I have enormous respect for Tad Clarke’s views, but this time I’ve gotta disagree. Changing the name of the Direct Marketing Association to the Direct & Interactive Marketing Association (or the Direct/Interactive Marketing Association) would be counterproductive. Direct marketers are already known as clunky communicators, and those names would only reinforce that notion.
The loss of singularity could reduce interest among the direct marketing orthodoxy and send an unambiguous signal to hardcore interactive marketers that DIMA is only partially into interactive marketing. And not to split hairs, but I think DIMA would be technically incorrect. Direct marketing involves all channels, and interactive is just one more channel. If you add “interactive” to the name, you should also add print, TV, radio, mail, telemarketing, package inserts and cell phones and call it DIPTRDMTPICPMA.
In case anyone is wondering whether these are the biased rants of someone unwilling to embrace change, I should point out that last year, our 16-year-old direct marketing shop earned more than half its revenue from interactive marketing.
Robert Rosenthal, Passaic Parc, [email protected]
