march 2, 2009
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The Work, p14 Boone Holland
New firm for ‘considered’ e-commerce P3 | Uno customizes gift cards P4 | Mobile apps offer opportunity P13
More banks signing on to mobile By Dianna Dilworth
: With new services that let cus-
tomers manage their finances via a mobile phone, last week Commerce Bank joined a growing number of other institutions such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America and HSBC already offering mobile banking services. As a result, the mobile phone is beginning to have more in common with the ATM. “There are more mobile phones out there than there are PCs, bank branches or even operators that can help consumers do their banking through a phone call,� said Mike Wehrs, president/CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association. “If you view the world that way, and you look at the improved user experience across handsets and networks, you can see that there is a strong desire for a consumer to gain access to their account through the mobile phone.� At this phase, mobile banking has been about banks offering wireless application protocol (WAP) sites and secure short mes-
Some popular mobile banking services include balance inquiries and transfers
sage service (SMS) to customers. Most consumers primarily have been using the services to check balances and look at transactions, but some banks also are taking
‘E-commerce’ continued on page 22
B-to-b catalogs holding ground in the recession
MORE INSIDE
21
this to the next step with mobile banking services. “A few banks have mobile applications that allow you to pay bills, get notifications of transfers and
transfer money,� Wehrs said. “And, once a customer starts using these services, the banks are inviting them to do more things.� Wells Fargo has two mobile banking services − a mobile WAP site and an SMS program. The SMS lets customers check their balance and the mobile WAP site lets customers do transactions. “For us, it is about giving the customers the choices that we are seeing that they wanted in the marketplace,� said Arah Erickson, head of the retail mobile channel at Wells Fargo. “Customers are doing more and more on their mobile devices, and we want to be where they are.� Wells Fargo research found that 57% of US customers want instant access to their bank accounts, Erickson also noted. “There is nothing more instant than the mobile phone,� she remarked. To receive banking information, customers can text WELLS to the bank and a shortcode with an action, such as checking their
12
Nonprofits integrate fundraising efforts online and offline
Euro RSCG’s Zain Raj says CRM will grow with experience
14 More DRTV marketers find last-minute unsold inventory in prime time
By Chantal TodĂŠ
: While the past few months have
been punishing for consumer cata catalogs, business-to-business catalogs are faring better by comparison, a trend one analyst says has held true in past economic crises. Williams-Sonoma Inc. recently reported that net revenues for the eight-week period ended December 28 dropped 22.6% while comparable store sales decreased 24.2%. The company, which publishes the well-known WilliamsSonoma and Pottery Barn catalogs
is not alone in this malaise. With consumer confidence at record lows, many consumer catalogers are posting dramatic sales declines, making cutbacks and even exiting ancillary businesses. While b-to-b catalogs, like most today, haven’t been untouched by the current economic downturn, the picture from them is slightly different, however. Thermo Fisher Scientific puts out a hefty annual catalog featuring hundreds of pages of scientific ‘B-to-b’ continued on page 22
Haband signs Alliance for credit, loyalty By Lauren Bell
: Multichannel clothing retailer Haband has signed a long-term contract with Alliance Data Systems Corp., gaining its first private-label credit card and first loyalty rewards program, slated to launch this summer. Haband serves more than 5 million online and catalog shoppers, many over the age of 50 and on a fixed income. “We thought [working with Alliance] would increase response rates and increase the average customer order and, at a time when it’s pretty tough to get credit, it would be nice to say to our customers, ‘send no money,’� said Jim McClane, CEO, Haband. “That’s why this is particularly important for our customer base.� This could help Haband become more competitive in the catalog and multichannel field. Haband has chosen an interesting economic time to try loyalty and credit options. “We’ve noted more consumers are moving away from credit and towards debit and cash,� noted Edward Kountz, a senior analyst for Forrester Research However, Kountz added, “having a loyalty program and/or an inhouse program, if you can manage it, may help to capture the dollars that are still out there.� l
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In our “Getting to Know� online feature, Web editor Kevin McKeefery chats with Rob Weisberg, VP of multimedia marketing at Domino’s Pizza
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SoCial MEDia
rental services leverage facebook, wikis p6
DrTv
economy opens prime times for drtv ads p11
rECruiTMENT
if a candidate wants more time, keep looking p21
Amtrak after theater fans’ loyalty By Chantal Todé
: Amtrak has allied with theater-oriented
loyalty program Audience Rewards for a new rewards-based marketing partnership. The 2 million members of Amtrak’s Guest Rewards now will be able to trade in points they earn through transactions with Amtrak for Audience Rewards ShowPoints, which can be used to buy show tickets and other theater-related rewards, and vice versa. Audience Rewards, a fairly new program, currently has slightly more than 100,000 members. It projects more than half a million by year’s end. It is the official loyalty program of the Broadway League, a group of independent theaters and producers responsible for many of New York’s Broadway shows. “Amtrak is a wonderful partner because so many Amtrak riders are coming in and
as market conditions change, there’s a great opportunity to grow the customer base for amtrak. Mike Blakey, senior director of loyalty marketing, Amtrak
out of New York up the Northeast Corridor,” said Susan Lee, CMO for Nederlander Producing Company of America, a member of the Broadway League. “Because there are so many theaters — not only in New York but up and down the corridor — this is a great opportunity.” “Amtrak, especially on the Acela line, is for the very high-frequency business traveler, and that fits very well with the audience for theater,” added Josh Lesnick, CEO of Audience Rewards. “It has a very strong
audience that lines up very well with the target audience we are trying to access.” Audience Rewards plans to expand its program with Amtrak to theaters nationwide, beginning with other major markets like Chicago. The program also may eventually include other entertainment, such as concerts. And, Audience Rewards is in talks with other transportation and travel partners, including airlines and hotels. Amtrak riders and theatergoers both tend to be married, college-educated and over the age of 30, Lesnick noted. However, he hopes that the Audience Rewards program will help Broadway appeal to other markets, such as youth and seniors. For its part, Amtrak views the partnership as a benefit as well, giving the transit company an opportunity to broaden its customer base. “As market conditions change, there’s a great opportunity to grow the customer base for Amtrak, so we want to get new market segments to start traveling on Amtrak,” said Mike Blakey, senior director of loyalty marketing for Amtrak. “If you can give customers something back, then that’s an incentive to come to us and an incentive to stay with us.” Points can be exchanged at a one-toone ratio between the programs, although Audience Rewards’ free ticket rewards start at 2,800 points, and Amtrak’s start at just 1,000 points. Both loyalty programs will promote the partnership to their membership bases through e-mail and their Web sites. Amtrak recently notified its members of the offer through messages on its February e-statements, and Audience Rewards is exploring mobile communications and text alerts. The data gathered through the loyalty aspect of the program will help improve the Broadway League’s other direct marketing efforts, Lesnick said. He believes that
the program will help establish continuity between shows. “Some people are very loyal to certain shows like Jersey Boys or Wicked Wicked, but without an overlapping database to understand what else they’re buying and how frequently,
the industry has been at a little bit of a disadvantage in trying to put together effective marketing programs,” Lesnick said. “This program will give producers and marketers a really powerful tool to do really good targeted marketing and really track results.” l
Digital print grows in value: Dscoop By Chantal Todé
: The value of pages printed digitally will be
more than those printed via offset within the next few years, even though the volume of offset printing will still exceed digital pages, according to an industry executive. When you look at the graphics arts industry alone, digital printing currently accounts for only 2% of the market, said Alon Bar-Shany, VP and GM of HP Indigo, who spoke during the recent annual Dscoop conference in Orlando, FL. Dscoop is a digital services cooperative of HP Indigo users and HP. “Digital has hardly touched commercial printing,” Bar-Shany said. However, this is starting to change quickly. The number of pages printed on HP’s digital Indigo press is growing by around 5 million pages per day. Web-to-print, variable data printing and other value-add services made possible with digital print are helping to drive this growth. Such value-add services helped commercial printer R and R Images to a record year in 2008. Plain digital printing was down, however, reports Rod Key, founder and CEO of R and R. The commercial printer, which bought its first digital press 15 years ago, is currently focusing on massaging VDP campaigns to make them as effective as possible. “More isn’t necessarily better,” said Key. “We are looking at how we use as few points of variable data as possible on a piece while making it more meaningful.” R and R recently applied this strategy for a lead generation campaign with Taser targeting local police forces with good results. “We have to prove the value of direct mail,” said Chris Petro, president and CEO, GlobalSoft Digital Solutions, which specializes in taking CRM data from a variety of sources and using it to create very targeted campaigns. l
NEWSBRIEFS Short takes on the industry RR Donnelley & Sons Co. has been awarded a $500 million, multiyear agreement by Publishing Group of America, which renews and expands the company’s relationship with the publisher of titles such as American Profile. The pact covers all future printing, logistics and premedia services. The company also reported its fourth quarter 2008 results showed net sales totaled $2.8 billion, down 9.5% from the previous year.
The Rocky Mountain News published its last edition February 27 after parent company E. W. Scripps failed to find a buyer for the financially troubled daily. It had been published since 1859, closing just a few weeks short of its 150th anniversary.
Dell-focused agency Enfatico, which has about 1,000 employees in its 13 worldwide offices, is laying off 8% of its work force. It attributed the layoffs to the weak global economy, which led to Dell spending cuts. Atlanta Spirit, which owns the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks; the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers; and the teams’ venue, Philips Arena, has tapped Atlanta-based agency Search Discovery for its search engine optimization and analytics initiatives. The agency, which uses Omniture analytics software, will optimize Web content to drive organic traffic to the teams’ and arena’s sites.
Agency Targetbase is opening a San Francisco office, its third US location. Headquartered in Dallas, the division of Omnicom Group Inc. said the office will help better serve clients and allow for expanding business in the West. Genius.com Inc., a business-to-business marketing and lead generation company, has teamed up with e-mail delivery services firm Message Systems to meet increases in deliverability product demand from customers, as well as the industry’s growing e-mail deliverability requirements.
Hawaiian Airlines has selected interactive agency Sapient as its direct marketing partner following an agency review, after reaching out to about 30 agencies through an RFI and then an RFP process, which began last April. Sapient will create and implement an e-mail marketing program, as well as work on media buying, PR and CRM initiatives.
The Union Rescue Mission of Los Angeles has named Grizzard Communications Group its AOR. Grizzard, part of Omnicom Group, will manage Union Rescue Mission’s direct response fundraising initiatives.
Overall media and communications spending is projected to decline by 0.4% in 2009, according to a special mid-year update from private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson to its annual Communications Industry Forecast. The report was developed in response to the economic downturn. Mobile content and digital outof-home will be among the few bright spots, the report noted..
Havas Digital has entered into a multilevel strategic partnership with Media6Degrees, a social media advertising firm. The firms also will work to develop data and insights within Havas Digital’s Virtual Brand Network for Advertisers.
Corrections: In “What’s next for online lead generation?” (February 23, DMNews) Brian Combs’ name was misspelled. In that same issue, the Homeowners Data Service list from Leon Henry is a list, not an insert program. We regret these errors.
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www.dmnews.com | March 2, 2009 | DMNEWS | 3
MULTICHANNEL
UNO chicagO grill lOOKS TO cUSTOMiZED giFT carDS p4
hOllaND BOONE’S E-Mail TEST YiElDS STrONg rESUlTS p15
BrandNew JCP’s Project E-Runway
New Yahoo products for search, display By Mary Elizabeth Hurn
: Three new search and display ad products
in its latest interactive e-commerce offering, Jcpenney puts you on the virtual runway with its spring fashions to give customers “a real-world look at the fit and feel of clothing.” Online shoppers can choose the look they want on virtual runway models. They can then send a product-gram to a friend on the styles they’re interested in and find which stores carry the products. Visitors to www.jcp.com also can meet the designers through video vignettes. The launch is supported by an e-mail campaign directing 15 million customers to the Web site, as well as a direct mail piece.
