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 podcasts

Twitter-ready insights on marketing follies

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble January 01, 2012

A picture is worth a thousand words, but not every one of my observations is worth a full column. Or so my editors tell me. Most, however, are worth at least 140 characters. With that in mind, and to help ring in 2012, I proudly present my Twitter-ready views, insights, unsolicited tidbits of advice and meaningless random thoughts on the absurdities of modern marketing.
 

O come, all ye shoppers!

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble December 01, 2011

Be my Valentine! Now, let's see what I can buy/purchase/consume to 
express how I feel. A greeting card, for starters, pre-printed with someone else's sentiments, a frilly box of chocolates complete with a picture chart so you can avoid biting into the one with that weird green cream, or a dozen red long-stems.
 

Street-smart NY storage ads tell it straight

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble November 01, 2011

Walking the streets of New York City after a recent Sunday brunch, an out-of-town friend delighted in the sight of a woman making her way home in what seemed to be the outfit she had worn out the night before. "That's what I love about New York: the anonymity," my friend said.
 

Ghost stories go digital

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble October 01, 2011

The campfire analogy. It's about the best definition of social marketing I've heard yet. It comes courtesy of Ashton Kutcher, who isn't only good-looking, famous, successful, wealthy and married to Demi Moore.
 

B-to-b success depends on social, data clarity

September 01, 2011

B-to-b marketers contend with an enormous amount of customer data coming into their organizations every day. Managing volumes of information located in various places within a company, coordinating sales and marketing teams and facing the dynamic rate at which b-to-b data decays, these marketers often have more steps to take than b-to-c marketers to make sure that their messages are relevant.
 

Thank goodness for Darla

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble September 01, 2011

Darla is a customer service rep for American Express. But to me, she is more than that: she is the face, or more precisely, the voice that saved the brand's image in the mind of one loyal longtime cardholder.
 

Marketing, and other strange languages

August 01, 2011

Things ain't what they used to be. Once, I could describe myself as a back-page columnist for a monthly magazine. No more. Now, I'm a transmedia storyteller who develops original content for distribution across multiple platforms.
 

Drive e-commerce with tailored email tactics

August 01, 2011

Despite big headlines around social media and mobile, email marketing is still the most effective way for e-commerce companies to drive sales online. It is often the central component within digital plans as e-commerce marketers rely on the medium for building relationships and earning revenue
 

Connecting brand to the bottom line

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble July 01, 2011

Sad as it is to admit, I've probably engaged in several dozen conversations over the years — some rather heated — that revolved around the definition of the word "brand." Occupational hazard, I guess.
 

Customer engagement vital to email strategy

June 01, 2011

Direct Marketing News convened a diverse group of email marketing executives in April for an editorial roundtable discussion, sponsored by StrongMail, to talk about several facets of email marketing strategy.
 

On the wings of love: 
An ode to my airline

Scott Donaton, CEO of Ensemble June 01, 2011

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned: it's been a long time since my last confession. Actually, this one is rather difficult to get out. A bit embarrassing and — to be honest — I can't really believe I'm saying it out loud. Don't judge me.
 I think I like my airline. Stop looking at me like that. It's true, and I don't care who knows it.
 

Have I told you lately 
that I'm wonderful?

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble May 01, 2011

We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. It's that simple — and that hard. And that inescapable
 

Traditional and digital marketing thrive in tandem

April 01, 2011

Direct and digital marketers today are tasked with defining and refining the optimal marketing communications strategy based on audience and objectives.
 

Let's be direct about it: Junk mail sucks

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble April 01, 2011

Direct marketers still spend more time than they like trying to prove to the rest of us that their industry is not populated solely by junk mailers and cheesy infomercial pitches. They have a good case. It can easily be argued, and has, that all marketing in the digital age is direct marketing.
 

Does this wine go with my social strategy?

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble March 01, 2011

Do brands need to dabble in social media just to be there, or is presence without relevance more dangerous than absence? This is a question I had been toying with, and one for which my brain wasn't producing any satisfactory answers.
 

Warning to retailers: Don't clutter my e-mail inbox

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble February 01, 2011

Just minutes after the ball dropped to usher in the new year, my Blackberry buzzed. I had already hugged or called my closest family and friends but was happy to accept the good wishes of another.
 

Tech marketers should lose geek speak

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble January 01, 2011

Across from the desk in my office is a framed black-and-white shot of a veteran Joe DiMaggio and a rookie Mickie Mantle at the old Yankee Stadium.
 

Integrated marketing begins with experience

December 01, 2010

Direct Marketing News convened a group of professionals in September for a Valassis-sponsored roundtable to discuss issues inherent in creating direct marketing programs.
 

Best is yet to come ... if marketers build it

Scott Donaton,CEO, Ensemble December 01, 2010

It is a time of intense transition in the music business. New technologies are changing the definition of content and distribution. A young singer competes in a popular show and wins the audience vote. His victory is just the beginning as he is plugged into a marketing machine.
 

Q&A: Bobby Figueroa, Yahoo's VP of product development for consumer advertising

November 01, 2010

Yahoo's Bobby Figueroa, VP of product development for consumer advertising, discusses the company's 2011 goals
 

Today's consumer is not a moron; she's my mother

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble November 01, 2010

Brands that enable consumer behavior will be rewarded.
 

Q&A with Universal Pictures' Doug Neil

October 01, 2010

Doug Neil, SVP of digital marketing at Universal Pictures, explains his goals for the year, including a push into social
 

Forget loyalty, just get my name right

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble October 01, 2010

So-called privacy experts wring their hands almost daily about the amount of personal information being harvested by corporations for marketing purposes. But if those companies prove to be as inept at interpreting that data as my least-favorite hotel clerk, consumers have little to worry about.
 

Segmentation focus strong in b-to-b

March 15, 2010

Business-to-business marketers are ahead of the curve when it comes to segmentation. After all, b-to-b marketing revolves around targeting specific groups of customers looking for particular solutions to problems.
 

Rosetta acquires healthcare agency Wishbone

James Chase, editor-in-chief, MM&M January 08, 2010

Rosetta, an independent digital marketing agency, has acquired healthcare marketing agency Wishbone for an undisclosed sum. Wishbone will retain its name and management team, and will be integrated into Rosetta's overall healthcare business as a separate professionally focused group. It will continue to operate from its New York offices.
 

But wait... there's more to DRTV spots

November 30, 2009

Direct response TV has been around nearly as long as its medium. But its vintage doesn't mean it has gone out of style. DRTV pros take tremendous pride in the way the channel has expanded.
 

Nutrisystem working with e-mail AOR Responsys to improve campaigns

November 20, 2009

E-mail marketing firm Responsys is aiding weight-loss program Nutrisystem with various e-mail programs, as well as developing cross-channel customer-experience initiatives. The company is using Responsys' Interact Campaign, the company's software as a service (SaaS) campaign-management platform.
 

Leon Henry podcast

November 17, 2009

DMNews' copy editor Nathan Golia discusses how the Internet has changed insert media with Leon Henry, chairman and CEO of Leon Henry Inc.
 

Scott Olrich, CMO of Responsys

November 10, 2009

Associate editor Dianna Dilworth talks with Scott Olrich, CMO of Responsys, about e-mail marketing's evolution and the future of the channel.
 

Ron Bliwas talks past and future of DRTV

November 01, 2009

Ron Bliwas, president/CEO of A. Eicoff & Company, talks with DMNews Web editor Kevin McKeefery about how DRTV has evolved in the past 30 years and explains why the industry is still in its infancy.