May 2007
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DIRECT Newsline
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| Door to Door, Por Favor |
This summer ADS Direct Media is debuting La Buena Vida, a lifestyle magazine that will ride along with the agency's La Canasta de Valores co-op sampling...
By Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Driving Force |
Autobytel, one of the pioneering sites that hooked up prospective new car buyers and dealers in the mid-1990s, plans to launch a one-stop Web shop. MyRide.com...
By Brian Quinton |
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| HP Mailing Spurs 66% Conversion |
An enthusiastic response to a highly personalized mailing from Hewlett-Packard led to a 66% conversion rate. Last November HP sent out a direct mailing...
Larry Riggs |
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| KEEP 'EM COMING |
For some consumer marketers, the customer well might seem bottomless. But for their B-to-B brethren — particularly those that are specialized —...
By Ruth P. Stevens |
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| The Better Newsletter |
Anything that evokes the phrase “Gone to a better place” might be a poor choice of words for an insurer. But The Co-operators Insurance Co....
By Richard H. Levey |
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Features
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| Listline |
NEW LISTS eCost.com Two new files of consumer electronics buyers are available from eCost.com Inc. Approximately 200,000 postal and 100,000 e-mail addresses...
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Op-Ed Columns
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| ‘Pubication’ Renewal Offers |
All right, kids, which is more insulting — “You're a failure” or “You're going to improve”? Right. Both. That is, both...
HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS |
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| World Class |
It's not easy being a “creative.” The very term implies someone who's marginalized in a business. Author Peter Mayle wrote that an ad agency's...
RAY SCHULTZ |
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General
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| And the Winners Are… |
HELP WANTED Belgian agency wins Maxwell Sackheim Award for best DM campaign Human resource directors must have wondered why Cyriel Van Steenbergen was...
By Richard H. Levey |
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| Band on the Run |
Online citizens around the world got together March 22 for a good cause — and in the process gave an unsigned band a chance to race to the top...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Bank on It |
Never mind convenience: Banks have solid fiscal reasons for urging customers not only to check balances and transfer funds online but to pay bills as...
Richard H. Levey |
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| Cleanup Time |
Mailers are about to get socked with another postal increase. But this time the hit will depend on how accurate their lists are and how much they're...
By Larry Riggs |
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| Come Together |
When Holly Pavlika was judging the annual Caples Awards a few years back, she made friends all over the world that she kept in touch with afterward,...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| CORRECTION |
The New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA) was incorrectly identified as NEMOA in a March Directions item. ...
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| Dead Letters |
There are lots of ways for communications to go astray. On the digital side these often involve drop-offs and gopher holes in the network supporting...
BRIAN QUINTON |
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| E-mail's Metrics Mess |
The results are in, and they ain't pretty. E-mail marketers lack standard definitions of fundamental metrics. Worse still, most don't measure anything...
By Ken Magill |
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| Four Cool Firms |
Can companies that specialize in counting ever be considered “cool”? Gartner Inc. thought so, and tagged four small firms as just that. In...
Richard H. Levey |
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| From the Source |
Thanks to the numerous ways marketers are contacting customers — and the many different ways customers are responding — it's sometimes harder...
By Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Get Real! |
The National Association of Realtors claims more than 1.3 million members. To hear Lois K. Geller tell it, when she moved her direct marketing agency...
Richard H. Levey |
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| Grape Expectations |
Wine Spectator magazine is hoping a trio of new e-newsletters will broaden its reach online and draw new subscribers. The target audience is obviously...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Letters to the Editor |
THEY'RE EVERYWHERE I really enjoyed Ray Schultz's comments on the pervasiveness (or is it invasiveness) of corporate logos that dominate (or is it litter)...
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| Look Before You Leap |
Direct talked with catalog consultant Katie Muldoon to get her thoughts on the challenges small catalogers face in today's market. DIRECT: What are the...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Making Book on Borders |
Back in 2001, bookseller Borders Group opted to split its online presence. The company Web site let users check inventory and reserve books for pickup,...
Brian Quinton |
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| Mobile Action Heroes |
If David Hasselhoff downloads videos to his mobile, we know what's at the top of his playlist: “Hammer & Coop.” The short films promoting...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Moving Pictures That Move Product |
When it comes to video ads on the Internet, advertisers have shown themselves willing to jump in with both feet, provided they can get answers to two...
By Brian Quinton |
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| Of Questionable Use |
Last month, The New York Times ran an article on questions posed to business school graduates by investment banking firm recruiters. The questions were...
RICHARD H. LEVEY |
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| Pharma DMers Are Web-Shy |
Pharmaceutical marketers may see the Web as part of their marketing health, but many are cautious about integrating newer online tools, according to...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Price Check on Aisle 12 |
Say you want to buy a new blender. You go out to your local big-box retailer and spot something you like, at a reasonable price. But you wonder: Could...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| 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...
KEN MAGILL |
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| See You in December |
Just because winter is over doesn't mean the marketing has stopped at luxury ski resort operator Intrawest. The firm stays in touch with skiers even...
By Ken Magill |
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| Serious Games |
According to game distributor RealNetworks, the sweet spot for in-game ads has turned out to be “casual games” — those simple but engaging...
Brian Quinton |
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| Simple, Sturdy and Stylish |
Some direct marketers who deal with a variety of craftspersons might grumble that they don't always get e-mail replies to questions quickly enough.
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Small World |
What does it take for a small cataloger to stand up to the likes of Pottery Barn Kids, Harry & David or Barnes & Noble? Start-up capital, guts, and a...
BY BETH Negus VIVEIROS |
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| That Personal Touch |
Thanks to a personalization system it began using late last year, Atlantic Broadband has been getting responses as high as 10% to its 500,000-piece monthly...
By Larry Riggs |
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| The More The Merrier? |
Working in a multichannel marketing environment means having to deal with a variety of vendors. So how can everyone involved be kept happy? We asked...
By Beth Negus Viveiros |
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| Trying Too Hard |
What? An ad that tries too hard? But there's no such thing. Or is there? Yes, there is. I have long been fascinated by this common mistake. We see it...
THOMAS L. COLLINS |
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| TSW Seeks MHITD* |
A few weeks ago, I interviewed podcasting gurus Dave Mansueto and Dave Chekan, co-founders of Liberated Syndication, recently acquired by Wizzard Software....
BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS |
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| Walking the Walk |
Could it be that marketers have finally…gotten it? Asked to list challenges, 44% said the top one this year is to quantify the value of their marketing...
By Richard H. Levey |
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| What Is It? |
Is a catalog a marketing channel or a marketing vehicle? And what does that mean, anyway? Depends on who you ask. ClementDirect's Coy Clement says a...
Beth Negus Viveiros |
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