DMNews Feb 16 issue

By Mary Elizabeth Hurn: Free microblogging site Twitter announced plans to begin revenue-generating products. The impact on marketers remains to be seen as news of the revenue model has been vague.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone referred DMNews to a corporate blog written on February 13, announcing the company will receive additional from Bench-mark and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). IVP confirmed the amount was $35 million.

Stone’s post explained, “We are now positioned extremely well to support the accelerating growth of our service, further enable the robust ecosystem sprouting up around Twitter, and yes, to begin building revenue-generating products.”

Twitter is also backed by Union Square Ventures, Digital Garage, Spark Capital and Bezos Expe-ditions, which is run by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

The launch of an ad-supported model for the site had long been predicted by experts.

By Bryan Yurcan: With the US Postal Service announcing its rate increases for 2009, the agency and the mailing industry face an uncertain future.

The USPS, facing a well-publi-cized $2.8 billion deficit this year and total mail volume decrease of 9 billion, said the rate increases will amount to a drop in the bucket toward solving the agency’s fis-cal woes. It also faces a cluttered marketplace where consumers and companies have growing options from e-mail and companies, such as

On February 12, Joel Comm, CEO of InfoMedia Inc. and author of Twitter Power, a guide for marketers using the site, told DMNews, “I think the ad model is still solid.” He also didn’t rule out an eventual buyout.

“It could be a huge payout for them, even when they get up to 10 million members,” Comm said.

Twitter has about 6 million unique users. It had the third high-est number of monthly visits — 54 million — among social networks in January, behind Facebook and MySpace, according to Web ana-lytics firm Compete. At this time last year, Twitter was ranked 22.

Any change to the site’s ser-vices could have an impact on

the growing number of brands, such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Zappos, Whole Foods, Dell and JetBlue, that already use it.

It’s unclear how much market-ers would spend to remain using the one-to-one customer commu-nication outlet. Brands using the service have not yet tied it directly to sales goals.

Dunkin’ Donuts, which began Twittering in October 2008, said it includes brand updates and inter-esting news, and often replies to other Twitterers’ Tweets.

“We follow what others are say-ing as well. Twitter is not a broad-cast channel – it’s a place to have conversations,” said Michelle King, director of global PR for Dunkin’ Brands Inc. “Dunkin’ Donuts is using Twitter as a means to engage in a meaningful dialogue with our consumers.”

JetBlue Airways started Tweeting in May 2007 by posting new routes and fare sales. But the airline now has more of a two-way conversa-tion with those Twitterers who are

February 16, 2009 www.dmnews.com

Twitter talk may come at a cost Digital mail is likely to see yearly growth

dmne

ws.co

m In our online exclusive feature this week, Dianna Dilworth reached out to five experts, who offer tips on marketing through the mobile Web.

By Chantal Todé : With direct mail volume declin-ing overall due to costs and the economy, research firm Interquest Ltd. predicts the volume produced on digital presses will grow 2% to 3% per year to 2013.

“What’s going to help digital is the desire of mailers to personal-ize their offers,” said Gilles Biscos, Interquest president. “More mar-keters are using integrated cam-paigns that combine direct mail with the Internet or e-mail, and these efforts are personalized.”

A new generation of high-speed inkjet presses, which combine many of the benefits of offset print-ing with those of digital, is aiding the growth of personalization.

To date, the use of personaliza-tion has been dominated by direct mail printers, but Interquest expects more large commercial printers to begin offering this option.

But, with no high-quality single-engine press producing more than 500 feet per minute currently com-mercially available, and given the economy, the development work required and need for beta testing, “it is nigh impossible for them to have any impact on any industry in 2009,” said Bill Lamparter, president of PrintCom Consulting Group. “However, watch for these machines to make an appearance in 2010.” l

Mail industry ponders its future after rate hike

PLUS Agents crucial for insurance marketing P7 | Add color to print P8 | Target women with social media P15

‘Twitter’ continued on page 18

Earth Class Mail and the recently launch Zumbox, which provide digitally delivered mail.

“It wouldn’t… have a whole lot of meaning,” said Stephen Kear-ney, SVP for customer relations at the USPS, when asked how much revenue the rate increases might raise for the USPS at a news conference last week.

The USPS is taking several steps to save money this year, including adjusting carrier routes to make them more efficient, freezing the

‘USPS’ continued on page 18

MORE INSIDE

The microblogging site is growing popular among marketers as it gains market share

Face-to-face interaction will help land jobs, says recruiter Karen Tripi

B-to-b pubs build brands online and in print

The Work, p11 Pepsi

17

6

TXU Energy offers online conservation tips

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By Dianna Dilworth: Facing record decline, many in the casi-no and gambling industry are turning to direct marketing in hopes of winning big. Big Las Vegas hotels, including Harrah’s and MGM Grand, have dropped their room rates and are offering all-inclusive packages to drive traffic in their casinos and get cus-tomers to gamble.

In a February report, market analyst Fitch Ratings said gaming had historic declines in the last four months of 2008 — down 3.5%. The firm predicted no significant recovery until 2010.