Blueport Commerce launch to help ‘considered’ e-sellers By Bryan Yurcan
: Blueport Commerce, an e-commerce
service provider for “considered” retail markets, launches today by the management team of Furniture.com to help those retailers create online sales opportunities. A “considered” online retail market sells products that might be logistically hard to ship or products that are not well under-
The new provider offers help to e-commerce sellsellers in verticals that are difficult to convey online
stood, such as furniture or flooring, as opposed to a book or DVD, explained Carl Prindle, CEO of Blueport Commerce. “Businesses in these types of markets face certain challenges [selling online], and we are trying to help them,” he said. The seeds of what is now Blueport Commerce were planted in 2001, when Furniture.com began transitioning from simply a business-to-consumer Web portal to an e-commerce service provider. “With the growth of considered e-commerce and the opportunity for retailers it represents, the time is right for this trans-
formation,” said Prindle, who has been with Furniture.com for 10 years. “Furniture.com helped create the online market for considered purchases,” he continued. “Blueport Commerce will leverage that experience to enable e-commerce for retailers who previously thought their businesses were too complex to port online.” Currently, around 1,100 sites use the e-commerce services provided by Blueport, Prindle said. Blueport also helps retailers with franchise or co-op models integrate their e-commerce systems in instances where brand, product offering and distribution are controlled locally by independent dealers. “They may not be running the same systems at their individual store as the parent company,” Prindle added. The integration packages offered by Blueport are designed to help retailers translate their legacy systems and offline business procedures into a tailored e-commerce service optimized for retailer’s unique needs, processes and peculiarities, he said. “I think we offer a unique set of expertise to help those retailers,” Prindle said. Prindle said another reason for the full transformation into Blueport Commerce is consumers are now comfortable purchasing products in “considered” markets online. Furniture.com will remain an online destination for consumers shopping for home furnishings as a portal powered by Blueport Commerce. A new Blueport Commerce Web site, www.blueport.com, also launched March 2, showcasing the company’s service and technology structure. l
will allow Yahoo advertisers to better reach their target consumers. “There’s a big opportunity in today’s economic climate where we’re finding advertisers putting a focus on maximizing ROI and maximizing the value they’re getting from their ad dollars, which makes sense,” said David Zinman, VP and GM of display advertising at Yahoo. “All of the announcements we made [on February 24] are about increasing the performance of online advertising.” The Search Retargeting tool allows advertisers to offer display ad placement throughout the Yahoo Network based on consumer search patterns. Enhanced Retargeting for display ads incorporates behavioral targeting by allowing brands to personalize messaging within a display ad in the Yahoo Network based on which sites and what type of searches a consumer has performed. Finally, the Enhanced Targeting service will allow advertisers using Yahoo Search ads to more specifically target consumers by time of day or week demographic. Brands can vary their bids on various segments depending on who they’d like to reach and when. This product will be available in March. Yahoo started testing the products through a pilot program at the beginning of the fourth quarter 2008. The University of Phoenix was one of the first adopters of the products. Zinman would not name other clients, but said there are many. “Yahoo has great engagement with its user base and learns a lot about who uses what and what they’re interested in,” Zinman said. “This enables advertisers to use that information when running search ads” improving their search ROI, he added. l
Hallmark Magazine ceases production By Lauren Bell
: Hallmark Magazine, the bimonthly lifestyle title from Hallmark Cards Inc., is ending its three-year print run with the February/March issue, which is on newsstands now. Unlike many of its peers, the magazine had been fairly successful in winning ad pages and subscribers — doubling its rate base in just three years from 400,000 to 800,000. However, a “comprehensive analy analysis” of business trends in the publishing industry persuaded Hallmark to shutter it, according to a company statement. “We really need to focus all of our efforts on our core businesses, and the projects that we know can lead to long-term growth,” said Julie O’Dell, PR director for Hallmark Cards Inc. “It’s very disappointing because consumer acceptance really was positive and advertiser interest was great, too, but we just needed to maintain a clear focus.” The “core businesses” that Hallmark will focus on include its greeting cards and Gold Crown stores, Hallmark.com and the Hallmark Channel. Hallmarkmagazine.com, the magazine’s Web site, also will be shuttered. l
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4 | DMnEWS | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
THIRDSCREEN SCREEN
Travel Channel has no reservations about mobile pics
client
The Travel Channel
agency
SnapMyLife
campaign
No Reservations
By Dianna Dilworth
: The Travel Channel has partnered with
mobile photo-sharing site SnapMyLife to disperse content from Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations across the mobile phone. SnapMyLife users can connect with the No Reservations program by following it on SnapMyLife or by opting in to receive mobile alerts that the show is about to air. Those following the No Reservations user on SnapMyLife will see updated content in their stream on the service, similar to Twitter or Facebook. Those receiving alerts will receive a multimedia message or an e-mail with some content from the show, such as an image or a video with behind-the-scenes footage, and a reminder that the show is about to be broadcast. “They have great content, and as any media company wants to do, they want to reach out to additional users,” said David Chang, co-founder of SnapMyLife.com. “People on their mobile devices are very interested in travel because they are on-thego. This is especially true of SnapMyLife users, because they are all over the world.” This is the second season that Bourdain’s cooking and travel show has debuted content on SnapMyLife. The target audience of both the Travel Channel and SnapMyLife is a bit older and has a higher income than the typical teen audience associated with the mobile phone. This effort is part of a multitiered partnership, and the two companies are exploring other ways to work together down the road. To promote the show before new episodes, which air at 10pm EST Mondays on the Travel Channel, SnapMyLife will post “sneak peek” photos and content at snapmylife.com/ account/show/NoReservations. Last week’s show took place in New York City, and the SnapMyLife photos showed the crew while shooting on location. This extra content runs on the Travel Channel’s mobile site, wireless access protocol (WAP) site and now on the SnapMyLife social media page. All of the content is optimized for the channel it is on. “This takes their content and exposes it in a new way through the mobile phone,” added Chang. “It gives people who are fans of the show access to exclusive content that is tied to the episode.” l
circulation zumbox delivers digital local weeklies
p6
intErnEt MarKEtinG wHere does social media raNk vs. searcH? p10
Uno Chicago Grill dishes out new gift cards By lauren Bell
: After a holiday testing period, Uno Chi-
cago Grill is rolling out a new approach to gift cards with startup company CashStar, a gift card platform that allows consumers to create and e-mail customized gift cards. Using CashStar, retailers can create multiple designs for gift cards, and, when the cards are e-mailed, can attach additional incentives to drive store traffic. Retailers also can use data collected when people create online gift cards to send incentives and offers to the givers. “This seemed to be a very smart new way of adding convenience for my customers, because online gift cards don’t require a visit to the store,” said Rick Hendrie, SVP of marketing for Uno. “The CashStar vehicle offers a lot of flexibility in terms of how I appear to consumers. I can tell different stories and, ultimately, I will be able to segment messages to appropriate audiences, which will help Uno become more relevant.”
Uno’s segmenting program should be fully functional by the end of 2009, Hendrie said. Some of Uno’s key audience segments include busy families, professionals and “casual dining foodies.” “Most people buy [gift cards] off the rack at stores, and the retailer never knows anything about the purchaser or recipient,” pointed out David Stone, CEO of CashStar. “Here, the retailer has all the purchaser information because they provide information to buy online, and they have some recipient information as well, with e-mail addresses and the ability to be notified when recipients view the card.” Uno Chicago Grill began offering CashStar virtual gift cards in December. Members of the Uno Insiders Club, its loyalty group, received e-mails promoting the cards. During that period, online virtual gift cards outsold the pizza chain’s physical gift cards by 113%, and gift card sales overall more than doubled those of the Christmas before.
Capcom seeks gamer loyalty and spending with prepaid Visa card By lauren Bell
: Capcom, the company behind Street
Fighter, Mega Man and other video games, has launched a new loyalty program based around a Visa pre-paid debit card. The Capcom Unity Visa allows users to earn cash back, retail and merchandise rewards, discounts, access to Capcom events and loyalty points on Capcom’s social site, Capcom-Unity.com. Users also may win experiential rewards, such as access to beta tests of new video games. Because the cards are pre-paid and nearly anyone over the age of 13 can qualify, Capcom is perfectly positioned to market them to young gamers. Users can personalize their cards in a variety of designs, including images from games such as Resident Evil 5. Also indicative of a push toward younger consumers is the communications strategy
for the card: There will be no paper statements. Instead, users can opt in for e-mail or text message alerts. “Not only are we connecting our consumers with their favorite brands in an innovative way, but we’re also giving them an expansive rewards program,” said Mark Beaumont, COO and head of Capcom consumer software publishing in the Americas and Europe, in a statement. Capcom could not be reached for additional comment. Users earn five points for every dollar deposited on the card, which can be used for activities on the Unity site. Cash back earned on Capcom signature purchases can be redeposited onto the card or used to buy discounted gift cards from the Unity Visa online rewards mall, which includes retail partners such as iTunes and BestBuy.com. l
CashStar also has worked with Travelocity and Gorham Bike and Ski. Stone said he would like the company to build relationships with more major retailers and restaurant chains in time for the May to July (“moms, dads and grads”) gifting season. l
The CashStar program offers customizable gift cards to customers and actionable data to retailers
Valassis threatened with NYSE removal By Bryan Yurcan
: Valassis may be de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange after it received notice that it was “not in compliance with certain continued listing standards’’ applicable to its common stock, the company disclosed. Valassis has 45 days to submit a business plan to the exchange showing it can return its listing requirements to compliance. The company is below criteria because both the average market capitalization of its common stock over a consecutive 30 trading-day period was less than $75 million and its stockholder equity was less than $75 million. As of February 18, Valassis’ 30 trading-day average market capitalization was about $70.2 million. As of December 31, its stockholders’ equity was $5.4 million. A company representative declined to comment further. l
DULYNOTED NOTED Legislation and corporate news Obama nominates new FTC chair. President Barack Obama has nominated Federal Trade Commission member Jon Leibowitz as the agency’s chairperson. Leibowitz, a lawyer, joined the commission in September 2004, and previously was VP of congressional affairs for the Motion Picture Association of America.
The USPS has unveiled a slate of new stamps for this year for price changes taking effect May 11, including a new Forever personalized stamped envelope. Stamp subjects include noted author Richard Wright.
Allen in at DHL. Deutsche Post World Net has appointed Ken Allen to the company’s management board and as CEO of DHL Express. Allen succeeds John Mullen, who resigned. Allen was most recently CEO of DHL Express USA. DHL has discontinued its US-only air and ground services. Reforming debt collecting. A new report by the FTC recommends that the debt collection legal system be reformed to reflect changes in consumer debt, technology and the debt collection industry. Major recommendations include requirements
that collectors have the best information to better target the right customer and provide consumers with more information on their rights. Click meter made. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released its proposed Click Measurement Guidelines, which cover the purchase and sale of cost-per-click ads. The IAB said the guidelines provide a standard measuring performance-based marketing efforts as well as a framework for filtering fraudulent clicks. Public comment will be accepted at the IAB’s Web site through March 27. Early AM delivery on the rise. UPS has broadened its early morning delivery area in the US by nearly 3,000 new ZIP codes. The expansion increases the number of ZIP Codes with guaranteed early morning delivery service by 8:30am to more than 23,000 across the US.
611,689 Postal Addresses
542,686
business media
BPA/ABC AUDITED
Phone Records
319,560
Retail Professionals
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CONVENIENCE STORE NEWS
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69,889
The premier publication for the convenience store industry. Reach top decision-makers in both chain stores and independent retail outlets including executives and store managers.
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PROGRESSIVE GROCER
42,123 Qualified Subscribers
40,237
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22,530 Qualified Subscribers
21,567
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19,375 Email Addresses
NATIONAL JEWELER
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27,959 Subscribers w/Phones
The world’s most important resource for jewelry professionals in jewelry retail, wholesale and distribution.
