NEW YORK — Deb Goldstein, president of IDG List Services, was the guest of honor last night at a dinner celebrating her status as the Direct Marketing Association List and Database Council's 2005 List Leader of the Year.
Goldstein was praised by her peers and accepted the award last night at the Marriott Marquis preceding today's DMA List Vision 2005 conference at the hotel. Donald Mokrynski, chairman of Mokrynskidirect and last year's List Leader, presented the award.
“I work for an amazing company. I tell people IDG stands for ‘I’m Deb Goldstein,’ ” Goldstein said in her acceptance speech before going on to discuss issues in the list industry. “We’ve experienced challenges in the past five years that have been unimaginable despite our positive outlook. … We’ve kept believing that the recovery is just at the next turn. It has not been.”
And what about the industry’s future?
“I believe that there is more to be optimistic about than challenges, but not unless we innovate and answer the marketplace with the expertise we know we’re capable of delivering,” she said. “We’re an industry that’s slow to change. … We are a model that has stood the test of time, but is it now serving us and our customers in an integrated marketing environment? Meeting integration is no longer just what the major mailers are doing. It’s the mandate of every mailer. Response rates have declined to the point where multiple touch points to elevate a campaign are absolutely essential.
“I believe that the heart of our evolution points toward growing more into an agency-type model where we create a diversity of services for either a commission or retention basis. And to further this model, we need to educate ourselves more on online media, especially search.”
However, the evening was far from all serious as Fran Green, president of data management at American List Counsel, Princeton, NJ, roasted her longtime friend, saying Goldstein speaks fluent “menu,” is a time Nazi (“If she’s not at least 10 minutes early, she considers herself late”), a shopper who buys stuff — “but that is so beyond the point” and a poet and artist.
Before joining IDG in 1986 as list manager, Goldstein was list manager and telemarketing sales manager at Morgan-Grampian Publishing Co. She has been president of IDG List Services, a division of International Data Group, since 1991. She launched IDG's list brokerage division in 1995 and the firm's response-based e-mail rental program the next year. IDG List Services currently manages 80 postal and e-mail lists and has more than 65 brokerage clients.
Goldstein is a member of the List and Database Council and is on the board of directors of the List Leaders Group.
The award is given to a list professional with at least 10 years in the industry. The recipient must be active in one or more of these list-related areas: ethics, education, list practices and standards, privacy issues, postal reform, communication or environmental concerns.
Kristen Bremner covers list news, insert media, privacy and fundraising for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