“It is not that people aren’t coming, it’s that they are not playing as much,” said Jack Breslin, SVP of marketing for GA Wright Casino Marketing, an agency that works in the casino industry.

“Casinos are keeping a close eye on ROI, and as such they are focusing on direct mar-keting programs because [they are] measur-able,” he added. “They are really scrutinizing their programs closely and offering things like midweek room deals, food offers and packages to keep people coming in to play

in the casino, especially the top players who drive most of their revenue.”

Mohegan Sun, a Connecticut-based Native American gaming and entertainment center, headlined its latest push, “Stimulus, Recovery and Rebound.”

Its direct marketing, which includes rich media banners, direct mail and e-mail, focuses around the casino’s hotel package deals. Special messaging about earning or spending points for hotel stays are being pushed out to the loyalty members.

“We’ve been experiencing the same amount of visitation, but people are spend-ing less,” explained George Galinsky, VP of marketing and PR at Mohegan Sun.

In addition, the casino is offering a $5 blackjack table around the clock, which Galinsky said, is part of the game coming in touch with “our new economic reality.”

“We already have a lot of products and services that offer a lot of value,” Galinsky said. “Mohegan Sun offers a stimulating experience. You come here because it is beautiful; hopefully you recover or rebound by the time you leave.”

The Silver Legacy in Reno, NV, is run-ning a new promotion for 2009 in hopes of driving traffic.

The effort is centered around the “All-New Million Dollar Weekends of Winners (WOW)” promotion, in which players are entered to win a grand prize of $20,000 per weekend by gaming.

The contest kicks off on February 16 and, to promote its opening weekend, there will be a $40,000 giveaway.

“It’s added value for the players to play,” said Glenn Carano, executive director of marketing at the Silver Legacy Casino. “The more they invest in their play, the more they have a chance to win, either cash prizes, machine play credit, food credit, resort stays, entertainment, and so on.”

The contest encourages gaming through-out the week, as credits for the drawing can be won beginning on Monday and then the drawings take place the following Friday night and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. To get the word out about WOW, The Silver Legacy is advertising with e-mail, direct mail, TV and radio. l

Casinos look for ROI in downturn

NEWSBRIEFS Short takes on the industry

PlusMedia has been named as AOR for coffee and tea home delivery service Gevalia Kaffe. The agency, whichspecializes in insert and print media, will work with Gevalia to build an integrated campaign to expand the company’s growth.

Princeton Fulfillment Solutions LLC, a new direct marketing services company, has formed. The team includes: Manuel Ortiz, founder, former chairman and CEO of Direct Group; Kevin McPhillips, founding partner and former COO of Direct Group; and Stephen Pasi, former EVP of Trans-continental Direct USA. Slack Barshinger, a b-to-b agency, has acquired brand consultancy and ad agency Coleman Partners. Slack said Coleman adds additional branding capabilities, cli-ents and a new sector — healthcare.

UrbanMetro, a fashion magazine pro-duced by Ceaser Media Group for young, urban men, has launched in print. The quarterly ran an online-only test issue in October and snagged 20,000 subscribers for its first print issue. UrbanMetro is not yet available on newsstands.

Haggin Marketing has acquired digi-tal agency SolutionSet. Haggin cited SolutionSet’s efforts in building appli-

cat ions to engage people in com-munities, and its experience in digital marketing, consumer and e-commerce Web sites, social media and rich interfaces for clients including eBay and TiVo.

Fujitsu Network Communications (FNC), a supplier of IT and telecom tools, is using Salesforce CRM to drive its reten-tion and growth efforts in 2009. With Salesforce CRM, which is integrated into its back-end SAP system, FNC is tracking customer accounts, managing orders and forecasting sales.

Equifax has selected e-mail service provider StrongMail to power its e-mail marketing product. The company said the move comes as Equifax had outgrown its own in-house e-mail product. Through its clients, the firm sends multiple millions of messages a month.

Vizu Corporation, a provider of online ad measurement systems, has entered into partnerships with Lotame, AdNectar and

Buddy Media to use Vizu’s Ad Catalyst system to measure their clients’ ad effec-tiveness on social media sites.

Hilton HHonors, the loyalty program for Hilton hotels, is offering a new co-branded card with partner American Express. The Hilton HHonors Surpass Card joins the existing free HHonors card, but charges an annual fee of $75 for more premium member experiences.

Retail sales for January were up 1% follow-ing a six-month decline, the US Commerce Department said. Sales including retail and food services totaled $344.6 billion, an increase over December’s figures, but still are down 9.7% year-over-year. Sales at nonstore retailers such as catalogs and online retailers rose 2.7%.

Correction: In “Economy spurs job site growth,” (February 9, DMNews), Career-builder.com is the most trafficked job site in the US, according to Comscore. DMNews regrets this error.

Alcohol marketers toast iPhone apps

2 | DMNEWS | February 16, 2009 | www.dmnews.com

MULTICHANNEL cole haan launches direct campaign p3 CIrCULATIoN b-to-b pubs positioned well for survival p6 proDUCTIoN adding color to print boosts results p8

By Dianna Dilworth : Wine and spirit companies are taking advantage of new iPhone applications to give consumers information not only on product reviews, but where to find their products while enjoying a night out.

