14	ADVERTISING & MARKETING

(a)     One of the great advantages of e-mail from a consumer's perspective is that it can 

        keep the person informed by push technology rather than the individual having to search for 

        the information via pull technology from a Web site.


(b)     E-mail is an excellent communication tool for upstream and downstream 

        communication particularly when involved in committees, workgroups or social and business 

        networks.  It is also a superb follow-up tool to monitor progress.


(c)     With this in mind there are a number of different aspects of unsolicited e-mail to the 

        consumer that have to be considered:


      A     Introducing new product

      B     Introducing new services

      C     Service prices - eg special clear out prices special 

            offers for trips etc

      D     Updates on policies and procedures

      E     Notice of events and functions

      F     Projects and proposals

      G     Advertising material

      H     Marketing material

      I          There will be other types defined


(d)     The difficulty is that the consumer may want to know of special flight prices, when 

        product is in stock  or a specific new product and service but will not know about it  if they, 

        as consumers, do not know where to look for it or have not found that specific organisations 

        contacts details before.


(e)     After much discussion with EIT consultants and members of the OIC the following 

        mechanism has been proposed to assist with the management of unsolicited e-mail:


        1     The sender has to determine what type of e-mail  and provide a code for the e-mail to 

              designate the content of the information.  


        2     When the e-mail is received the e-mail will inform the recipient and place the e-mail into

              the appropriate directory.  This is similar to attachments in e-mail which place all 

              attachments into the \dos directory.


        3     The type of structure envisaged will group all similar e-mails into a directory structure 

              such as:


              \e-mail\a     new products                                \e-mail\b     new services

              \e-mail\c     Special prices                              \e-mail\d     update on policies

              \e-mail\e     notices of events & functions               \e-mail\f     projects & proposals

              \e-mail\g     advertising material                        \e-mail\g     marketing material


       This would also enable the consumer to designate which type of e-mails that they are 

       prepared to receive as part of their own profile.