DMA Offers Bill-Me Membership, Pike Chides DMA For Telemarketing

In competing communiqués last week, the Direct Marketing Association offered no-money-down memberships, while DMA board member Gerry Pike took the organization to task for a proxy-soliciting telemarketing campaign.

Pike and the DMA are both seeking proxy votes to the DMA’s business meeting. Pike, a current board member who was not re-nominated to the board, wants to put two resolutions on the meeting’s agenda which will open the board nomination to members, and allow for on-site candidates. The DMA is seeking to drum up support for its slate of nominees.

On Friday, the DMA e-mailed a membership offer to non-member Annual conference attendees. The note, which was signed by DMA senior VP of member and segment services Ken Ebeling, read, in part:

“If you act now you will save $500 on membership, receive a free DMA Council membership of your choice and Pay NOTHING until January 2010,” read the DMA’s offer. “Your 2010 membership begins today. 2009 is FREE!”

Benefits of DMA membership, according to the letter, include:

“DMA members receive unwavering support through our advocacy efforts on the state, federal, and international levels. Plus, individuals working at DMA member companies have unique opportunities to share experiences and learn from experts by joining DMA Councils - niche networking groups spanning 22 segments and categories.”

In an e-mail response to questions posed by Direct Newsline, DMA chief communications officer Sue Geramian wrote the solicitation “is a standard offer that we have made around Annual before. This consists of (1) $500.00 off; (2) free council membership; (3) pay in 2010, which was put in due to the current economic climate making it easier for people to join.”

Geramian did not address a question about whether the new members would be entitled to proxy votes, or even whether solicitation of proxy votes is part of the application, and the DMA’s by-laws don’t specifically address this concern.

Under Article III, section 4 of the organization’s by-laws, every member company is allowed to designate one voting member. But sections 2 and 3 make specific reference benefits within section 4 being contingent on dues and additional fees paid by the member company. There is no discussion of memberships obtained when fees are waived, even temporarily.

This may be a moot question: In two copies of the message to non-member attendees received by Direct Newsline, none of the links to the membership application worked. Recipients reported they were not able to click through, either.

Pike’s own Friday e-mail, titled “DMA spends money on telemarketing for proxies” referenced a story which ran last week in Direct Newsline (http://directmag.com/news/dma-proxy-fight-telephone-1008/). The DMA has been calling members, seeking their proxy votes.

According to Pike, the calls – some of which, according to recipients, were from live operators and some of which were automated – represented a lost opportunity for the DMA to have a dialog with its members.

Pike went on to chide the DMA for spending money on soliciting proxies. If money is to be spent on last-ditch outreach efforts, shouldn't it be to go that extra mile to drive traffic for Exhibitors and expand the networking pool for attendees?” he asked.

The DMA may have tried to keep costs down: At least some of the calls appear to have originated from within the organization.

Pike’s Friday e-mail followed a Thursday morning solicitation, in which he elaborated on some of the goals for his proxy campaign. Given proxy power, he pledged to influence DMA management through the board of directors to:

“bring back the Operations Councils which for so long served as the open door for DMA members to roll up their sleeves and have a hands-on involvement with their Association.

“take Management compensation comes out of the backroom and put it back into the Boardroom, where it's supposed to be, in order to get it in line with industry standards.

“bring value back as a benefit of DMA membership by grinding down budget-buster dues and conference fees.”

Interestingly, both Pike’s Thursday message and the DMA’s Friday message reference councils – Pike saying that they need to be brought back, and the DMA indicating that they currently offer value to members.