The efforts are part of a growing push by marketers to reach consumers through mobile applications.

“An application is attractive because there is a deep level of engagement,” said Mike Wehrs, president and CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association. “It is not just a notification of something, it is more of a marketing program that can support an overall advertising campaign.”

For Proximo Spirits, the liquor compa-ny that makes Three Olives Vodka, 1800 Tequila, Gran Centenario, Ron Matusalem and Maestro Dobel, reaching consumers who are out is a great opportunity.

“Applications offer a great branding channel because you can put in a lot of interactivity,” Wehrs said.

Proximo currently is developing a new iPhone application, based on its existing Web application. This “locator” is designed to help consumers find the bars and liquor stores that carry Proximo brands.

“People are out and about, and they want the information then and there as they are looking for a place to drink,” said Elwyn Gladstone, head of marketing at Proximo.

Gladstone also pointed out that the mobile application development is happening a lot in the wine and spirits space.

“There are wine guides, which are doing it a lot, where you can enter in a wine and find reviews and then bars and stores that carry it,” he added.

Some examples include Nirvino, which lets users type read reviews, descriptions and food pairing recommendations for a wine, and Cor.kz, which is based on CellarTracker, a wine database of more than 530,000 wines. lMohegan Sun’s push involves both digital and print media promoting its unique game offerings

“casinos are… focusing on direct marketing programs because [they are] measurable. they are really scrutinizing their programs closely… to keep people coming in.

Jack Breslin, SVP of marketing, GA Wright Casino Marketing

New health pub will launch this spring

BrandNew Sweating energy savings

Cole Haan takes a swing at DM with tennis-focused push

Tennis star Sharapova is the face of the campaign

Social media pepsi fans create messages for president obama p11 couponS to rise above coupon clutter, mail them smartly p15

By chantal Todé: Luxury footwear brand Cole Haan is brushing up on tennis and direct marketing for its spring 2009 campaign.

Tennis sensation Maria Sharapova is the new face of Cole Haan’s marketing efforts, which will focus on the integration of Nike Air Flywire technology in Cole Haan prod-ucts. This is the first time that Cole Haan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nike, has collaborated with a Nike athlete to serve as the face of a new collection.

Also new this spring is the marketing mix, with digital and catalog marketing playing a bigger role.

“In the past, digital media represented a small portion of the Cole Haan media budget,” said Michael Capiraso, CMO at Cole Haan, via e-mail. “However, we con-tinue to increase dollar allocation to this increasingly influential medium.”

The spring 2009 digital media buy repre-sents a “significant increase” over the spring 2008 buy, he added. The digital campaign will consist of a combination of rich media and static banners on sites such as NYTimes.com, Style.com and Wired.com.

Also for the first time, Cole Haan will polybag a spring catalog with the April issue of Elle magazine.

“Through our research, we have found that readers react positively to what they see in our ad campaign and will… request cata-logs,” Capiraso said. “Polybagging with Elle allows us to communicate our full story of season, showcase the breadth and depth of our product and support our collaboration with Maria Sharapova with greater impact.”

The 30-page catalog will be targeted to 20,000 subscribers from age 25 to 49 in sev-eral major cities, including Boston, Los Ange-les, Chicago and San Francisco. It includes a toll-free number for placing orders and the URL for the company’s Web site.

Other elements of Cole Haan’s Spring ’09 campaign include a mix of single page, spread and four-page insert print ads in top women’s magazines and out-of-home execu-tions, including a billboard in New York City’s meatpacking district and wrapped bus shelters and buses. l

texas utility tXu energy has launched its energy fit club, an online resource to help consumers learn to manage energy use and save money. users can register to join the club at www.txu.com/getfit and can opt in for energy saving informa-tion. club members then can download a widget via e-mail or social networking site to set and track their personal energy fitness goals. they also can post stories and tips on energy savings or read those from other members. the campaign also includes a sweepstakes with a $5,000 grand prize.

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By lauren Bell: Wellness360, a monthly custom publication from Aperture Health Inc., will launch in California in April, and is expected to be nationwide by year’s end.

The magazine’s initially will be mailed to registered Wellness360.com members in the company’s home state of California, hitting a circulation of more than 400,000 educated and health-conscious Internet users. Average members are more than 35 years of age, and 85% pay for their own health insurance.

“The magazine is designed to be support-ive of our membership base,” said Thomas Banks, Aperture’s chairman, founder and CEO. “We’ve had gigantic growth rates, so we’re planning the magazine to fortify our message to our membership because people aren’t online 24/7.”

The magazine also provides a new platform for the advertisers who wholly support the company. Pharma, health and wellness, enter-tainment and CPG companies are all repre-sented online and in the magazine pages.

The company needs these ads because it pays users, who receive free Wellness360 membership and services, cash rewards for using the site. Banks describes the business as a loyalty program, rewarding members 33 cents for every dollar earned through its targeted advertising. Sponsoring entities, such as employers, are also paid a small sum based on ad revenue.

Banks hopes Wellness360 represents a paradigm shift in American health care.