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COUTURE INTERNATIONAL JEWELER 5,966
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DIRECT MAIL homeowners insurance offers fill mailboxes p7 NoNpRofITS
integration is important to reach donors p12
Zumbox delivers local Illinois papers to ‘digital mailboxes’ By Lauren Bell
: Chicago-based publisher 22nd Century Media has partnered with start-up Zumbox to deliver digital editions of its local weekly newspapers. The move is expected to reduce costs and environmental impact for the publisher, boost readership and make ad buys more attractive. Zumbox uses “digital mailboxes,” based on consumers’ real street addresses, to electronically deliver local material such as newspapers and community announcements. The company will deliver 22nd Century Media’s six “hyper-local” weeklies, with a combined circulation of 100,000, to every home and business that currently receives the paper edition. Digital editions will replicate all content and ads and will have a page-turning feature to feel more like the traditional version. “The environmental savings are huge,” said Jack Ryan, proprietor of 22nd Century Media. “Every news company right now is challenged by the economic environment, so if we can deliver the same news content electronically, and a big percent of our cost is printing and mailing — think of the cost savings. There’s also user convenience because people can read their local paper from anywhere.” The 22nd Century rollout in the Chicago area is a test run for Zumbox, which also is in discussions with other publishers for similar programs. The company plans to partner with newspapers, magazines and even publishers of video content. “With the unfortunate distress that is going on with publishers at the moment, now there’s a chance to use those skill sets and maintain their distribution via Zumbox,” said Glen Ward, Zumbox president. “We all think there’s still a desire for newspapers, or at least newspaper content, so we can facilitate that.”
CRM
NAILEDIT
a conversations with euro rscg’s raj p21
Q& Q&A
DMNews talks with Brad Harris, owner of Denver-area Big City Burrito franchises, about an integrated mobile campaign for the restaurants Q This was your first integrated mobile campaign. Why take this approach?
A We wanted to target the younger generation, and we know that teenagers and kids are big into texting. It’s a growing media segment, so we thought we would jump on board and give it a try. Zumbox kicked off its 22nd Century Media partnership with the digital New Lenox patriot
The partnership, which offers readers the option of receiving just the digital edition, is expected to reduce 22nd Century’s printing and mailing costs. It’s also expected to improve ad sales, because digital ads can be made more interactive and link to advertisers’ sites. Advertisers in Zumbox editions of the papers also will be able to track click-through rates and rotate their ads in real time. Since the Zumbox edition of 22nd Century’s New Lenox Patriot launched late last week, more than 300 people in the area have signed up for Zumbox. The publisher’s other newspapers will roll out on Zumbox in the coming weeks. Digital editions have grown in popularity over the past few years, as publishers seek ways to cut costs and better engage online audiences. Coverleaf and iMags, both digital distributors of major titles such as Elle and Better Homes & Gardens, launched in 2008. l
Q Is that a different customer segment than what you traditionally reach?
A I would say our target is people ages 18 to 34, and we’re trying to reach down a little bit into the teens, maybe the 14- to 16-year-old range. The high school age is where [mobile use is] really strong, so we’re trying to build that, as we know that it’s our primary quick service restaurant user. Q How did the campaign work? A We sent out a direct mail piece in
a Money Mailer envelope that had a couple of coupons and a header that said, “Want a free burrito? Just text: BIGCITYB to 686868.” When potential customers would text that shortcode, they would get text back that would say, “Please come in for a free regular burrito, no purchase required.” We also gave them an option to opt in for future deals via text message.
Q Why offer the opt-in option? A We are building a database. In the
future, we can selectively send offers via text to the people that have opted in.
Q How was the response? A At first, we offered just a free burrito,
and in the first three days we had 105 opt-ins. It was a little crazy because it was our first time doing a text campaign, and we saw droves of high schoolers coming in and sharing information to get free burritos. Traffic was good, but it ended up downselling some customers who had come in and paid.
Q How did you fix that problem? A We changed the offer to buy one get
one free, which slowed response down a little bit. People who had the free text on their phones originally would still get a free burrito, but after that would have a buy one get one. That was a good way to minimize the cannibalization in store.
Q Would you do it again? A We’re not going to be quite as
aggressive but we will send out some buy-one-get-one-free offers and some reminders of specials.
OPTIMIZED • Making the most of digital
Apartment hunting meets social networking
By Dianna Dilworth As the Web gets more social, online property rental companies are optimizing their listings with social components. Online rental site MyNewPlace just added the Facebook Connect functionality to its Web site, so its users now can post property listings on their Facebook page. Ideally, users will do this to get feedback on prospective apartment rentals from their friends and, in doing so, spread the word. More than 3 million people use MyNewPlace monthly and, according to internal research by the company, more than a third of its visitors already use Facebook. “The decision of where you are going to live is one of the most social decisions of your life, so it is natural to leverage your social graph to get advice,” said Mark Moran, VP of marketing and business development
:
at MyNewPlace.com. “There is also a level of viral exposure to… friends, and maybe one or two of these people are also in the market for an apartment.” The idea is that users will first ask for friends’ advice on an apartment. Then, for those who find an apartment, the next phase might be looking for a roommate to share it. And finally, MyNewPlace.com expects that users will post about their new place once they move in. Because users can interact with these properties even before contacting the rental agency, property owners can benefit. “There is a better qualification of the users, because they have vetted the property before they have e-mailed about it,” Moran said. “It helps us drive better quality leads.” For RentWiki.com, a new online rental search site, it is all about giving users
the tools to socialize with the neighbors online before moving in. The new site lets apartment hunters investigate not only the property, but the neighboring community as well, through social networking features tied to the property listings. Users can ask potential neighbors about apartment prices, transportation, entertainment, local parks and other services. “Yesterday renters had to go find people who lived in the neighborhood to find out about it, but now they can combine all of this information in one place online,” said Robert Turnbull, co-founder/president of RentWiki.com. “For renters, this really helps determine if the property is in the right place for them, and for the industry, it is about getting a better lead. If a renter has already checked out the neighborhood, then they are more likely to know if it is a good fit.” l
KEYPOINTS POINTS Rental companies are optimizing listings with social media tools
This creates viral activity, which attracts other potential renters
Advance knowledge of neighborhoods offers better leads
| dmNeWs |
|
www.dmnews.com | March 2, 2009 | dmNeWs | 7
database
don’t bargain your data quality p8
mobile mobile applications offer opportunities p14 social media
how to sort through social media’s many ‘shoulds’ p19
Homeowners insurance offers still appear regularly in consumers’ home mailboxes
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by bryan Yurcan
: Despite the current state of the economy,
direct mail marketing from insurance companies appears to be going strong. While overall direct mail volume plummeted from most financial services companies during 2008, mail from homeowners insurance providers increased volume by 19%, according to a survey by Mintel Comperemedia, which provides direct marketing competitive intelligence. According to Mintel Comperemedia, 82 million homeowners insurance offers were mailed during 2008, up from 69 million in 2007. The estimated mail volume for new customer acquisition rose steadily through the year to a peak in August when insurers sent more than 10 million marketing direct mail offers promoting homeowners insurance to consumers. Much of that direct mail volume was sent to convince current clients to increase their coverage or to steal customers from the competition by advertising lower premiums, says Daniel Hayes, VP of insurance services at Mintel Comperemedia. “An insurance product is something most consumers feel they need to have,” Hayes says. “Compared to the credit card industry,
offers could pile up in la and Fl, some experts say
where [a consumer] can have six [different cards], you only need one policy, so it’s very competitive. Insurance companies are trying to maintain their relationships with that consumer, and direct mail is a strong way to do that.” Insurance companies offering homeowners insurance felt the best way to keep that conversation going with the consumer was
to send mail pieces directly into their home, Haynes adds. “They really kept marketing” through the economic recession, he notes. Another reason for the large increase in direct mail volume from homeowners insurance providers is recent decisions by some large providers to pull out of certain areas of the country, thus opening up those markets to increased competition, says Michael Barry, VP of media relations for the Insurance Information Institute. For example, State Farm insurance announced it will stop writing homeowner policies in Florida and plans a phased complete withdrawal out of the state by the end of the year. That leaves about 1.2 million homeowners who will be seeking new policies, he points out. “That will really give an opening to other carriers to who want to get a bigger foothold in those states,” he says. “There’s a real scramble in Florida. When a large insurer pulls out of certain states, it opens up the playing field.” Florida is just one example of a region where insurance companies are looking to attract new customers, Barry adds. In Louisiana, the state government has an incentive
program, called Insure Louisiana, to attract insurance companies to write homeowner’s policies in the state. The purpose of the Insure Louisiana Incentive Program, enacted in 2007, is to “encourage insurers to participate in the voluntary property insurance market for the purposes of increasing the availability of property insurance and competitive pressure on insurance rates, and reducing the volume of business written by the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation,” according to the state Department of Insurance. This also will lead to an increase in direct mail from those companies looking to market their product in Louisiana, Barry says, as new insurers to the state look to attract new customers. Similar situations across the country will lead to volatility in the homeowners direct mail market, Hayes adds, as consumers are likely to be flooded with marketing pieces during some parts of the year and less during others. “I expect we’ll see similar insurance mail volume volatility in 2009 as homeowners insurance providers increase their competitiveness and further fine-tune direct marketing offers,” Hayes says. l
DATABANK The week in stats
Full Service Subscription Fulfillment
Retailers should e-mail me content based on what they know about me
disagree 37%
AgRee 63%
Source: epsilon mid-october survey of 746 consumers who receive permission-based e-mail, released February 2009
Actions consumers take on receiving e-mail from retailers download/print coupon
88%
click link in e-mail to learn more
79% 75%
purchase product online
69%
research stores that carry product purchase product offline try new product for first time share coupon/forward e-mail
67% 60%
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55%
type/copy url directly 33% Source: epsilon mid-october survey of 746 consumers who receive permission-based e- mail, released February 2009
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Publishers Put Their Trust in Us
8 | DMNEWS | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
OPINION Editorial Cara Wood Editor-in-chief, DMNews
T
en years ago, I had a great relationship with my bank teller. I knew her sons’ names, noticed when she got her hair cut and told her about my efforts to save for a new car. Today, I visit 24hour ATMs, use direct deposit, make automatic bill payments and receive automatic e-mail alerts if my balance hits below my preset limit — all without speaking to anyone. While my days of free coffee and casual conversation are gone, I’m giving the bank a lot more information about my financial goals and needs. In return, I expect them to contact me if a regular check hasn’t been deposited, if the charges to my card start to follow a suspicious pattern or if they build a new ATM in my neighborhood. In fact, I — like most other consumers — now have much higher expectations for service. The availability of so much data has put the onus on marketers to respond quickly with comprehensive solutions and appropriate messaging. Financial institutions are not the only ones who have seen a radical shift in the level of regular communication that is expected between a brand and a consumer. Through personalized preference pages, any retailer or media outlet is able to customize the experience and monitor the behavior of users on their site. Membership to a rewards program or registration to an e-mail newsletter instantly triggers the expectation of regular dialogue. The pace of these interactions is increasing as well. Watch a 16-year-old wait for a video game or Internet browser to respond to their click of a button, and you will get a sense of how accustomed the next generation has become to wanting instant, automated service. But the industry still has some distance to cover. Marketing departments modify tone, launch user
Take a closer look at your elite, preferred customers. Are they truly representative of your core audience? contests, send regular e-mails, build social network platforms and monitor the chatter across the blogosphere — all under the guise of “conversational marketing.” Even though the term conversational marketing has been applied to several practices in our industry, none of them actually resemble a true back-and-forth exchange with consumers. Targeting is still an essential guessing game that uses mathematical algorithms to predict behavior. It creates the illusion of instant personalized response in every transaction. A consumer may get what they need out of this — marketers are missing the opportunity to exchange ideas with the very people who are going to drive their brand forward and keep their businesses afloat by buying products. Take a closer look at the demographics of your so-called brand ambassadors — your elite, preferred customers. Are they truly representative of your core audience? Do they also represent the people you want to do business with in 10 years? The last set of people is the most important one with which to schedule genuine chat.
