NEW YORK — Evolution and change were the focus of Direct Marketing Association president/CEO John A. Greco's opening remarks at yesterday's keynote address during the DM Days New York 2005 Conference & Expo here at the Javits Center.
Highlighting those subjects are two recent actions by the DMA: a major organizational restructuring and the association's new strategic plan, he said. As part of the plan, the DMA surveyed members on what they wanted from the organization. Those answers include five elements that will serve as the basis for further DMA action this year, Greco said.
He began outlining those elements by citing members' request for cutting-edge trend research. Greco said the DMA will release two new studies. The first is the Customer Prospecting and Retention Report, released yesterday. The second will be the 2005 State of Postal and E-mail Marketing Report. The association will continue to produce its State of the Industry, Quarterly Business and Response Rate reports.
The next two things members told the DMA they wanted were networking and educational opportunities.
Also on marketers' minds was strong, effective representation related to government policy making and the media. This led Greco to the topics of postal rates, telemarketing, spam, remote sales tax and data security, which he called the most pressing issue.
The last item that DMers want from the association is improvement of the industry's image and a strengthening of the DM brand. For a public relations campaign to do just that, Greco said the DMA hired integrated brand consultancy Landor Associates, PR agency Burson-Marsteller and ad agency Wunderman. He said initial discussions have begun but did not say when the campaign might be ready.
Greco urged attendees to attend the DMA Annual 2005 in Atlanta Oct. 15-19 and said that more details of the campaign would be revealed there. He also pledged “the best and most interactive DMA Annual ever.”
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