“Wouldn’t it be interesting if, through this effort, we could shift even 10% of health care costs off of taxpayers’ shoulders and onto the shoulders of advertisers that want it if they can get a benefit?” he asked.

Florida and Illinois are next in line to receive Wellness360 magazine. l

UPS testing return program with USPSBy Bryan Yurcan: UPS, the world’s largest shipping carrier, is engaging in a five-month pilot program with the US Postal Service on returns for Internet retail purchases.

UPS Returns Flexible Access allows consumers, using a special package label, to return items shipped via UPS by plac-ing them in their own mailboxes for USPS pickup or dropping them at the post office or in postal collection boxes.

The labels will be pre-paid by the retail-er, who will decide whether to absorb the cost or charge back their customer. A UPS driver will pick the package up from the local post office and return it via the UPS ground network.

Berlin, WI-based Buyseasons Inc., which operates Buycostumes.com, an online seller of costumes and party supplies, is among the preselected Internet retailers participat-ing in the pilot.

The company’s participation in the pilot program is “about getting an array of options to make [customers’] end-to-end experience with us more efficient,” said Terry Rowinski, VP of operations at Buyseasons. “It will be a win-win for both sides.” l


I am a late-adopting iPhone user and, while I like it, there is one element of the device that is simply too smart for its own good — that is, the autocorrect of

e-mail spelling, which has a habit of interpreting my rather basic vocabulary choices as arcane proper nouns. For example, a slowly typed “which” will sometimes translate to Whig, “have” becomes “Han,” and the word “paying” for some reason morphs into “Latin.”

In my life, I have little need to allude to the pilot of the Millennium Falcon or a defunct 19th century political party, but iPhone begs to differ – and who knows, maybe it’s right. As the January 12 DMNews feature on the “Cell phone evolution” pointed out, the prominence of these devices in our lives might lead us to new discoveries that are led by the very functions and innovations they offer. In other words, we are living in a world increasingly informed by our mobile devices, and there are multiple elements that are converging in the interest of that development.

This concept is underscored by the press release about the appointment of Mike Wehrs as the new president and CEO of the Mobile Marketing Asso-ciation (MMA). Within six paragraphs, the world “ecosystem” was invoked three times — like in a quote from Wehrs, which explained, “I look forward to working together with MMA member companies…and other industry leaders to ensure a vibrant and healthy mobile marketing ecosystem for all.”

“The classes of companies that are involved in the MMA are not just carrier organizations,” Wehrs told me in a follow-up interview. “For mobile market-ing to flow, you need carriers, content providers, ad agencies, major brands, handset manufacturers, infrastructure providers — all the constituent players together need to solve this problem.”

The problem Wehrs refers to is that of “locked revenue,” in the form of marketing programs that are languishing in the ether, rather than exploding onto the landscape and driving greater integration and innovation across the mobile landscape. Wehrs plans to bring more of MMA’s intellectual capital to bear on this issue, including insights into designing mobile campaigns, and consumer best practices. He is also refreshing MMA’s consumer feedback offering. The association’s site includes a button for reporting “unsolicited or inappropriate marketing messages.” That doesn’t mean just the porn offers, but rather any offer that seems untargeted or irrelevant, and not intended for the specific recipient.

There is a level of sensitivity to mobile market-ing misuse that might be partly responsible for that locked revenue problem, making marketers shy of entering the fray where consumers are ultrasensi-tive to unwanted messages on their most personal of devices. Consumers don’t just have to take what they are sent, and encouraging this kind of reporting is a step in the right direction.

Julia HoodEditorial director, DMNews

“ The prominence of mobile devices in our lives might lead us to discoveries led by the innovations they offer

Fighting infringement crucial for SEM

It’s important not to annoy with e-mail

One potential bright spot in the debate over handling search advertising traffic from parked domains and typo squatting is understanding how domainers use trademarked names illegally to boost revenues. By sifting through paid search traffic, search advertisers discover they’ve been charged for traffic from their own trademarked names.

Search marketers often include the names of competi-tors in keyword target lists, and search providers have policies such as ensuring that the ads displayed do not include the trademarked term unless the site associated with it is promoting that brand or making sure brand names aren’t used in a negative context. But in the end, it’s up to the advertisers to ensure the policies are enforced. There is a clear process for submitting complaints, and the major search engines are usually quick to take action,

potentially banning the offending advertiser from ever using the trademarked term again.

One form of brand infringement is when parked domains include a trademarked term in their URLs. Instead of reaching an official site, users see a list of ads for related products from other companies. Even worse is accidental misspellings. This brings a list of providers that use the brand name in their advertisements.

Our research has found that traffic from brand infring-ing sites is actually some of the best there is, with conver-sion rates exceeding 50% for some customers. Search marketers can capture these high-quality leads simply by applying a fresh eye to the analysis of campaign results. By looking at the sources of paid traffic that drive conver-sions, brand owners can identify trademark infringement and prioritize those sites requiring corrective action.

