Oh C'mon Group Hug!

I sat at my desk last night wondering what the heck I was going to write this month to commemorate Direct's 20th anniversary.

Should I do something pithy about all the technological advances of the past two decades? After all, when I began writing about direct marketing 14 years ago, neither I nor my colleagues knew what an impact the Internet would have on the industry — or how we cover it.

(As I wrote in my column for Direct's 10th anniversary, way back when, I didn't know exactly what the Internet was, but I was pretty sure it was the same as America Online. I just wasn't clear where the whole World Wide Web thing fit into the picture.)

My mind started to wander to different stories I'd written, and conferences I'd attended, and issues that affected the business. But what kept coming back as significant was more flesh and blood than wires and circuits.

I thought about the late, great Jerry Ballinger, who was one of my mentors over at DM News. He was an old-school newsman and a true character, in the best sense of the word. During a recent office cleaning I came across a set of notes I took on my very first day working for the paper. It was Jerry's outline of what you needed to cover in a database marketing story. Every word of it still holds true today.

Then there's the scores of writers, editors, PR folks and industry professionals who have become personal friends. And I won't even get started on Ray Schultz, for whom my affection and admiration runs deep. For those of us here on Direct, Ray's the guy who tells us to jump into the fire. We bitch and moan about it for 10 minutes, then ask him how high we have to jump and how long we have to let our butts burn before we can get out. Because we're that loyal to the guy.

I'm guessing a lot of you reading this have a Ray in your life, who has inspired you and kept you in the DM world. Because when you get right down to it, direct marketing is a people business. It's a business about motivating people to respond and take action. And the best motivator comes from the heart — something that even the shiniest of widgets doesn't have, at least not yet.

This is a business built on service, and an anniversary is a great time to remember the people who make it all happen, both on a professional and personal level. So here's a toast to good old human beings — who are any company's best return on investment every day of the year.

Beth Negus Viveiros was recently named Web editor of the redesigned Chief Marketer Group of sites — chiefmarketer.com, directmag.com, promomagazine.com and multichannelmerchant.com. Let her know what you think about the new look at beth.negus@penton.com.