NEW YORK — The list industry is changing, and this metamorphosis is bringing opportunity.
Consultant Donald R. Libey discussed alterations that he sees coming in the industry and what list professionals should do to embrace them at the Direct Marketing Association’s List Vision show here at the Marriott Marquis, New York.
“This is the time to say, ‘What if?'” he said.
List companies soon will need to offer all list services and form a sort of one-stop shop, Mr. Libey said.
“You’ll all need to have a full-service house, or else there will be no house,” he said.
Mr. Libey also forecast the decline of membership co-ops. Though some features of such databases are beneficial — access to transactional data, scalability, lower pricing — he thinks the benefits of list specific co-ops outweigh those of membership co-ops.
List specific co-ops, he said, offer access to known lists with selectivity, tailoring of selects and combined processing of house and prospecting mailings for cost effectiveness.
“The largest variety of individual response lists is more logical than a single source of blind names,” he said.
Internet television is on the way, according to Mr. Libey.
“This will mark the emergence of a three-dimensional ‘metaverse,’ and there will be a shift from linguistics to visuals, v-mail,” he said.