Don’t cut data quality out of budgets Denise Hopkins VP of mktg. and product dev., Experian Marketing Services If there is one asset that should be kept in top shape despite this time of economic turmoil, it’s consumer data. Accurate, current and precise data is the key driver for maximum ROI. Poor data quality translates into bad decisions, which can severely impact an entire organization in myriad ways: The wrong customers could get the wrong messages and campaigns could become irrelevant and ineffective, leading to dissatisfied customers. There are ways to conserve your resources and maintain high data quality. Reassess what data should be collected based on your business. Keep and expand data providing high value, and reduce or cut those that don’t. Audit your data and identify where errors occur. Perform a data source analysis to determine where the data originated and ensure each field contains valid, verified data.
Capture data accurately at the point of entry. Intelligent tools that can validate information as it is being collected are crucial to reducing errors and pay for themselves by virtually eliminating the higher cost of isolating, cleansing and correcting after the fact. Regardless of budget constraints, up-front postal and e-mail address verification software generally renders stronger and more immediate ROI due to reductions in undelivered mail. Maintain a hygiene regimen. Once you capture good, clean data, it is crucial that you do your best to cost-effectively keep it that way. Run change of address processing on those records to be mailed as closely as possible to the mail date. A recent study undertaken by the US Postal Service and Christensen and Associates for the R-2006-1 rate case found that 4.7% of all mail is undeliverable. Reduce marketing waste associated with lost or undelivered mail, and fix as many records with deliverability issues as possible. Prevention is much better — and cheaper — than finding a cure or having the piece not delivered. Obtain postal discounts and improve campaign performance by isolating undeliverable as addressed mail. There is a small investment involved in address cleansing solutions and services that more than pays for itself. denise2@experian.com
360-degree view gets closer to reality Kathleen Brush VP of marketing, Openwave Systems Like every CMO, I have dreamed about being able to craft campaigns based on specific target buyer characteristics. I was naturally skeptical that this 360-degree view was within reach knowing that over the years I have investigated, marketed and used many products promising this unabridged view, but none so far had delivered more than 60 degrees. It’s not surprising that solutions are light. The two primary methods today that are used to build “complete” consumer profiles, surveys and analytics solutions that monitor Internet access, are not up to the task. Consumers reluctantly and rarely complete, or accurately complete, surveys that impart personal data. The better answer is more likely found in analytics technologies that are able to see and create audit trails of reliable
EDITORIAL: Editor-in-Chief Cara Wood (646) 638-6185, cara.wood@dmnews.com Executive Editor Sharon Goldman (646) 638-6121, sharon.goldman@dmnews.com News Editor Nancy Kearney (646) 638-6184, nancy.kearney@dmnews.com Senior Editor Chantal Todé (802) 257-1295, chantal.tode@dmnews.com Associate Editor Dianna Dilworth (347) 439-6803, dianna.dilworth@dmnews.com Reporter Lauren Bell (646) 638-6191 lauren.bell@dmnews.com Reporter Mary Elizabeth Hurn (646) 638-6192, mary.hurn@dmnews.com Reporter Bryan Yurcan (646) 638-6190, bryan.yurcan@dmnews.com
Copy Editor Nathan Golia (646) 638-6193, nathan.golia@dmnews.com Web Editor Kevin McKeefery (646) 638-6194, kevin.mckeefery@dmnews.com Editorial Assistant Jonathan Mack (646) 638-6183, jonathan.mack@dmnews.com Contributing Editor Sara Holoubek sara.holoubek@dmnews.com Editorial Director Julia Hood (646) 638-6031, julia.hood@haymarketmedia.com ART AND PRODUCTION: Design Director Sandra DiPasqua (646) 638-6005, sandra.dipasqua@haymarketmedia.com Art Director Claire Spiezio (646) 638-6186, claire.spiezio@dmnews.com
samples of Internet pages accessed, then infer interests or behaviors. The problem has always been that capturing all of a person’s Internet activities would require the ability to see and record all Internet requests. Until recently, this was only a possibility for broadband operators and Internet service providers (ISPs). Today, mobile operators also qualify. Still, because many people access the Internet through different ways, the 360-degree view remains a bit of fantasy awaiting truly converged networks. But marketers don’t really need to know every single click that target buyers make to build reliable behavioral profiles that are useful for segmentation. No doubt the ISP is able collect larger samples, because this is where most Internet access takes place, giving these operators an opportunity to create defined segments of subscribers as they pertain to Internet access patterns from fixed locations. However, the mobile operator is able to monitor unique activities, including location. This would give them a near 360-degree view specifically of the mobile Internet user. This can advise and inform mobile operators on the types of applications and services that appeal to different segments of mobile Internet users — extremely valuable for growing mobile Web opportunities. kathleen.brush@openwave.com
Production Manager Michelle Chizmadia (646) 638-6126, michelle.chizmadia@dmnews.com VP of Production and Manufacturing Louise Morrin, (646) 638-6064, louise.morrin@haymarketmedia.com ADVERTISING: Advertising Director Emma Halliwell (646) 638-6023, emma.halliwell@haymarketmedia.com District Manager Sammy Patel (646) 638-6171, sammy.patel@haymarketmedia.com Assistant Display Advertising Manager Deborah Hartley (646) 638-6188, deborah.hartley@dmnews.com Group Circulation Manager Sherry Oommen (646) 638-6003, sherry.oommen@haymarketmedia.com Director of Audience Development John Crewe (646) 638-6060, john.crewe@haymarketmedia.com
CORPORATE: President/Publishing Director Lisa Kirk (646) 638-6010, lisa.kirk@haymarketmedia.com, Chairman/CEO William Pecover (646) 638-6001, william.pecover@haymarketmedia.com SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICE: (800) 558-1708, www.dmnews.com
DMN_PureSend.indd 1
12/29/08 12:57:53 PM
10 | DMNEws | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
GLOVESOFF
Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the future for social network ads? The rise of social networks offer unique marketing opportunities. However, some say searchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quantifiable nature means it remains king of online marketing. Our experts each take a side > CONTENDER
Kent Lewis President, Anvil Media Inc. Thirteen years of experience in Web marketing
: While I believe social networks will continue to gain traction and popularity as effective marketing venues, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe the current platforms and communities have much of a chance to emerge as top marketing venues, as a meaningful percentage of the overall online mix. The key barrier to entry for social network advertising is the context. Users have demonstrated time and again that they not only ignore advertising in social media, but eschew it. As proof, Facebook generates around $2.50 in advertising revenue per user per year. (Hint: This is not good.) DMNEwsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; DECIsION
Social networks are seen as personal collaboration and communication platforms, not information or research tools. The challenge will be for the largest social networks to create an environment where advertising is relevant and appreciated. Look for aggregation and growth of niche social networks in the next few years, which will create improved targeting and response rates, but will be hindered by the ability to provide meaningful volume. By comparison, search engines like Google are able to make billions of dollars due to the contextual use: Search engines effectively connect buyers with sellers. Advertising is welcomed. Thus, they will continue to dominate online marketing for years to come. Even though costs associated with search will continue to increase due to competition, engines will continue to deliver impressions, clicks and conversions that outperform just about every other form of marketing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; online and offline. l
> CONTENDER Aaron strout CMO, Powered Fifteen years of marketing experience
: As a 15-year marketing veteran, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be
lying to you if I told you that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see enormous value in the practice of search engine marketing (SEM). Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one problem, however, and that is that like online advertising and e-mail marketing, the effectiveness of SEM is beginning to erode. No, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not suggesting that any company should not be employing SEM. However, I will be so bold as to say that the future of marketing is social, and those who choose to ignore it are going to miss out for three reasons: First, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s infinitely scalable; second,
Strout contends social networks offer fixed costs, and peer-based recommendations are a driving force behind purchases. But Lewis argues that unlike search, social networks will be hindered by the
peer-based recommendations will continue to be the leading driver of purchase intent; and lastly, unlike SEM, marketing via social networking requires relatively fixed costs. To illustrate how this works, think of a site like Amazon.com, with millions of ratings and reviews. Imagine that I like a book I bought, so I decide to write a glowing review and post it. Then, a new service called Facebook Connect â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with my consent of course â&#x20AC;&#x201D; proactively includes a link to the review in my Facebook newsfeed. Because I have more than 500 friends on Facebook, those friends see that I wrote a review, and some of them decide to click on that review link. Now their Facebook newsfeeds (with their consent) broadcast that they just read my review, and some of their friends will click. See how powerful marketing through social networks can be? It wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t replace SEM anytime soon, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s certainly becom becoming more effective in a hurry. l
ability to provide meaningful volume. As long as search fills that need, it will continue to dominate. HAVE YOUR SAY E-mail your topic to nancy.kearney@dmnews.com
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www.dmnews.com | March 2, 2009 | DMNEWS | 11
Feature
Deals abound for DRTV
Major brands are reducing traditional TV ad spend — providing more opportunities for DRTV
By Mary Elizabeth Hurn
: If you’ve seen infomercials for the
NordicTrack in prime time on A&E, ABC Family, or E; Snuggie blanket spots during an evening slot; or learned about the PedEgg during top viewing hours on CNN, you are witnessing a significant shift in television advertising thanks to the economic downturn. Direct response television ads now appear more and more regularly in prime-time spots. In today’s environment, many industries are hard-pressed to find sectors that are thriving. But in marketing, with major brands scaling back their traditional advertising dollars, DRTV just might be that sector.
We’re seeing tons of these fire sales — unsold inventory offered up at the last minute. Michelle Cardinal, president, R2C Group
“We’re in a time when, more than ever, ad dollars need to be accountable,” says Rob Medved, president and CEO of Cannella Response Television, which does media buying for products such as the GT Xpress 101, a countertop electric cooker. “We’re in this era of accountability, and that’s direct response.” Michelle Cardinal, president and founder of R2C Group and CEO of its media division, Cmedia, which heads up the NordicTrack spots, points out that in every downturn there is a silver lining. “What we’re seeing is this major shift in the way people think about
television advertising,” she says. “I hate to say it, but it’s kind of exciting.” Both long-form infomercials and short-form DRTV spots, experts say, have their own unique opportunities. Short-form spots obviously benefit the most from tighter TV ad budgets for big brands. Before the recession, if a DRTV advertiser wanted to run its ad during prime time, it would have to decide far in advance, and pay the same premium rate. But now, the time is not only available, but at a remnant, direct response rate. “We’re seeing tons of these fire sales — unsold inventory offered up at the last minute — which is perfect for us,” Cardinal says. “We always have budgets and money to spend as long as rates are right.” Traditional advertisers, she continues, don’t have that luxury. “General marketers spend the money up front and plan their quarters in advance. They’re not typically positioned or situated to pick up deals,” she explains. There are also opportunities for marketers, in long-form formats such as 30- and 60-minute infomercials. Because the time slots for this type of program are more or less fixed, supply and demand plays a big role in media placement, says Medved: “We’re seeing the relationship of the consumer spending driving the cost of the media down because the demand isn’t as high as it’s been in the past,” he explains. Cardinal agrees, saying that response levels from long-form DRTV spots dropped going into the fourth quarter of 2008, so those marketers began cutting their budgets. “The long-form world is really responsive to dropping response levels,” she says. “When you cut the [media buying] budget it creates more supply [for networks] and you can negotiate the rates.” She says this resulted in discounts up to 20%. “That’s huge for the long-form business,” she continues. “This is an
Want to reap DRTV rewards? It’s a brighter story for DRTV than some other sectors, but marketers still need to proceed with caution, says Tim Hawthorne, founder and chairman of Hawthorne Direct. A few of his suggested tips: l Hone your product sourcing to meet the market. What can you provide consumers that satisfies contemporary challenges? The perfect example is the Snuggie, an inexpensive, convenient way to keep warm as you conserve heat. l Create compelling offers. What more can you do to help cashstrapped customers that may increase response? Try longer, smaller payment plans, less expensive product trials, and free shipping. l Watch your bank account. You can extend sensible terms to vendors, suppliers and media outlets, but due diligence is key. Research the financial health of your business partners to protect your own corporate survival.
