Meet the Broker: Joel Cooper

Today we meet Joel Cooper, president of New York brokerage List Strategies Inc. Cooper began his career working with business-to-business files, but over the years he’s become more of a consumer list broker.

He got his start in 1980 at Edith Roman Associates Inc. and moved on to Zeller & Letica Inc. before founding List Strategies in 1988.

Cooper says his background “was all business-to-business, but probably 70% or more of the brokerage that I do [now] involves marketing to consumers.”

He does agency work for MRM Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and Wunderman. His brokerage clients include GlaxoSmithKline, Penton Media, Putman Media and Time Inc.

These days Cooper is seeing cutbacks in mailing volume as direct marketers trim list-budget allocations. And tighter budgets are making the list business more competitive. “Based on my experience with specific clients, companies are putting more money into search engine marketing, but I don’t see a place there for list brokers.”

When he isn’t on the job, Cooper’s interests include European travel, theater, current news events (especially politics), and cars. “I just restored a Jaguar, but I haven’t traveled lately because I don’t have the funds,” he says.

What’s it like working with agencies vs. working directly with mailers?

“Some brokers don’t want to work with agencies, but let’s not go there,” Cooper says.

Agencies are a good source of brokerage work when mailers pull back on budgets. Agencies also offer a wide range of assignments. “It’s allowed me to work in every kind of industry and markets, from people with ailments like cancer to manufacturing and processes with certain chemicals.”

Agency deadlines are much shorter than mailers’. “Agencies need everything yesterday,” he quips.

And there’s another downside: Agency work inevitably involves creating marketing plans that never get used. Cooper says there are fewer such disappointments when brokers and mailers deal with each other directly to lay out strategy.

Why do brokers complain about list managers?

“It’s the corner-cutting on customer service, and it’s getting worse,” Cooper says. “People are being squeezed for money, and they’re cutting corners as long as it doesn’t affect the bottom line.”

He believes the problem stems from corporate consolidation that goes way beyond the list industry. List managers’ clients are demanding certain profit levels from list properties. This ultimately leads management firms to pull back on service provided to brokers, according to Cooper.

List brokers must be vigilant about data accuracy given all this economizing, because, he says, it’s not unusual for counts provided by list managers to differ from what’s requested. For example, a client might want a certain job-title select in a particular industry sector from companies with fewer than 100 employees. However, the list manager’s count might exceed what’s possible based on BPA audit information.

“If a broker questions it,” Cooper says, “the list manager will give a lame excuse, like ‘That’s what the service bureau said.’

“It’s important to remember that list managers and brokers have very different jobs. A list manager’s job is to maximize revenue for a particular client. It’s a broker’s job to look out for the client’s interest.”

Know someone you’d like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mail Jim.Emerson@Penton.com.