The Dutch Direct Marketing Association, the DMSA, is joining with the Netherlands Marketing Association and SMIN, a controlled-circulation magazine group, to stage this year's DMSA trade show in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.
“The show will be much larger than it has been in the past because the two organizations will draw more people and because we are also holding the awards dinner of the European Sales Promotion Federation,” said Leon Kruitwagen, a DMSA director.
Herbert Haaj, also a DMSA director, said joint sponsorship of the show reflected a growing cohesion across all spheres of marketing.
“It was time we did a project together,” he said. “We will also support [the Netherlands Marketing Association's] congress next year.”
Six thousand attendees are expected.
“All the nominees, agencies and their clients and guests will come, making the show more international than it has ever been,” Kruitwagen said.
In addition, he said, the German and the Belgian DMAs will have booths in Maastricht and will bring some of their members along.
“You have to remember that direct marketing is still a pretty local business, although it is getting more global,” Kruitwagen said. “Also, on some levels, we in Holland have a leading position in DM so that what happens here is of interest to other Europeans.”
The show's theme is “What's Next?” meaning what's beyond the Internet for direct marketing. The Dutch believe interactive TV, which is much more developed in Europe than it is in the United States, will be the next frontier.
The DMSA has been restructuring to incorporate new media and the changes it is bringing to the industry. Longtime CEO Frits Van Dorst was forced out last year, and new management was brought in.
Kruitwagen and Haaj are part of the new team, which Leo Hillen, a former Reader's Digest and Elsivier executive, heads as managing director.
The association has a Web site, www.dmsal.nl. Its phone number is 011 31 20 517 1212.