Thanks to negotiable rates and desirable time slots, products such as the Wave, GT Xpress and Nordic Track see rising DRTV success
industry where the rates continuously go up quarter to quarter.” In November, Fox made a previously unprecedented move among major networks: It announced a two-hour slot for long-form DRTV marketers on Saturday morning that had been previously occupied by cartoons. Because of a lawsuit with 4Kids, the company that produced the cartoons, the original programming was cut. Medved says this is a “gold mine” for the DRTV world: “You’re talking about one of the highest volume time periods for paid programming,” he says. But Cardinal says that type of exposure isn’t for everyone. “The competition for those spots stays among the larger buyers of the media because they have the client base and can handle a large airing,” she says, adding that not all companies could handle the huge call volumes the national spots are likely to generate. Experts also say certain product categories tend to do better during a recession. Tim Pearson, VP and general manager of direct response for Gaiam, an online retailer of healthy lifestyle products, says the fitness vertical tends to do well because people tend to cancel their gym memberships and personal training sessions in a downturn. Gaiam currently has long-form spots running for the Wave Speed Slimming System and the GT Xpress 101.
“This is when you really see the economy come into play,” Medved says. “A product [like the GT Xpress] solves the meal-on-the-go problem, which is a longstanding one in the housewares vertical. That kind of sell [will] thrive in this environment.” Cardinal says even higher-priced items can do well if they still seem to give value to @dmnews.com the consumer. A podcast with “We’ve seen a Hawthorne Direct’s lot of flexible Tim Hawthorne payment plans,” she says of orders for the NordicTrack. “Anything that’s value-driven is definitely going to work.” Pearson has become more cautious with his company’s buying. “We’re trying to buy smarter and leaner and really manage the minutia of the buys closer, because there’s less room for waste than there was before,” he says. However, at the end of the day, the experts say the product is still king. “We’re still looking to provide a solution to a unique problem with a unique product that has mass market appeal at a great value,” Medved says. Though it’s still unclear where the market is headed, Cardinal believes that DRTV media buying rates will go up a bit going into the second quarter. “The business [will stay] strong, because marketers want to see ROI right now,” she says. l
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| DMNEWS |
12 | DMNEWS | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
ChIld/fAMI ld/f ld/fAMI ly
Going direct to donors
As tight budgets squeeze nonprofits, integration between online and offline efforts has moved to the fundraising forefront By Chantal Todé
: Nonprofits’ nascent efforts in digital marketing
have taken on a greater urgency of late, as already tight budgets are squeezed even more by the current economy. As a result, organizations are cutting marketing costs where they can and redirecting their efforts to less expensive digital strategies. Most donations still come in by mail. However, many charities are looking for the best ways to integrate online with offline and for other strategies to improve the ROI for direct mail. “It is extremely difficult right now in the nonprofit arena, as gifts are pretty much flat,” says Janet Granger Happ, manager of healthcare and education customer marketing for Pitney Bowes. As a result, nonprofits are relying on their solid supporters, reaching out to them with a combination of electronic and direct mail communications. “Starting off electronically and following up through the mail is the most successful strategy for nonprofits,” she says.
“
also included radio, where the Salvation Army sponsored the traffic report. “People would hear the campaign on the radio, see it on a billboard and go home and see it in the mail,” says Barber. As a result, the organization’s income was up 25% last year and new donors increased 28%.
Top trends
Some charities are creating catalogs that show-
Truly integrated campaigns across channels are seeing the most success among many nonprofits
case giving opportunities and encourages potential donors to choose something as a gift. “In this economic environment, people are thinking about doing something more meaningful,” says Robbin Gehrke, SVP, executive creative director at Russ Reid. “When a donor gives to a charity’s catalog, they are giving from a different share of wallet,” he explains, as they are also using the donation as a gift. The catalogs typically have the same overall look and feel as any other catalog a consumer might receive in the mail. The challenge for chari-
Starting off electronically and following up through the mail is the most successful strategy for nonprofits.
Janet Granger Happ, manager of healthcare and education customer marketing, Pitney Bowes
Because direct mail can be expensive, nonprofits want their programs to be as efficient as possible and often look to e-mail to help make that happen, says Joe Tyler, CEO at Informz Inc. Increasingly, groups will launch a fundraising campaign by e-mail to test any messaging and see what resonates with constituents. Another way nonprofits use e-mail to support their direct mail programs is with a succession of e-mail blasts designed to learn as much as possible about an audience. Any data that are collected can be used to segment the nonprofit’s audience for direct mail purposes. Taking integration efforts beyond just the Internet and mail channels can have an even bigger impact on nonprofits’ fundraising efforts, says Debbi Barber, president of agency Grizzard. “In looking at the results from all of our clients, integrated marketing across a variety of channels was clearly the strategy we saw that had the biggest impact on results,” says Barber. “Mail as a singlechannel strategy is decreasing, but mail is still so important because the majority of money comes from it. However, other channels can enhance mail, because people are operating in more channels today than ever before.” By listening to donors about how they want to be communicated with and giving them various options to be communicate with and to donate, nonprofits are improving results, she explains. Grizzard works with 32 of the larger humane societies across the country. Three of those, Barber says, are putting their messaging out to the community via billboards, radio, TV and FSIs, in addition to mail and the Internet. Those are exceeding expectations. For the Salvation Army in Dallas, for example, Grizzard developed a program around the tagline “Please don’t forget,” with placement in mail, FSIs, space ads and billboards. The campaign
ties is to find creative ways to package different opportunities for giving. “Organizations need to be mindful that their fundraising expertise will take them half of the way when launching a holiday catalog,” says Gehrke. “The other half is understanding catalog metrics, circulation strategy and catalog creative.” The benefits can be significant, she adds. The average purchase price or donation for a charity catalog is $100. These mailings have even been known to bring in $10,000 and $20,000 gifts from major donors. And, they’re a good way to attract new donors and engage regular single gift donors. “The organizations we worked with this holiday season all did very well with their catalogs,” says Gehrke. One current imperative for nonprofits is to “recession-proof” all marketing communications, including direct mail, Gehrke continues. “Donors are making sacrificial donations at this time and that needs to be recognized,” she says. This means that whatever need the organization is trying to communicate must relate to the economy in some way. One of the food banks Russ Reid works with changed its messaging in the fall, recognizing that many people who had been donors in the past now come in needing food because they are out of work. Others are putting more resources behind thank thanking donors for their generosity during these dif difficult times. One of the agency’s clients sent out personal letters from the president of the organization followed by letters from end beneficiaries followed by a phone call to certain donors. “Every organization needs to do everything they can to protect and keep their best donors right now,” says Gehrke. “People are looking for value in how they spend their money.” By keeping their mail programs fresh via integrated campaigns and insuring the messaging is on topic, nonprofits can go a long way toward staying top of mind. l
CAMPAIGNS
Digital marketing continues to grow as a percentage of the nonprofit fundraising mix
Nonprofits are working to “recession-proof” their marketing communications
The Michigan Humane Society’s net revenue was up 12% last year, despite the fact that Detroit, the state’s largest city, has been one of the areas hardest hit by the current recession. This success was due in part to an integrated marketing campaign created by Grizzard that included several forms of direct mail as well as online fundraising efforts. For the former, a resident mailing list was used to lower costs and mail saturated areas where Grizzard felt Michigan Humane could pull donors.
Working to protect and keep the best donors is essential for today’s nonprofit efforts
The direct mail packages also offered prospective donors the opportunity to make their gift online using a specific URL so the agency could track those that came to the page from the mail. The direct online prospect responses specific to the URL generated an additional $5,213.00 with 63 gifts for an average gift of $82.75, in contrast to a $25.36 average gift from those responding via the mail. In fact, online donations in Q4 2008 were up 40% over online donations in Q4 2007. “We feel it is valuable because the cost is low, the average gift is much higher, therefore the long-term value of the donor is greater,” says Barber.
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www.dmnews.com | March 2, 2009 | DMNEWS | 13
TECHNIQUE
Take advantage of mobile applications More consumers are using smartphones — so mobile apps are a great way to directly connect with your customer. Four experts share the best strategies marketers can use to maximize the use of this channel Julien Theys Analyst, Screen Digest
Eswar Priyadarshan CTO, Quattro Wireless Jonathon Linner Co-founder and CEO, Limbo
: Mobile applications can have many uses. They can act as a container for traditional content such as videos or games, or as a gateway to a brand’s multiple services and offers. They can also provide additional services related to a brand’s core business, such as a bar locator for Smirnoff or a recipe book for Kraft. But most importantly, mobile applications are connected with consumers in a real-time, intimate way, and therefore allow for immediate and precise consumer feedback and insight. The trend towards integrated app stores within smartphones is significant. Screen Digest estimates 150 million smartphones were sold in 2008, and more than 500 million applications were downloaded from Apple’s App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch alone. THE TAKEAWAY
The rise of app stores offers marketers the potential to reach consumers
Free applications that provide additional value to the end user are much sought after. Whether it is entertainment, useful services or a coupon, the application works best when it is related to the brand: don’t bother offering a karting game if you sell detergent. There is a fundamental difference between sponsoring a third-party application and taking part in the design of software in line with the brand’s values. There is a lot of talk today about locationbased advertising, but the ad inventory to back the hype is not available yet. Introducing location-based services through a dedicated, useful app, such as a store locator with coupons selections, helps build trust in an otherwise intrusive technology. Brands should also keep in mind the mobile phone remains — above all — a communication device. Address books on our mobile phones can be thought of as the ancestor of today’s social networks, and its capacities as a viral communication tool were proven long ago. Of course, opt-in is paramount. Forgetting this cardinal rule will have disastrous consequences. That is why the added value must be compelling enough for the user to act on the opt-in proposition. Also, an application that can be customized to better suit the needs of the user will have a longer lifespan. Brands should keep in mind that, even with a useful and free mobile application, they are still competing with other forms of services and entertainment on a very small screen. l
Dan Abelon Founder, SpeedDate.com
: There are several factors to take into : The Apple iPhone revolutionized the : IPhone development is all the rage these
account when designing a mobile application, especially for iPhone owners, who tend to be early adopters of mobile applications and are also more aware of mobile advertising. This audience presents a tremendous opportunity for companies looking to set up iPhone-specific mobile ad campaigns. The first thing to consider is why consumers will use the application instead of a mobile Web site or just plain text messaging. What additional benefits will your application provide? For instance, location-based applications can pinpoint a user’s exact loca location, providing value and opportunities that mobile Web sites cannot. Next, be sure to use a rich and engaging interface. Leverage the cool things that the device provides, such as iPhone and iPod “shaking,” touchscreen functionality or device tilting to grab users in the first twenty seconds of trying your application. If the user doesn’t instantly “get it,” there is a strong chance they will abandon the application and never return. Now think about longevity. Many people will use a lightsaber or a beer game just once because it’s all about a single experience, and because free mobile applications are highly disposable in the eyes of the consumer. When designing an application, think about what will keep a user coming back. Also, listen to your users by giving them THE TAKEAWAY
Consider your target customer in every step of application development
channels to feed back ideas and take those concepts to make constant improvements to your application. Lastly, do not rely on partners. With more than 20,000 iPhone applications to compete with, the success of your application cannot be driven by deck placement. Good placement is a reward for success, not the other way around. Remember, carrier decks and app stores are large meritocratic ecosystems, so the best applications rise to the top. Paying careful attention to design, user interface and ergonomics is critical to the success of your application. l
mobile industry in 2007 by launching a full-featured portable computer complete with a built-in cell phone and high-speed Internet connection. Apple’s subsequent launch of the App Store and accompanying application development platform took the revolution to the next level — the app store now has more than 15,000 applications in every category imaginable. Other mobile device vendors, like Research In Motion, Google, Nokia and Microsoft, have all quickly followed suit with their own mobile application stores and development platforms. THE TAKEAWAY
Mobile applications should be compelling to the user and follow best practices
However, you cannot just build an app and expect people to come to it. The successful build of a mobile application demands best practices. For example, the best iPhone apps usually succeed at doing one thing very well: they promise the end-user a specific piece of functionality and deliver on it in a simple yet comprehensive manner. Whether it is a tip calculators, a portal for US historical document archives or a two-player air hockey game, these apps succeed because they promise and deliver on one very cool or very useful thing. Second, a great app isn’t just a repurposed Web site with a slapped-on iPhone graphic user interface. Typically, the best ones are built from the ground up to be rich, fast, personalized and very interactive, and fetch content from the Internet only when they have to. These apps leverage the touchscreen user interface, capitalize on the brilliant and crisp display, dare to be fun by encouraging users to shake it with the accelerometer and unobtrusively slip out and fetch new content from the Internet. Finally, a great app is working hard to establish a clear brand identity from all the other me-too apps out there. The good news here is that if you followed the first two pieces of advice, you are likely to garner great user reviews for your app, which is great leverage in staying ahead of the app pack. l
days. While the platform is smaller in terms of population than social network platforms like Facebook or MySpace, the iPhone offers unique advantages for both individual developers and larger companies looking to expand their reach. IPhone users tend to be relatively affluent, and the platform offers possibilities for creating uniquely engaging applications. But how do you actually attract users to your iPhone application? My company, SpeedDate.com, recently launched a successful dating iPhone app. Here are our top five ways to drive traffic to your app: Have a lot of users already. That’s right. The best way to generate iPhone users is to already have a lot of people downloading your app. If your app has a high velocity of downloads, it will show up higher in searches by users and they will be more likely to download it. Tough strategy if you’re just getting started, but getting to the top should be the goal of any iPhone app campaign. THE TAKEAWAY
User a variety of marketing channels to drive traffic to your mobile application
Create a great product. Great apps generate word of mouth that can lead to significant downloads. The iPhone is a particularly exciting development environment relative to the Web because of certain aspects of the platform: mobile, GPS, touch screen, and the accelerometer. We focused a lot of energy on creating an excellent user experience for daters using the SpeedDate app so people would recommend it to their friends. Take advantage of PR. IPhone is one of the few platforms on which PR can actually help create sustainable traffic. If your app gets covered in a variety of mobile and tech related blogs, you’ll see a spike in downloads. If this spike, combined with other initiatives, causes your app to have a high number of downloads, you can generate significant traffic from being ranked highly for searches in the iPhone store. Use advertising. This can be expensive, but can be used to supplement other initiatives, especially during a launch period. Finally, use existing channels. If you have access to users, you should let them know you have an iPhone app. We promote our app to users of our Web site, SpeedDate.com, as well as our social networking apps. l
The Work 14 | DMNEWS | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
Showcasing creative solutions
Holland Boone
Martin Buchanan Executive creative director, managing partner, Trone.