An effective course of action for trademark infringement is to submit a complaint directly to the domain name registrar. All domain name registrars now conform to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy published by ICANN. This policy is widely acknowledged to be friendly to trademark owners, and filing a complaint is a relatively inexpensive administrative [email protected]

Quick, a show of hands: How many of you recommend using e-mail to market to business-to-business prospects and customers? I suspect there are plenty of hands now in the air. According to a DMA “Power of Direct” study, the ROI for commercial e-mail marketing averages $45.65. The ROI for all commercial non-e-mail-related online marketing is less than half of that — only $20.19.

Clearly, e-mail is profitable, and it works. But how many people really like receiving e-mail from marketers when they are at work? Not many, I believe.

And that’s the dilemma. We have a hard working, effi-cient medium that also has the power to annoy. Today’s inboxes are quickly filling up, and patience is wearing thin. According to Forrester Research, eight out of 10 broadband users delete most commercial e-mail without

reading it. Six out of 10 say most e-mail offers nothing of interest. Once users are trained to expect uselessness, they stop paying attention.

Forrester predicts e-mail volume will reach 838 billion messages by 2013, thanks to wider adoption by smaller companies, more aggressive tactics by current users, lower costs from service providers and the “green” trend.

And, people like e-mail — a Merkle Quris survey reported a growing interest in and willingness for e-mail to replace many traditional direct mail functions.

E-mail will remain an essential medium for business-oriented communications. To make it work effectively, use your company name and/or a real name in the “from” field. Personalize and customize content as much as possible. Segment e-mail content so that recipients get information that most interests them — if you don’t know what interests them, ask. Include interaction, like polls or quizzes. Offer reports and whitepapers. Keep messages short, simple and focused. A text-heavy appearance is deadly.

The ideal frequency of e-mail contact with customers is to communicate as often as you have relevant information to share. In some cases, it makes sense to ask customers how often they’d like to hear from [email protected]

EDITORIAL: Editor-in-Chief Cara Wood (646) 638-6185,[email protected] Editor Sharon Goldman(646) 638-6121,[email protected] Editor Nancy Kearney(646) 638-6184,[email protected] Editor Chantal Todé (802) 257-1295, [email protected] Editor Dianna Dilworth (347) 439-6803,[email protected] Lauren Bell (646) 638-6191 [email protected] Mary Elizabeth Hurn (646) 638-6192, [email protected] Bryan Yurcan(646) 638-6190,[email protected]

Copy Editor Nathan Golia (646) 638-6193, [email protected] Editor Kevin McKeefery(646) 638-6194, [email protected] Assistant Jonathan Mack(646) 638-6183, [email protected] Editor Sara [email protected] Director Julia Hood (646) 638-6031, [email protected]

ART AND PRODUCTION: Design Director Sandra DiPasqua(646) 638-6005,[email protected] Production Manager Michelle Chizmadia (646) 638-6126,[email protected] of Production and Manufacturing Louise Morrin, (646) 638-6064,[email protected]

ADVERTISING: Advertising Director Emma Halliwell (646) 638-6023, [email protected] Managers Craig Bailey (646) 638-6173, [email protected]; Sammy Patel (646) 638-6171, [email protected] Display Advertising Manager Deborah Hartley (646) 638-6188, [email protected]

Circulation Marketing ManagerSherry Oommen (646) 638-6003,[email protected] Director of Audience Development John Crewe (646) 638-6060,[email protected]

CORPORATE: President/Publishing Director Lisa Kirk (646) 638-6010, [email protected],Chairman/CEO William Pecover (646) 638-6001,[email protected]

SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICE: (845) 268-3156

OPINION

Editorial

Steve O’Brien VP,Click Forensics Inc.

Sid LiebensonEVP and director ofmarketing, Draftfcb


By Lauren Bell: When InformationWeek, a b-to-b maga-zine for IT professionals, launched a redesign in January 2009, the print book was just the first step. To stay relevant to its tech-savvy readers, the brand also boosted efforts to drive readers to the InformationWeek Business Technology Network online and laid plans to launch new digital properties.

“You have to adapt to the changing information needs of the audience,” says InformationWeek publisher John Siefert. “It’s very much associated with, and significant to, a larger strategy of align-ing the content [with] how someone wants to receive it.”

In other words, InformationWeek — along with many of its b-to-b breth-ren, including DMNews – must adapt its audience outreach and engage-ment strategies to meet new audience demands. Additional factors pushing these trade publications to change include the explosion of new technolo-gies, the economic situation and the globalization of the business world.

“The challenges for b-to-b publishing right now are the economy and bud-gets,” points out Robert DeMarzo, SVP and editorial director for the Every-thing Channel, which publishes CRN, VARBusiness and other print and Web properties. “Marketers and advertisers are under incredible pressure to deliver ROI to their bosses. It’s a challenge you can only overcome if you have a diversified business model.”

This model includes print magazines — which are seen as valuable sources of in-depth reporting — and Web sites, social networking sites, data and ana-lytics business arms and events. These multiple platforms not only make a media brand more appealing to the advertisers that are its bread and butter, they also help audiences find and inter-act with brands on their own terms.

In fact, in many ways, media compa-nies are becoming technology compa-nies, says Paul Miller, CEO of United Business Media’s TechInsights. “They will use technology to get more targeted and get more control of the Web site, and then they will bring in all of that useful information to other network and community tools,” he explains.

