October 1, 2008
Features
20 Plus
Granted, you may not have been waiting for this milestone. But Direct is now 20 years old. It debuted in October 1988 and started appearing monthly shortly...
E-mail's Future? There's More on the Way
What will e-mail marketing be like in five years? First, readers should keep in mind I'm the guy who predicted in the late '90s that AOL was going down...
Wonder Web
Can you define convergence? It sounds like one of those vague buzzwords businesspeople like to use. But it does mean something that devices and platforms...
The Big Easy
Database marketing has become socialized. It used to be the province of the biggest firms. But no more. For one thing, software has been improved so that...
Postal Migraine
Mailers may be happy about postal reform. But it hasn't relieved all their worries. They're concerned, for example, about the 2009 rate hike. Yes, we...
Past Tense
Yeah, sure. Tell us all about how the world has changed in 20 years. Let's seein 1988 we were talking about Gary Hart's womanizing. Disgraced in '87,...
Where Are They Now?
Has it really been 10 years? It seems like only yesterday that we did a story in Direct titled The New Direct Marketers. We called them that because each...
Project Head Start
It's been said almost to the point of being a clich that no one grows up wanting to be a direct marketer. But the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation...
DM Outlook
Danger: No-Mail Zone
Despite stepped-up efforts by the direct marketing industry to head off state do-not-mail bills, the number of proposals continues to grow. These measures,...
Can This Woman Save Direct Marketing?
Linda Woolley has just signed on for what's arguably the biggest challenge of her career. But judging by her r she's been gearing up for it for more than...
Bills, Bills, Bills
Direct marketers who believe the best government is that which governs least can't be too pleased with the current spate of bills floating around Washington....
Disciplines
Goal: Serving Fans
Let's paint a picture of the best possible hockey fan, at least as far as the National Hockey League's direct marketing department is concerned. This...
False Measure
The quickest way for direct marketers to get into hot water is to allow themselves to be judged by a useless metric. The return on marketing investment...
Microsite Delivers Big
A nice, neat list of multichannel marketing tactics is OK for starters. But putting those strategies into practice is another thing. Johnson Direct worked...
All Mixed Up
Creating an effective campaign in today's chaotic, competitive multichannel marketing environment is anything but easy. But you stand a much better chance...
Channels
Service Pays
Nissan USA has been pulling a response rate of about 6% to a 1.1 million-piece mailing it sent out earlier this summer. Long-standing customers were offered...
A Little Too Personal
Think about it. You're browsing through your mail and come across an oversize postcard from your health club. Printed across the back in large text you...
Rx for Direct Mail Headaches
Direct mail is still considered one of the most economical means of communicating key messages to customers. However, those involved in direct mail production...
Retiring - But Not Laid Back
MassMutual's Retirement Services division is using e-mail newsletters to promote its products to brokers and investors. Our distribution model consists...
The B Team
Secondary search the use of a secondary search-engine marketing team to complement existing search campaigns can do wonders for a company. But for many...
A Muscular DR Campaign
CelebDirect has begun a direct response print, online and infomercial campaign for the Muscle Flex exercise system. It's starting with half- and full-page...
Menopauseland: The Place to Be
Amerifit Brands has added more than 40,000 names to its database thanks to a $20 million DRTV, print and online effort to boost Web site traffic. Amerifit...
Op-Ed Columns
Sites and Sounds
Get ready Direct is about to relaunch its Web site (www.directmag.com). Ho-hum, you say. Everybody's redoing their Web sites. But this one really will...
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...
Broken Graphics and the 40/40/20 Rule
E-mail marketing executives talk incessantly about the importance of relevancy. And rightly so. But they often also talk about relevancy like it's new...
Pretty Pictures, Little Else
Marketing guru Jonathan Salem Baskin has just published a book called Branding Only Works on Cattle. The publisher is promoting it this way: Most people...
Have I Got a Candidate for You!
In the best of all possible worlds, judges rule with gravitas from their benches. And in the best of all possible direct marketing worlds, their election...
An Unpopular Opinion
Making a negative comment about McDonald's is like making a negative comment about God and motherhood. Not since I saw a full-page ad for Louis Vuitton...
Articles
It's Mobile, Baby!
Just in time to entertain the hordes of direct marketers set to descend on Sin City for DMA08, Vegas.com is rolling out what it calls Las Vegas' first...
They've Got the Power
Today's consumer is in control. But you already knew that. What you also need to know is how to market in a world of constant experimentation, new metrics...
A Steady Clip
The Sunday paper is still many consumers' go-to resource for their weekend dose of The Family Circus. But when it comes to getting coupons to feed their...
Searching for a Way to Give
More than 60,000 nonprofits have partnered with a new Yahoo-powered search engine and shopping mall to help supporters make donations simply by searching...
Now the News Is Happening to Us
You want to talk about direct mail copy? Nothing can beat a series of letters sent by Time magazine during the early years of World War II. Few copywriters...
Departments
Listline
NEW LISTS Forbes Wireless Insider Worldata offers a list of 13,587 subscribers to Forbes' weekly e-mail newsletter for investors interested in mobile...
Letters to the Editor
SOME FONTS CAN BE DEPRESSING After reading Richard H. Levey's article Mad Money (August), I just have to say that my mail is replete with starbursts and...