Situation
: Pewter goods company Holland Boone wanted to test the effectiveness of e-mail vs. direct mail in order to determine future campaigns. The traditionally direct mail-oriented company chose similar coupon offers to test.
: Bella Jules, a clothing boutique
in West Reading, PA, wanted to drive attendance to a holiday preview party and drive sales. Ad agency Mangos developed an integrated campaign including direct mail and billboards in high traffic areas. An e-mail was also sent to preferred customers, offering 20% off purchases made at the party and on Black Friday.
Results Black Friday sales in 2008 doubled over the previous year, and overall November and December sales rose 10%. -Mary Hurn
HT Market Approach
: HT Market, which sells home
theater products, wanted to increase Web conversions. It partnered with online advertising company FetchBack for a retargeting campaign that ran between October and February. When a person visited HT Market but didn’t purchase anything, banner ads would appear as they surfed other Internet sites, including popular news sites, social networking sites and various blogs.
Results HT Market saw $6.62 in revenue for every $1 spent on retargeting, and had an increase in return conversions of 39%. -Bryan Yurcan
tograph on the mail piece for and nothing that stands out. The e-mail that comes to my computer, presumably, with offers that spell out the actual math of saving 30%, as if this is the first time anyone has ever heard of 30% off. I’d like to send a message to the committee that demanded this design — simplify, folks. Plus, there’s no link to a Web site or online store. It’s only available in stores or by phone. Seems like a missed opportunity. Meanwhile, Bella Jules created a crisp, eye-catching graphic approach to a holiday retail promotion. The work stood out during the holiday season, with its simple design — bold, not-red-and-green colors and clever copy — driving sales up 10% from the previous year. Not a bad feat in any economy. With a graphic consistency across all points of contact, it made a brand connection with consumers that left a good impression, even after the last Salvation Army bell was rung. OK, the HT Market effort uses the same clean, simple, red and black graphic idea as Bella Jules. But something important was left out, namely style and design sense. The emotional connection for the brand – the line “Bringing the Movie Theater Home” – was lost, only showing up in one of the banners. You would think that the design would reflect the money about to be spent by the consumer. Instead, I am left with the feeling that the merchandise will be of dubious craftsmanship, and that the savings will be offset by short product lifespan. Not the impression a brand would want to leave. Holland Boone
Results The postcards and the e-mail campaign included two coupons, which offered discounts on both Web purchases and in-store items. The e-mail campaign also included an “item of the month.” “The benefit of e-mail marketing is that it’s self-evangelizing,” says Lisa Von Bargen, owner of Beyond Implementation. “We put a link on [Holland Boone’s] Web site to sign up for e-mail promo-
Bella Jules Approach
: There is much in the pho-
The postcard campaign drove less than 1% of customers to purchase. Based on reporting from VerticalResponse analytics tools, the e-mail campaign had over a 40% open rate and drove both online and offline sales, and had a wider and deeper impact than direct mail. Direct mail pieces will be sent just three times in 2009. -Kevin McKeefery
caples.org
Approach Holland Boone had been sending five direct mailings each year to 250,000 households. That campaign had a total cost of $5,000. Beginning in late 2008, marketing services firm Beyond Implementation, using Web-based marketing tools from VerticalResponse, launched monthly e-mail blasts to a total of 15,000 names on Holland Boone’s permissionbased e-mail list.
PRIVATE VIEW
Check out award-winning work from the 31st Caples Awards from AIM Proximity and Vodaphone
www.dmnews.com | March 2, 2009 | DMNEWS | 15
LISTS AND DATABASES For Publication: All list and insert information sent to DMNews for publication should be e-mailed, preferably in a Word attachment, to Lists@DMNews.com. You may also fax 646/638-6159, to the attention of List News. Please avoid multiple submissions of the same lists. There may be a delay between the receipt of material and the date of publication.
NEW LISTS Making it Big in Real Estate Weekly Infomercial Buyers Focus USA Description: This file contains people who have purchased a system teaching them how to make money in real estate after viewing an infomercial. These entrepreneurial prospects have made an average purchase of $99 and earn an average of $60,000. Selects: 13,400 universe Contact: Your list broker or Focus USA, 1 University Plaza, Hackensack, NJ 07601 Phone: 201/489-2525 Fax: 201/489-4499 E-mail: info@focus-usa-1.com All Unpacked – New Movers/ New Phone Connects List Connection Inc. Description: This file contains people who have just moved and are in the process of getting settled in their new locations. These new prospects earn an average of $45,000. This list is 50% female. Selects: 6 million universe Contact: Your list broker or List Connection Inc., PO Box 1712, Simpsonville, SC 29681 Phone: 864/962-0761 Fax: 864/962-0769 E-mail: ken@listconnection.net Robert Switzenberg’s Cash for Homes – Foreclosures Opportunity Buyers Geon Media Group Description: This file contains people who have purchased an online education program to learn how to make money through real estate ventures. Selects: 6,021 universe Contact: Your list broker or Geon Media Group, 1922 Ashley Valley Lane, Sandy, UT 84092 Phone: 801/619-7800 Fax: 800/505-1703 E-mail: mhaugo@geonmedia.com ALC Executive Masterfile New Businesses ALC Description: This file contains entrepreneurs who are launching and establishing new businesses across the US. Selects: 313,063 universe Contact: Your list broker or ALC, 4300 Route 1 CN-5219, Princeton, NJ 08543 Phone: 609/580-2800 Fax: 609/580-2810 E-mail: maryann.posten@alc.com Religious Affiliations eTargetMedia.com Inc. Description: This file contains believers in a wide variety of religions who have expressed a desire to receive religious information online. Selects: 5,497,721 universe, religion, age, geography, income, marital status Contact: Your list broker or eTargetMedia. com Inc., 6810 Lyons Technology Circle, Coconut Creek, FL 33073 Phone: 954/480-8470 Fax: 954/480-8489 E-mail: info@etargetmedia.com
Line ‘Em Up – Number of Credit Cards on File Media Source Solutions Description: This file contains consumers who have bank, retail or gas credit cards. These prospects earn an average of $50,000 annually and have made average purchases of $150. This list is 60% female. Selects: 1,100,000 universe Contact: Your list broker or Media Source Solutions, 950 S. Pine Island Road, Plantation, FL 33324 Phone: 954/788-0213 Fax: 954/788-0215 E-mail: mvolpe@mediasourcesolutions.com House Mouse Antics RMI Direct Marketing Description: This file contains people who have bought products from House Mouse Antics catalog. These consumers have spent an average of $30 on products. This list is 95% female. Selects: 13,206 22-month buyers Contact: Your list broker or RMI Direct Marketing, 42 Old Ridgebury Road, Danbury, CT 06810 Phone: 203/825-4633 Fax: 203/207-8506 E-mail: tmathis@rmidirect.com Rivercrest Publishing Macromark Description: This file contains people who have bought books, videos and CDs that deal mainly with conspiracies, New Age and the occult. These prospects have spent an average of $32. This list is 63% male. Selects: 73,701 universe Contact: Your list broker or Macromark, 185 Route 312, Brewster, NY 10509 Phone: 845/230-6300 Fax: 845/278-0650 E-mail: paulad@macromark.com Sports Memorabilia Enthusiasts Dunhill International List Co. Description: This file contains people who collect and buy sports memorabilia. Selects: 5 million universe Contact: your list broker or Dunhill International List Co. One Park Place, Boca Raton, FL 33487 Phone: 561/998-7800 Fax: 561/998-7880 E-mail: candy@dunhills.com Several Sources Shelters - Donors Trinity Direct Description: This file contains people who have donated to Several Sources Shelter, which provides help, shelter and education for young mothers. Selects: 13,341 universe Contact: Your list broker or Trinity Direct, 10 Park Place, Butler, NJ 07405 Phone: 973/283-3600 Fax: 973/283-3606 E-mail: joyj@trinitydirect.net Dental Professionals from Elsevier Healthcare MeritDirect Description: This file contains dental professionals from across the US. Selects: 49,512 universe
Contact: Your list broker or MeritDirect, 333 Westchester Ave., White Plains, NY 10604 Phone: 312/286-4461 Fax: 914/368-1150 E-mail: bkamberis@meritdirect.com Fix It! By Simoniz, USA List Services Corp. Description: This file contains people who bought products to fix their cars after viewing a TV commercial. These buyers have made an average purchase of $20. This list is 70% male. Selects: 250,000 12-month buyers Contact: Your list broker or List Services Corp., 6 Trowbridge Drive, PO Box 516, Bethel, CT 06801 Phone: 203/791-4104 Fax: 203/778-4299 E-mail: kmatteo@listservices.com Buyers 360 Celebrity Juice Focus USA Description: This file contains people who are interested in celebrity news, photos and gossip. They go online, watch TV shows and receive e-mails to learn about the latest celebrity news. These celebrity watchers
earn an average of $55,000 annually. This list is 75% female. Selects: 2,568,230 universe Contact: Your list broker or Focus USA, 1 University Plaza, Hackensack, NJ 07601 Phone: 201/489-2525 Fax: 201/489-4499 E-mail: info@focus-usa-1.com The Population Research Institute Mary Elizabeth Granger & Associates Description: This file contains donors to the Population Research Institute, an anti-abortion nonprofit organization. These educated, avid donors enjoy reading books and publications that are related to Catholic teachings. Selects: 3,877 universe Contact: Your list broker or Mary Elizabeth Granger & Associates, 110 West Road, Baltimore, MD 21204 Phone: 401/842-1170 Fax: 410/842-1185 E-mail: evelyn@maryegranger.com G. Anderson Homebase Buyers GT List Services Description: This file contains people who have purchased an orientation kit that
16 | DMNEWS | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
LISTS AND DATABASES teaches them how to become more financially independent. They are generally more than 40 years of age. This list is 60% male. Selects: 106,262 universe Contact: Your list broker or GT List Services, PO 105, Tallman, NY 10982 Phone: 845/918-1622 Fax: 845/918-0102 Email: oneyco@optimum.net Commercial Truck Owners Byrum & Fleming Description: This file contains owners of commercial trucks. Selects: 1,278,009 universe Contact: Your list broker or Byrum & Fleming, 321 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo, CA 94960 Phone: 800/850-1711 Fax: 415/459-5162 E-mail: pam@byrumfleming.com
American Pharmaceutical Review Russell Publishing LLC Description: This file contains people who receive the American Pharmaceutical Review, a journal that features articles by pharmaceutical experts. Selects: 30,112 universe Contact: Your list broker or Russell Publishing LLC, 9225 Priority Way West Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46240 Phone: 973/349-6144 E-mail: steve.koppelman@russpub.com Group Travel Prospects Dunhill International List Co. Description: This file contains people who like to travel in groups, including clubs, organizations and associations that book travel for their members at least once per year. Selects: 498,060 universe Contact: Your list broker or Dunhill International List Co., One Park Place, Boca Raton, FL 33487 Phone: 561/998-7800 Fax: 561/998-7880 E-mail: candy@dunhills.com Japan’s Lucky Strike DM Responders Consumer Mailing List Acton International Ltd. Description: This file contains people who enjoy shopping from home. They are responsive to direct mail offers related to health supplement, diet products, sweepstakes, travel and credit cards.