Following this trend, InformationWeek offers the printed magazine, a news site, blogs, a research site called Infor-mationWeek Reports, an analyst site called InformationWeek Analytics and many other properties, all creating a giant information Web that stands a much better chance of snaring the right reader than a single magazine. The brand has also created a wiki-style page called Global CIO Thinktank, which is a private community site that invites readers to communicate and engage with each other and the brand.

The Hollywood Reporter (THR), a trade magazine for the film industry, redesigned in 2007 and has followed a similar strategy. “We leverage the digital platforms as best we can,” says THR publisher Eric Mika. “We realized there’s an audience who loves print, but there’s also a fast-growing, hardcore audience that gets all its news online. We’ve launched digital platforms for some very specific needs, and those drive more people back to the publi-cation online or in print and creates greater brand awareness.”

Among THR’s digital platforms are several Web sites and a capability called THR Reviews, where readers can respond to THR’s reviewers and write their own reviews.

THR is also leveraging some of the basic advantages enjoyed by most b-to-b marketers, including a well-defined and finite audience. For instance, it bucked the consumer magazine trend and grew its circulation in 2008 by sending quali-

InformationWeek’s database, for exam-ple, has 100,000 qualified profession-als on hold to receive the magazine, but insists on maintaining its current 440,000 circulation.

“We could flip a switch and increase the circulation, but my perspective is to make sure I have the best 440,000 read-ers at any given time,” Siefert says.

And, if these business publishers keep evolving, providing specific, rel-evant content to readers where and when they want it, using their databases wisely, and leveraging new tech tools like whitelabel social networks, they should be able to keep their elite readers through the best and worst times.

“The edge is that we have spent years and millions upon millions of dollars cultivating that specialized and par-ticular customer that your advertiser wants,” DeMarzo says. “I can’t imagine that that business will go away, because there has always been a need to reach that very specialized audience with tech-nological or strategic information about their business that they will not get from business-to-consumer media.” l

InformationWeek, The Hollywood Reporter and EverythingChannel’s CRN are just three b-to-b titles work-ing to offer their specialized audi-ences a variety of branded products and content

Feature

fied copies to industry guild members. These influencers need the magazine’s content to make informed decisions dur-ing awards season, and once the free run of awards season is over, the magazine’s audience development team e-mails, calls and mails guild members seeking con-versions to paid subscriptions.

With such a specialized audience, THR depends on an extensive cus-tomer database. Not only does the database get the magazine and other branded content to the right people at the right time, it also helps segment that information, so readers get only what is most relevant. “I think that the most important aspect of audience marketing is to develop an extraordinary database that can be sliced and diced,” says Mika. “Eventually, our readers could even customize the news and information they want to receive.”

Miller agrees, adding that many b-to-b publishers, including TechInsights, use extra content such as newsletters and whitepapers to get more people to opt in to their databases. “The more you know about the audience, the more successful you are going to be,” he says.

Once a b-to-b publisher has its data-base in order, it must go through the lengthy process of qualifying and seg-menting its leads. With a finite universe of potential readers, and a limited quali-fied circulation, each publisher wants to make sure its magazine is only going to the top decision-makers in the field.

“You have to adapt to the changing information needs of the audience.

John Siefert, publisher, InformationWeek

www.dmnews.com | January 26, 2009 | DMNEWS | 7

Building b-to-b brands Publishers of business-to-business magazines and

Web sites say brand diversification will help them beat the economic downturn and budget squeeze

Peter Black, SVP of business devel-opment at the BPA, which audits about 1,800 b-to-b publications, discusses trends in the space:

It’s all about the audience. “Publishers talk largely about audience, not just circulation, because they have so many addi-tional media platforms,” he says. More digital editions in the mix. Whether it’s a PDF or a replica, more publications are adding digital editions. “About 300 b-to-b titles show some digital circ,” he says.

Quality over quantity. Publish-ers are highlighting the quality of the audience. “They want to make sure they get in the hands of key individuals,” he explains. Growth of site license use. A company might accept one elec-tronic publication and put it on their server for 1,000 people to access. “It’s a way for publishers to grow overall distribution,” he explains. The auditing challenge? “You can only track the one copy — once it’s on a server behind a firewall, that’s the end of the trail,” he says.

The top trends in b-to-b media

By Nathan Golia: Financial services companies entered 2009 in an extremely vulnerable position. The Wall Street crisis soured consumers’ moods on the sector at the same time that it made the firms’ jobs themselves very difficult, due to the credit crunch and cash flow issues that followed the meltdown. However, life insurance marketers remain confident that they can weather the storm that threatens to swallow other financial services firms, by highlighting their value proposition and engaging consumers in a dialog.“The recession is having an impact on households’

financial disposable income and how much they can spend on life insurance while, at the same time, it’s affecting where they’re investing their funds and spending their money,” says Leif Roll, assistant VP of marketing at State Farm Insurance. “But, there are definitely households and individuals out there who want and need life insurance. That [need-based] message is what we want to communicate.”Rather than emphasizing return on investment, like

many other financial marketers, life insurance posi-tioning differs because of the nature of the product, says Jon Dressner, SVP of the LIFE Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to educate con-sumers on the benefits of buying life insurance.

