Catalogers participating in the Direct Marketing Association's Shop-At-Home Image Campaign will pay approximately $1,000 more next year to participate in the annual program.
The DMA is hiking its participation rate from the current $1,500 to about $2,500 for the 13-year-old publicity campaign.
“The program has gone multimedia and has generated more and more publicity [and], as a result, our cost has gone up,” said Amy Blankenship, director of the DMA's Shop-At-Home Information Center. “Companies realize this is the best value going in the industry because you'll pay that much to send out one or two press releases.”
The cost is for each title registered by a cataloger and is available only to DMA members. Members that do not want to participate in the mailing program can be listed on the association's consumer Web site, at www.shopthenet.org.
The purpose of the campaign is to increase consumer acceptance of catalog and Internet shopping, Blankenship said. Since its launch in 1987, it has evolved from a basic seasonal campaign into a comprehensive program. It includes online retailers and a consumer Web site.
Blankenship said 600 catalog boxes — with about 70 catalogs in each — were sent to the top lifestyle and feature editors at daily newspapers, wire services and magazines this month. Catalog boxes are mailed twice each year, in April and November. This year's mailings included catalogs from Lands' End, Harry and David, Crutchfield and Hammacher Schlemmer.
