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Technology and accountability. Not surprisingly, these are two of the top direct marketing media trends for the coming year. Direct recently talked with Michelle Saperstein, vice president and group media director at Draftfcb, to get her thoughts on the DM media landscape. Saperstein joined the agency in 1991 from A. Eicoff & Co. Her current client list includes Archer Daniels Midland, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, and Diners Club International.

DIRECT: Is accountability increasingly more important in the DM media space?

SAPERSTEIN: Yes. Metrics are becoming more important than ever and every media vehicle is being called to task to see what it's contributing to the bottom line. I think more and more marketers are looking for proof that every dollar they're spending has strong ROI. The shift to digital is making accountability easier to measure. It helps us optimize our media plans. We have real-time analytics and control of our messaging. Of course, one of direct marketing's big challenges is overall costs. Postal rates continue to increase, and that's driving a lot of marketers to look at alternatives to help minimize costs.

DIRECT: Do you think consumer attention — and more marketing dollars — are moving online?

SAPERSTEIN: We're starting to see consumers shift online. I don't think it's as much as what we're reading in the press, though. Most advertisers still have to rely on TV and print and other offline vehicles to really generate significant awareness. But their hearts are really into testing online and figuring out the best way to use online to support offline efforts.

DIRECT: Where are clients putting their dollars online? Is there a lot of interest in things like social media or podcasting?

SAPERSTEIN: All of the above. It feels like banners still take the lion's share of our budgets. Search is big, and that'll grow in the future. Blogs to a lesser degree — I think there's a lot of uncertainty with them. Pre-roll video and mobile technology are two other things we're testing.

DIRECT: How is DRTV inventory, as we head into the political season?

SAPERSTEIN: Inventory is strong, given that the politicals haven't kicked in yet. I think this is going to be a year unlike any other. I don't think we can rely on past experience to judge what's going to happen. We know January typically is one of the best DRTV months, but since some states have moved up their primaries, the political window is going to start to kick in during December. We're expecting with all the deep pockets that people are going to start to get into [television advertising early], so we feel like inventory and pricing is definitely going to be affected. But nothing has happened yet. We also expect the politicals to run in dayparts where they typically haven't in the past, like daytime. It's going to be up for grabs, so we'll have to wait and see.

DIRECT: What about print?

SAPERSTEIN: We do use FSIs pretty heavily. Beyond that, we've been testing a lot of vehicles but haven't committed to any one in particular.

DIRECT: Any predictions for 2008? What are the opportunities and challenges for DMers?

SAPERSTEIN: I think social networking will continue to evolve, but from an advertiser perspective, we're still trying to figure out how to best use the space. Mobile technology is another place where the door is wide open. Growth will depend on the audiences. Video has seen a year-on-year growth, and it's hot with younger audiences. And given the success of [Apple's] iPhone, there's the potential that mobile could surpass fixed-line Internet. Overall, marketers need to do a better job building relationships with high-value consumers. They need to better understand how consumers think and what motivates them to act. Marketers need to get out there now and identify and test new technologies and see what will work for them and what they want to use moving forward. There's also the challenge of accountability. I read a report that said 23% of marketers don't know what their primary interactive business objective is. They need more clearly defined metrics.

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