Sponsored Content WEBINAR: ELECTION 2008: E-mail Tips from a Political Insider   WEBINAR: Becoming the Illusionist: The Magic of Using "Brand" to Drive Response without Results Disappearing in the Process   WEBINAR: Score and Win Through Cooperation   TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Holiday's are prime-time for email marketing - maximize your ROI by getting to the inbox   ON DEMAND WEBINAR--MASTER CLASS: High Performance Online and Off-line Strategies for Large Scale Customer Acquisition   FREE WHITE PAPER - Direct Mail and the Internet Find any supplier you need - agencies, CRM, fulfillment, lists, e-commerce, paper, printers, telemarketing, and more. Featured Categories Lists and Data Telemarketing Database Marketing E-commerce Web Marketing Agency & Creative Services Print, Production & Paper Lists and Data Processing :: view all categories Get free access to more than 50,000 list data cards - one of the most comprehensive databases in the industry. >> Search Now DIRECT Buzz Blog Webinars Buyer's Guide Calculators JobZone ListFinder Promo Calendar Research Store E-Newsletters Print Magazine This Month in Direct Magazine Bare Bones Postal reform works. The rate hike that takes effect May 12 is the lowest in memory: an average of 2.88%. And some mail classes are getting even less than that... See Full April Issue

Focus Worldwide, the new international division of Focus USA, has entered a strategic alliance with Latin Lists, of Caracas, Venezuela.

It is the first of several being formed by the U.S. company.

Latin Lists has a database with more than 20 million names from Venezuela and a combined 40 million records from Argentina, Ecuador and other Latin American countries. The firm has a U.S. office in Plantation, FL, and is in the process of expanding to Mexico.

Latin Lists gathers data through consumer surveys at public events and manages lists for clients. It offers files selectable by social status, income, profession, consumption patterns, presence of credit cards and geography.

The deal with Focus means U.S. companies will be able to rent Latin American lists and use self-reported consumer data.

This is a good time to move into other countries, according to Chicca D’Agostino, president of Focus Worldwide.

"The list market in the U.S. is changing," she says. "There’s a lot of consolidation of companies, fewer brokers buying lists and mailers cutting back, she says. There are good opportunities outside the U.S., particularly if the economy is not so good here."

Douglas Sacks, vice president of strategic planning at Focus Worldwide, is spearheading the firm’s efforts to find local partners outside the U.S.

D’Agostino says Focus will be announcing four more strategic alliances within weeks with companies based in India, China, Australia and the European Union. More deals are pending with prospective partners located in South Africa, Hungary, Poland, United Kingdom and other E.U. countries.

Focus and its marketing partners will provide each other access to list data. This will enable U.S. clients looking to expand overseas to do marketing research and testing, and likewise for foreign companies interested in the U.S. market. "It’ll work both ways," adds D’Agostino.

Focus is primarily seeking partners to expand in Asia, Latin America and South Africa, although it has a strategic alliance deal pending with a company in Germany, she says.

Ideal candidates for strategic alliances with Focus Worldwide have good track records for five or more years and access to databases with 10 million records or more. Focus is mostly interested in talking to companies with response data and demographics, which can be updated.

Focus is going after more than commissions from foreign list owners and revenues from exporting its own list data. It plans to offer consulting services, statistical modeling, building databases and other list-related services, which are not readily available outside the U.S. and E.U., D'Agostino adds.