The Direct Marketing Association's Alternate Response Media Council hopes to rally support for changing the name for and perception of its niche of the industry at an open forum during this weekend's DMA annual conference in San Francisco.
The event is at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Moscone Center.
The council aims to muster support for changing the catch-all name for package inserts, bind-ins, blow-ins and statement stuffers from alternative media to something that signifies that these marketing practices are not “alternative” but mainstream.
“The term we feel at this point is not appropriate for the industry,” said council member and self-proclaimed godfather of alternative media Leon Henry, chairman/CEO of Leon Henry Inc., Scarsdale, NY. “We want to get a dialogue going.”
The council does not yet have a new name in mind. The goal of the initiative is to gauge the interest of others in the industry, Henry said.
“If there is a strong negative current, we're going to have to take a different tack,” he said.
A letter announcing the event went to about 1,000 alternative media practitioners, Henry said. Recipients included list brokers, list managers, mailers and suppliers. However, anyone is welcome at the meeting.
