few."

Isn't that the antithesis of been an elite flyer? If I am Joe public, why can't I make the same statement that you made, questioning why you have benefits that I as Joe Public cannot access?

No doubt, the answer is: I have earned it, I have proved myself to be a more valuable customer to this airline than you, the average flyer, have. And that is true, you bring in more money which is why you are treated differently. And that is pretty much the bottom line, money.

Target marketing has brought in more money to the companies, be it increased revenue, or decreased cost, or both. Companies have also calculated quite in sophisticated models that 1) your behavior will not change i.e. even if you are upset by it, you will continue to be a customer, and 2) even if a few loyal customers leave, the new customers that the promotion brings in will exceed or make up for the ones that left.

Some of you may bring up anecdotal evidence that you have left a particular company and look at how much revenue company X has lost. True, but overall, studies and real life examples have shown that the target marketing have worked. It made money for the companies even if the loyal customers did not get the promotion and upset by it, which is why they are still doing it. After all, like UserMark says, why reward you for the revenue you will bring in anyway?

Now, if you think this is not fair, you can vote with the ultimate weapon: your behavior. If enough people walk/complain, target marketing will fail. This particular brand of marketing will establish a poor record; it will prove to be a money loser and companies will stop doing it.

My own prediction is that target marketing will change dramatically. An alternative is that a company may make its offers viewable to the public but have a strict qualification rule. I don't think that will work since 1) a company may have thousands of offers going on the same time, 2) the complex qualification rule and terms and condition may discourage the target, and 3) the promotion may not reach its intended target. Anyway, I am digressing into the future of the industry. But my point is that the term "fair" is not applicable in this circumstance. Afterall, after much study, the company considers that this is only fair to itself and to its sharehodlers to bring in more money. If you don't like it, by all means make youself heard, but it ain't fair to accuse it of something that it is not.

[This message has been edited by kyklin (edited 12-08-1999).]