Don't Get Him Started
Because I'm a Customer? Pshaw!
I hate it when companies try to feed me BS. Rite Aid recently sent an e-mail pitching Medicare Part D supplemental drug coverage into an account I set...
E-mail for Lazy Drunks? A Rant by Ken Magill
OK, so I'll admit I'm not always in love with Google, given its propensity to do boneheaded things like celebrate the birthday of a 17th-century Spanish...
Pssst...Wanna Buy a List?
The following e-mail arrived in a Direct staffer's inbox recently: Hi, EmailAppenders are currently running a special offer on purchasing our entire database....
In Defense of Blacklists
A recent horrific tragedy horrific tragedy falling miserably short in describing it, but words really do fail on this one should cause marketers to take...
Obama Should Change His E-mail Manager
For a campaign that's supposed to be so Internet savvy, Barack Obama's sure makes some silly mistakes with its e-mailings. Out of the blue recently, Kathy...
You Can't Even Say Hello?
Why is it that so many direct marketers use traditional tactics sure to backfire in e-mail while ignoring old-school practices that most likely will pay...
Somewhere, a Yahoo Marketing Exec Dances on Spitzer's Grave
Four years before he became infamous as Client No. 9, disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's utter lack of integrity was on full display during...
Nobody Left to Blame
It happened again last month: Another JupiterResearch e-mail buyer's guide, another round of press releases from all the service providers congratulating...
Stupid E-mail Watch
Recently I received what has to be one of the most ignorant e-mail campaigns in the short history of the medium. It came in the form of spam from Bing...
Barracuda Needs a Swift Kick
Marketers should bury their collective foot in the rear end of Barracuda Networks' communications department. The Internet security firm certainly deserves...
Privacy Crackpots Are at It Again
Just when you thought the privacy crackpots couldn't get any wackier, they call for a contraption that would kill the Internet economy as we know it: a national do-not-track list....
Those Wacky COOs
Is there a school somewhere teaching chief operating officers how to come up with zany marketing ideas? I once worked for a small business-to-business...
This Jellyfish Deserved to Drown
This summer the United Kingdom's National Magazine Co. NatMag killed online-only teen magazine Jellyfish after a 20-week trial, saying the e-zine's business...
What the Heck Did He Just Say?
Man, the bureaucratledygook coming out of the Direct Marketing Association was sure thick this summer....
Work E-mails That Say I am Lame
At the risk of offending some readers and others who hold the power to adversely affect my standard of living, it's time to point out some e-mail writing...
Journalists Strut Anti-DM Bias
The most blatant recent example of the rampant media bias against direct marketing surely was the lopsided coverage given to the more than two-year-long...
Put a Lid on This Can of Worms
Anti-marketing critics have mindlessly derided the Can Spam Act of 2003 since before it was even passed as the “You Can Spam Act.” Now it looks as if Congress may be listening....
Anti-Spammers Get Personal
Ralph Penton is one of the angriest people I've ever interviewed. And if the story he tells is remotely true, he has every right to be as outraged as...
You Wouldn't Treat Your Most Productive Sales Rep This Way
For those DMers who are still unconvinced that e-mail's a different animal than direct mail, look no further than the following pitch that arrived in...
Another Ignorant J-Word Attack
When a column in a consumer newspaper is headlined Beware the menace of junk mail, you know you're in for a regular ignoramus-o-rama. ...
Some Really Stupid PR Tricks
Why are direct marketing firms so often so bad at press relations? No one is saying every DMer must have a PR rep, but if a professional communicator is part of a company's marketing, is it too much to ask that they be at least competent?...
An Anti-Ad Complaint Straight From Booby Hatch U
AS THE OLD SAYING GOES: If you'eve taken an intellectually bankrupt position in a debate but want to stack it in your favor, change the definitions of...
In Utah, the Sheriff of Doodyville Takes on the World
Are Utah's government officials evil or just stupid? That question comes to mind every time the state's so-called child-protection do-not e-mail registry...
Oh It's OK if He Spams
FOR THIS ISSUE'S MOST SELF-important, empty-headed gasbag activist argument, look no further than a recent commentary piece from Doug Moss, publisher...
On the Phone or Away From Your Desk? Don't Tell Us About It
A while back, the United Nations estimated that spam cost the world's economy $25 billion the preceding year in lost productivity and money spent protecting...