Selects: 21,014 universe Contact: Your list broker or Acton International Ltd., 2100 Fletcher Ave., Lincoln, NE 68521 Phone: 402/742-2820 Fax: 402/470-3965 E-mail: bovett@acton.com
Selects: 4 million universe Contact: Your list broker or Lighthouse List, 27 S.E. 24th Ave., Pompano Beach, FL 33062 Phone: 954/489-3008 Fax: 954/489-3092 E-mail: mark@lighthouselist.com
America’s Businesses Financial Group III Insurance The Services Group Description: This file contains contacts in financial services. Selects: 112,546 universe Contact: Your local list broker or The Services Group, 430 Eisenhower Lane, Lombard, IL 60148 Phone: 630/495-5478 Fax: 630/495-5578 E-mail: kwoods@theservicesgroup.com
My Career Advancement – Distance Education Masterfile Geon Media Group Description: This file contains people who are looking to advance their careers with My Career Advancement. Selects: 48,933 universe Contact: Your list broker or Geon Media Group, 1922 East 10300, Sandy, UT 84092 Phone: 801/619-7800 Fax: 800/505-1703 E-mail: mhaugo@geonmedia.com
Direct Group’s Business Masterfile Direct Group Description: This file contains business contacts from a variety of industries. This list is 50% female. Selects: 7,734,022 universe Contact: Your list broker or Direct Group, 200 Centennial Ave, Piscataway, NJ 08854 Phone: 732/980-0505 Fax: 732/907-1905 E-mail: rhoda.ruiz@directgroup.net Catalog Card Credit Applicants Interactive Marketing Solutions Description: This file contains people who have applied to credit cards and want to rebuild their credit. Selects: 55,879 universe Contact: Your list broker or Interactive Marketing Solutions, 233 W. Route 59, Nanuet, NY 10954 Phone: 845/624-1155 Fax: 845/624-4890 E-mail: info@intmktgsolutions.com Financially Distressed US Consumers V12 Group Description: This file contains people who are in need of financial relief due to the recession. These distressed consumers are in debt, late on one or more bills and/or near bankrupt. Selects: 29,881,393 universe Contact: Your list broker or V12 Group, 2 Bridge Ave., Red Bank, NJ 07701 Phone: 732/842-1001 Fax: 732/842-5999 E-mail: lists@v12group.com Advertising Agency Contacts Cornerstone List Management Description: This file contains advertising agency contacts in Canada. Selects: 3,951 universe Contact: Your list broker or Cornerstone List Management, 20 Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4R 1K8 Phone: 416/932-9555 Fax: 416/932-9566 E-mail: smhing@cstonecanada.com Credit Plus – Stored Value Catalog Buyers Lighthouse List Description: This file contains people who have applied for a stored value credit card. These prospects enjoy purchasing from catalogs and earn an average of $40,000. Average purchase value is $19.99.
NEW E-MAIL Health Professionals E-mail File PCS PCS Mailing List Company Description: This file contains a wide variety of healthcare professionals at their e-mail addresses. This list is 76% female. Selects: 1,240,025 universe Contact: Your list broker or PCS Mailing List Company, Peabody, MA 01960 Phone: 978/532-7100 Fax: 978/532-9181 E-mail: info@pcslist.com MomTalk.com E-mail Masterfile Aggressive List Management Description: This file contains mothers who have connected with other moms online through momtalk.com to discuss motherly topics. Selects: 15,619 universe Contact: Your list broker or Aggressive List Management, 3900 Wood Duck Drive, Springfield, IL 62711 Phone: 217/787-2029 Fax: 217/787-2567 E-mail: sales@aggressivelist.com Time Inc. Email Masterfile Millard Group Description: This file contains subscribers to Time Inc. publications, including All You, Fortune, Money, Sports Illustrated, This Old House and Time, at their e-mail addresses. Selects: 1,601,761 universe Contact: Your list broker or Millard Group, 10 Vose Farm Road, PO Box 890, Peterborough, NH 03458 Phone: 603/924-9262 Fax: 603/924-9420 E-mail: slinney@millard.com
NEW MANAGEMENT Wisteria Belardi/Ostroy Description: This file contains people who have bought home decorations, furniture or gardening tools from the Wisteria catalog. Average purchase value is $200. This list is 90% female. Selects: 125,000 universe Contact: Your list broker or Belardi/Ostroy, 16 W. 22nd St., New York, NY 10010 Phone: 212/381-1724 Fax: 212/381-1745 E-mail: kathyh@belardiostroy.com
Speedgear Buyers Estee Marketing Group Description: This file contains racing enthusiasts who have bought clothing, die cast models, books and videos from Speedgear. Average purchase amount is $92. This list is 63% male. Selects: 36,313 universe Contact: Your list broker or Estee Marketing Group, 270 North Ave., New Rochelle, NY 10801 Phone: 914/235-7080 Fax: 914/235-6518 E-mail: lsimoncini@esteemarketing.com Pay Day Loan Applicants Net60 Description: This file contains people who seek pay day loans. Selects: 863,800 universe Contact: Your list broker or Net60, 1420 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666 Phone: 201/833-9003 Fax: 201/336-9088 E-mail: chaim@net60.com Canadian Business Database West List Brokers Description: This file contains business contacts across Canada. Selects: 1,660,773 universe Contact: Your list broker or West List Brokers, 550 Queens Quay West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5V 3M8 Phone: 416/622-8700 Fax: 647/435-0304 E-mail: kim.young@westlists.com
NEW SELECTS Liquor Stores ATM All That Marketing Description: This file contains liquor stores across the country. These prospects earn an average of $50,000 annually. Selects: 44,423 universe, CASS-DPV records, state, store type Contact: Your list broker or All That Marketing, 3100 SW 59th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73119 Phone: 405/608-2340 Fax: 405/682-8044 E-mail: jim@allthatmarketing.com IM Proprietary Smokers Infinite Media Description: This file contains smokers who are looking for ways to quit. These smokers earn an average of $47,000 annually. This list is 90% male. Selects: 9,244,319 universe, gender Contact: Your list broker or Infinite Media, 190 E. Post Road, White Plains, NY 10601 Phone: 914/949.1547 Fax: 914/949-1605 E-mail: hudes@infinite-media.com Affordable American Dental Association — ADA Dentists & Students KM Lists Inc. Description: This file contains practicing dentists and dental students across the US. Selects: 222,665 universe Contact: Your list broker or KM Lists Inc., 9004C Lincoln Drive West, Marlton, NJ 08053 Phone: 856/988-6969 Fax: 856/988-6662 E-mail: pam.holden@kmlists.com
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source
TOOLBOX Contact: Michael Szymanski (646) 638-6176 michael.szymanski@dmnews.com
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;DE\nj%Zfd includes many online exclusive features. Here is a rundown of what is coming up only on DMNews.com.
@ ▲
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Getting around mobile’s invasive appearance, targeting tips for higher conversions and more
DXiZ_ 0 :ID Jfclk`fej1 GifYc\d Jfcm\i A CRM expert offers three tips to solve a customer relationship managment problem. DXiZ_ (J\XiZ_1 È, K`gjÉ It’s more important than ever to make sure customers can find you online when they search, as well as be sure they see the results you want. Five experts offer ways to spiff up your search engine optimization. DXiZ_ )* ;fj Xe[ ;feËkj1 @ej\ikj Industry experts share their top “dos and don’ts” when it comes to taking advantage of the insert channel. DXiZ_ *' I\kX`c1 H 8 Find out about the state of the current retail industry — and cutting-edge strategies — in a Q&A with Fred Balboni, global retail industry leader at IBM Global Business Solutions.
I’m mindful that mobile messaging still appears invasive. How do I expand into this channel while managing that fact?” “Opt-in is the key,” says eric Holmen, president of SmartReply. “The FTC has regulations in place to ensure consumers’ privacy, even with mobile initiatives, but those regulations begin and end with opt-in. Consumers should be required to opt in to mobile programs with a simple process, like a “yes” text, so undue burden isn’t placed either on the company or the customer, he explains. “By inviting your existing customers to opt into a mobile campaign,” Holmen adds, “you not only adhere to FTC standards, but also optimize your redemption rates, maximize ROI and create heightened brand perception among core clientele.”
digital
How can my Web site highlight current appeals? “Telling customers about your successes and priorities is important if you want to bring them to your Web site,” replies Sarah Hoddinott, fundraising product manager at advanced Solutions international. “Appeals do just that and also offer great content for keeping your Web site fresh and topical. Your site’s home page should put the spotlight on your current appeals,” she adds. Hoddinott suggests having your marketing agency design compelling Web creative, while it builds similar content for mail appeals. You also should consider having one of the people you highlight in your appeals host a blog or forum as part of the campaign. It’s also easy to take make the most of your online presence if you have a strong and flexible content management and CRM system in place, she adds.
Social media
With so many social media marketing “shoulds,” how do I take advantage of these options, stay current and still find time to do my job? “It’s easy to suffer from a minor case of ‘social media overwhelm.’ It happens to the best of us,” says lorrie thomas, a writer for the site Web marketing therapy. “Social media can be a super powerful tool, and it can also be a time suck if it’s not managed well. My first bit of advice is to start small, and put your efforts where it counts. Maintaining your company’s blog, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other outreach can take a lot of time. Test one at a time, track results and build accordingly. And use time saving tools, like Hellotxt.com, to streamline social media updates — tools like this take one micro message and hit all your social outlets.”
taRgeting
If I match the right customer with the right offer, why don’t I have higher conversion rates? “Ah, the burning question of every direct marketer – especially when paired with how it can be done without increasing cost per action,” laments michael Ferzacca, CEO of ignite media Solutions. “Beyond the right customer and offer, it’s about how to connect with them.” Marketers must capture audiences’ responses through any channel, he says. “You can’t tell a customer where to buy; you can only suggest media through which to engage. Increase your conversion rate by implementing an integrated, multichannel approach to avoid leaving consumers and profit on the table for competitors,” he explains. “Direct your consumers’ response through a multichannel program to convert shoppers to buyers. The key is to cover multiple channels. You will extend the reach and effectiveness of media buys and capture sales that might otherwise be lost.” l Interested in sharing your tips and tricks? E-mail lauren.bell@dmnews.com to contribute to Toolbox
20 | DMNEWS | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
Jobs/
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8 | DMNEWS | January 19, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
www.dmnews.com | March 2, 2009 | DMNEWS | 21
SPOTLIGHT
Better CRM begins with education Euro RSCG Discover’s Raj thinks DM could benefit from more experience in CRM By Lauren Bell Q: You’ve been in this industry for more than 20 years — how did you start? A: I started my career in 1984, in India. The interesting thing about starting there is we actually did not have the fragmented marketing services model there like we do here. What we had was marketing agencies, where clients would come and say, “Here is my business problem, how do I solve it?” which is how people here did it in the ’60s and ’70s. My first job in the US was at Wunderman Cato Johnson — now Wunderman — and then I transitioned back to general advertising. I always bounced around between that, consulting and direct/database/digital marketing.