“There’s not a lot of things you do expecting noth-ing in return, but life insurance is like that,” he explains. “You buy a policy, but you will never see any [money]. The main reason to buy a life insur-ance policy is so loved ones will have security.”For companies with a record of security, combin-

ing a message of conservatism and safety with the need-based, emotional message of protection of loved ones can be effective in this environment.“When there’s economic uncertainty, it’s actually a

good time for insurance sales because people are look-ing at safety and security issues,” Dressner adds.This message is business as usual for Farm Family,

a Glenmont, NY-based insurer with many rural and suburban customers.“We’ve always been a fairly conservative com-

pany and we pride ourselves on that ethic — we’ve always made it a part of our brand positioning,” says Rosemary Shader, senior manager of marketing at the company. “[We push] our agents’ background, their years of experience and understanding and their true commitment to ethical practices.”

Agents are a huge part of life insurance market-ing. Getting customers to have face-to-face conver-sations with agents is key, say experts. “We’re very interested in understanding, based

on conversations with agents and customers, what their needs are, how they want to be communicated with and what they need to sell the product,” says Roll. “We’re always trying to keep our finger on the pulse of the marketplace.”Though the Internet has empowered consumers

to strike out on their own and research products, companies stand by their belief in the ability of their agents to find the best plan for them.

Trust is the best policy

Top trendsLife insurance marketers remain confident they can survive, even with a credit crunch and low customer confidence

Marketers work to combine a con-servative message of safety with an emotional message of protection

Agents are a key part of building relationships, which are essential for today’s life insurance market-ers to connect with customers

Targeting mailings and follow-ups around policy renewal helps mar-keters stay in touch with customers

CAMPAIGNSA wary public means life insurance marketers must focus on building customer relationships to spread their need-based message

The Farm Family group of insurance companies wanted to help its agents take advantage of Life Insurance Awareness Month in September 2008. Two postcards were mailed: One went to field agents letting them know of the corporate services the Glenmont, NY-based insurer offered to help them leverage the industry-wide push; and another was personalized with agents’ names and contact num-bers and sent to casualty insurance policyholders associated with that agent during the September campaign. The goals were to build awareness of Farm Family’s multiple-line insurance offerings and drive prospects to contact their agent.

The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) built a campaign revolv-ing around the theme of love tied to Valentine’s Day 2009. Called “Insure your love,” the campaign aimed to evoke an emotional reaction in people so that they would consider life insurance a need that helps them protect their loved ones. Print ads appeared in People, Star and Us Weekly promoting a microsite at Insureyourlove.org. On the site, people could enter the “Selfless love” contest, to share their stories of selfless acts of love they’ve committed or received throughout their lives. The contest was promoted in the Star ads, as well as on mom blogs and contest aggregation sites. Content partners include Google, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.com.

INSURANCE

www.dmnews.com | February 16, 2009 | DMNEWS | 7

“ When there’s economic uncertainty, it’s actually a good time for insurance sales because people are looking at safety and security issues.

Jon Dressner, SVP, LIFE Foundation

“If customers want to go on the Internet to see what our products are about, that is certainly available. We know there is a large section of the population interested in that,” Roll says. “But when it comes down to the individual needs of the customer, we feel our agents are best suited to [meet them].”For Accuquote, a life insurance brokerage that

allows consumers to compare life insurance rates from many individual firms, the Internet is crucial to driving curious customers to talk to a broker about their specific insurance needs and to explain any questions they have. Because life insurance isn’t a self-directed product, like an MP3 player or other consumer product, customers must be comfortable speaking with an agent to move down the sales funnel, says Sean Cheyney, the company’s VP of marketing and business development.

To make sure it keeps the dialog with customers strong, Accuquote’s stable of customer relationship tools is quite large, and includes a corporate blog on its Web site and an established e-mail program. “We’re not making an actual sale online, we’re gen-

erating a lead, so follow-up is a natural progression of what we’re doing.” Cheyney adds. “Finding ways to have a better dialog with your customer — whether

it’s e-mail, a social network, blogging, podcasting or video blogs — should be looked at holistically and not in these silos where one group does e-mail and one does a Facebook page.”

These relationships lead to a number of oppor-tunities for insurance marketers. If companies have a pre-existing relationship for auto, home or casualty insurance with a prospect, they can use the information on that customer to send them a life insurance push when they might be open to it.“We’re doing more targeted mailings and follow-

up mailings around policy renewal,” Shader says. “Our primary goal is to remind the policyholder that we are a full-service insurance agency.”This is an ideal situation for a strong direct mail

program, Shader adds, due to both its cost-effective nature and modern advances in customization and targeting for the channel.“We certainly recognize that direct mail can get

us in front of the right people at the right time with more frequency,” she says. “We certainly want to get personal and let people know who their agent is, including the agents’ pictures and phone numbers. Then, we can reinforce that with other media to really build our brand.”For life insurance marketers, this economy offers

just as much of an opportunity as it does a chal-lenge, Cheyney says. The shock of the recession, he believes, can help marketers develop even more effective programs for the future as well as the present.“I hope the economy forces companies to learn

how to build that better mousetrap and bust through silos,” he says. “Whatever way people want to get the information, that’s the way we want to com-municate with them.” l