Zain Raj Title: CEO, Euro RSCG Discover Previous roles: Most recently, CMO, North-American business unit, Euro RSCG; president and CEO of Brand XP Hobby: Golf Best career advice recieved: “Make it simple and keep it simple.”
Q: Euro RSCG Discovery is the CRM/ loyalty arm of Euro RSCG. Would you say this particular type of direct marketing has become more popular? A: I think CRM has definitely been something we are talking more to clients about and what clients want to do more of. With the cost of acquiring new customers continuing to escalate, what most companies and marketers are realizing is they already have people who are buying
PEOPLENEWS
their product. If they could just get them to do it more, they could actually make their numbers, and it’s easy because they know who their customers are and know what they are doing. Q: What are some of the challenges in CRM today? A: The interesting challenge is you don’t have enough marketers with the experience to actually do it right. If you look at all senior marketing people today, they’ve been trained by people who grew up in the last marketing paradigm, which was all driven around acquisition. Then, the core objectives were to create awareness and change perception. Nobody really taught them the skills you need once you get the customer in. There’s a scarcity of good, trained talent that knows how to do retention and loyalty marketing. They just don’t know what you do to retain those customers and how you do marketing to make the relationship deeper and more relevant. Q: How can the direct marketing community change that reality going forward? A: One thing we’ve done in the Chicago
market is we refined the DM program at DePauw University so we not only teach DM as in acquisition through mail and stuff like that, but also how you can use insight and data to build robust retention marketing programs. There’s a need for formal education programs to catch up and teach people that. In addition, companies need to find ways of bringing in specialists to coach them. The other thing to do is read. People need to be reading to stay ahead of things. Q: How much is new technology affecting your business strategy? A: We view technology as a means to an end. To me, the Web 2.0 part is to leverage our assets as we build CRM programs because customers like to talk to other customers and learn from their experiences versus being dictated to by a marketer. Technology is enabling what we are talking about because in the digital environment every action is something I can see and understand and leverage. That behavior is tracked, and that allows us to help customers have better experiences with the brand. l
ExpertAdvice Steve Roderick CEO, GoToBilling.com
Melissa Brewer (1)
John Sanfacon (2)
Carlos Dunlap (3)
Mike Mathis (4)
: Golden Media
: Kobie Marketing
: Jiffy Lube International
: SKM Group
: Chadwick Martin Bailey
: Inflection Point Media
: Sparks
: Saatchi and Saatchi
: Carat
: LevelVision
has named Melissa Brewer (1) media director. Prior to joining Golden Media, Brewer served as principal of sales consulting at MBA Marketing.
has hired John Sanfacon (2) as marketing and innovations manager. Previously, Sanfacon was VP of marketing at Denny’s Inc.
has hired Josh Mendelsohn as VP of marketing. He worked at the agency two years ago, with a stint at Invoke Solutions in between.
has hired George Mayer as SVP of museum services. Most recently, Mayer was VP, museum services at Art Guild Inc.
has named Theresa LaMontagne SVP of data analytics and insights. She had been director, media and sales research at Yahoo.
has named Carlos Dunlop (3) practice director of loyalty consulting. Before joining Kobie Marketing, Dunlop was senior executive at Martiz Loyalty Marketing.
has hired Mike Mathis (4) as SVP and executive creative director. He held the same position at Engelhardt and Partners Advertising.
has announced that John Durham, Curt Viebranz and Mark Walsh will become members of the Board of Advisors.
has named Seth Wolk EVP, director of human interest. Prior to joining Saatchi and Saatchi, Wolk was SVP of human resources at EMI.
has named Sean Flanagan SVP and chief revenue officer. Most recently, Flanagan was VP, chief sales officer at Adspace Mall Networks.
What does a hiring company do if a candidate asks for more time to consider a position?
: If a candidate said something like this
to me, personally, I would continue to look in other places. If a candidate is coming in for an interview, you need to understand that there may be other options that they are exploring. In terms of job boards, for example, people tend to apply to a lot of jobs. Many times, you find people are simply throwing their résumé out there to see what sticks. Looking at it from the candidate’s perspective, I understand why people do something like this. But it makes it difficult on the hiring manager side to find and evaluate a person who is really looking for a challenging job they can grow with, as opposed to someone who is just looking to increase their salary by 4%. So, if people are just fishing for jobs, you have to keep actively looking for the right person. There has to be a good reason for a candidate to ask for time to consider, such as a change in location or a sal-
ary that was less than desired. But if there is not reason to reconsider, that candidate may not be too serious about the job. Then you just have to move on and continue to search. At a small firm, one of the main things we look for in a candidate is the ability to make quick decisions and being able to stick with the decisions. They may not always be right, but you have to be able to make a decision and move on. You need to look for someone who wants that position and doesn’t have to deliberate too much. Look for people who are self motivated, self directed, who don’t need to be micro-managed. At the end of the day, sometimes the only thing that really counts is a gut feeling about a candidate. You can do all the testing in the world, but you won’t know how a hire really works until that person gets in the building. l
22 | DMNEWS | March 2, 2009 | www.dmnews.com
Mobile banking is expected to grow B-to-b catalogers further in emerging countries as well navigate rough economic waters ‘E-commerce’ continued from cover
balance. Wells Fargo does not use secure SMS, so the bank is careful not to include any private information in the text. “It should be like an ATM receipt, which can be thrown away,” Erickson explained. To promote its mobile services, Wells Fargo uses a multichannel approach, including promotions on ATM receipts and bank statements and through direct mail. The bank also includes messaging for the mobile WAP service at the end of an SMS bank balance update to make sure that customers are aware of their options.
We see our mobile offering as part of the bank’s value proposition to the customer. Arah Erickson, head of retail mobile, Wells Fargo
“We cross-pollinate across the channels, because we want to be where it is convenient for our customers,” Erickson said. “We see our mobile offering as part of the bank’s value proposition to the customer to be there when they want to bank. It ties into our overall brand messaging, which is centered around reaching us the way you want to.” Last year, the infrastructure for mobile banking was built, so issues around security and fraud are all being considered. There are a handful of products on the market that allow for secure transactions, even through text, making it possible for mobile banking to take off.
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CellTrust, for example, offers a service that lets banks and consumers send encrypted text messages, which allows them to make banking transactions via SMS. “Some banks have already employed an alerting mechanism through standard SMS, with the capability of doing some mobile banking if you happen to have data on your phone,” said Sean Moshir, CEO of CellTrust. “There have been concerns about privacy and customers wondering if a transaction is proper. The latest effort to combat this has been to secure the SMS that encrypts the message.” Mobile banking also is expected to grow considerably in emerging countries. Juniper Research projects that more than 150 million mobile subscribers worldwide will access banking services on their mobile device in 2011, with the majority of mobile banking users coming from the Far East and China, followed by Western Europe and North America. To help build the infrastructure, last week the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated $12.5 million to mobile banks in emerging economies. The foundation partnered with the GSMA, a worldwide consortium of mobile industries, to form the Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU). The MMU will work with mobile operators, banks, microfinance institutions, governments and development organizations to help those in developing countries carry out mobile banking. “I think one of the reasons the Gates Foundation was particularly interested in this area is that many of these people have not experienced traditional banks and will have their primary banking experience on the mobile phone,” said Wehrs. “So you are leap-frogging the traditional infrastructure that we have in place, which may help it grow faster.” l
‘B-to-b’ continued from cover
instruments and laboratory equipment. The company recently reported that revenues increased 1% for a total of $2.65 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with $2.62 billion in the 2007 quarter. “Over the past 15 years, whenever there’s been an economic downturn or a recession, b-to-b mailers have consistently held up better,” said George Hague, senior marketing strategist at J. Schmid & Associates. “They often will get hit eventually, but not to the same level as consumer catalogs. On the other hand, they don’t enjoy the same robust growth that consumer catalogs can.” The good news isn’t across the board for b-to-b catalogers, however. “It’s somewhat of a mixed bag, with some down and some posting solid results,” said Hague. Dell, for example, last week said revenue for the fourth quarter ended January 30 was
L-com backs up its catalog with e-mail value-adds
DIRECTCHOICE Travelers’ mailer uses time-tested DM techniques, but with mixed results
: When evaluating a package that
follows time-tested direct response techniques, like this one from Travelers insurance that offers auto insurance savings, we’re unlikely to reveal changes that will have a major impact on response. What we do uncover are areas that can make a strong package an unbeatable package and improve the cost per response and marketing ROI. Looking at the strengths of this kit, the use of red type throughout the package
helps to add a sense of urgency to the kit while drawing the reader’s eye to some key points. Using a personalized card also is an effective direct marketing technique that helps to build curiosity about the package by adding a tactile feeling to the envelope. Once the reader is inside, the body copy seems to be the perfect length for a simple lead generator, emphasizing a quick, no-obligation response. The top portion of the letter facilitates a swift response by calling out the potential savings and the availability of a rate quote. The use of testimonials is also a proven response booster that is included here. There are some places where this mailer could have done a little better, however. Those opportunities for improving this package start with the envelope. This type of kit begs for envelope testing that could start with a blind test to measure the impact of the logo. The eyebrow of personalization about the address also could work harder by
$13.4 billion, a decline of 16%. In a statement, the company said that US demand was down significantly among all customers, particularly small and medium businesses and largest corporate customers “I think b-to-b is somewhat more fortunate than consumer, because the stuff that we’re selling is stuff that businesses need,” said Mary Ann Kleinfelter, VP, marketing at L-com, a cataloger of cable assemblies and connectivity devices. After purchasing a wireless direct marketing company last year, L-com will mail its largest master catalog ever next month, with 240 pages. “The more choice we can offer, the more likely customers are going to come to us,” said Kleinfelter. Still, in deference to the times, L-com is paying particularly close attention to its mailing strategy. It has found that customers take their time when it comes to making purchases and only buying when they need something, instead of stockpiling items. As a result, L-com is being extra careful about who it is mailing to, making sure the addresses are clean. Because the business world is so volatile right now, people are leaving their jobs in significant numbers. This makes it important for b-to-b mailers to make sure they have the right person at the right address to insure “that what you are mailing is getting there,” said Kleinfelter. The company also uses e-mail actively to complement its print efforts. Typically, it uses e-mail more to add value than for sales, by providing tips and tutorials. “We find this strategy improves customer loyalty,” Kleinfelter noted. Hague reported that several b-to-b catalogers are even looking at expanding their circulation rates going into the second quarter of 2009. “As we entered the new year, many b-to-b catalogers projected lower sales based on the lower quantities that they were mailing,” said Hague. “Now that they see response rates holding, they are realizing they can mail more robustly than they were projecting.” l
Matt Rosenblatt EVP, Harte-Hanks using a bolder or larger font to call out the recipient’s address. While the “Average Savings Per Year” box creates a nice visual anchor point at the top of the letter, the supporting savings messages in red tend to be overwhelming and dilute the overall saving message. The letter copy also would benefit from a more prominent use of two of the most effective words in direct response, “FREE” and “YOU.” Further, in a time of so much uncertainty, a compelling fact for those wary of switching insurance companies is easily missed in the body copy, “…of policyholders who had recent claims with us, nine out of 10 would gladly recommend Travelers to a friend!” The low profile of this fact represents a missed opportunity to highlight a powerful answer to the question, “Will I regret this switch when I have to make a claim?” Send your Direct Choice to bryan.yurcan@dmnews.com
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