Color your campaigns to boost results

Brent TartarSVP sales & marketing, WA Wilde Co. Luke Teboul

VP, sales & product development, IWCO Direct

Eric Cosway EVP & CMO of QuantumDigital

Alin JacobsPresident, Direct Marketing Alliance

THE TAKEAWAYUsing data to personalize the content and color of a mailing drives results


THE TAKEAWAYColor can effectively increase brand recognition and call out important information

THE TAKEAWAYMarketers should be adventurous with color if they want to stand out

Whatever shade you choose, adding hues to your direct mail campaigns can work wonders. However, experts emphasize that you must address a variety of issues before making your colorful decisions

: With steady improvements in quality, color digital print is enjoying wider acceptance and adoption than ever before.

With wider adoption, however, comes more competition — which is why it’s critical to focus on driving results, both through timeliness and, more critically, relevance when developing a campaign around color digital print. If your approach is not relevant and fails to provide a response mechanism, the best print quality will not generate your desired response.

Many marketers fall into the trap of sim-ply converting a “conventionally” produced piece and moving it to a color digital press, without taking advantage of the flexibility that the format affords them to add cus-tomization to their effort.

Color digital print should improve response rates compared to an equivalent piece without color. Consequently, you should focus on ROI rather than cost per piece, and try to gain an understanding of final campaign results.

That being said, cost discussions are sometimes unavoidable, so make the most of the maximum sheet size and carefully consider the substrate and grain direction, all with the goal of planning the piece for efficient finishing. Being aware of some subtle technical decisions can really improve the print quality of your piece.

Production costs and turnaround time will be impacted by an inefficient workflow with too many touchpoints. Using Web-to-print tools can help manage campaigns and remove valuable hours or days from the cycle time.

Front end workflows can help avoid costly color corrections and streamline the proof-ing process. Don’t dismiss an RGB work-flow over the usual CMYK approach; RGB can provide richer colors and improved photographic reproduction. Understand the implications of image compression and resolution, when handling files — subtle changes can make a big difference to final print quality.

Advances in color digital presses can give truly sparkling results, but be careful to design your piece around certain limitations. For example, large areas of some colors can result in banding and inconsistency. l

: A variety of studies suggest that using full color for direct marketing materials can increase response rates by a notable percent-age. However, regardless of printing method or physical attributes of a mailer, there are several things marketers can do to optimize the effectiveness of their campaign and elicit customer response. Consider the following ways to improve overall results of a direct mail campaign.

Personalized direct mail is powerful. Whenever possible, include information that is unique to each recipient such as name, mention of past transactions, or coupons tailored to their interests and needs.

This can be affordably accomplished through variable data printing technology. To further spark a recipient’s attention, color or bold black ink may be used to distin-guish unique information from the rest of the mailer’s body copy.

Use clean, simple design and copy that focuses on the main idea represented on the mailer. Make an impact with a strong headline and be explicit in identifying the next step or call to action for the recipient. Don’t forget to place branding and your company’s contact information in a highly visible space on the piece.

And, whenever possible, try to use color for branding elements. According to a recent study by the Color Marketing Group, a firm researching how color affects market-ing, color can increase brand recognition by up to 80%.

It’s also good to include a compelling, actionable promotional offer — such as a cou-pon, whitepaper download or free service consultation — on direct mailers. A recent survey conducted by Prospectiv confirms that nearly 40% of consumers prefer direct mail for coupon delivery.

Additionally, consumers are more likely to provide personal information in return for a relevant promotional offer. To guide the recipient’s eye and attention to the offer, use color or a bolded black font to call out the promotion or coupon.

Whatever the printing method, following the tips above will lead marketers toward direct mail success. l

: Countless studies have proven that there is good reason to spend the extra dollars on color when developing and printing market-ing materials, as the color pieces will produce a greater ROI when compared to black and white materials.

Why is this, though? It’s because people are attracted to color and, when properly used, color can make your marketing efforts stand out from the crowd.

However, simply using color isn’t enough. You need to innovate with color use to stand out from competitive offers and a recipient’s other mail.

As Seth Godin points out in his book Purple Cow:

“Brown cows, after you’ve seen them for a while, are boring. They may be perfect cows, attractive cows, cows with great personali-ties, cows lit by beautiful light, but they’re still boring. A Purple Cow, though. Now that would be interesting. (For a while.) The essence of the Purple Cow is that it must be remarkable.”

Godin is spot on, and this is exactly what we need to do in our marketing efforts: Be

remarkable. And, color has everything to do with this.

For example, in creating marketing piec-es for the furniture industry, Direct Mail Express found that showcasing the sofas that sold in the greatest numbers was not the best idea. As expected, most consumers purchase beige sofas, but that was not what attracted them to shop.

Instead, consumers are attracted to bright color. When we showcased red sofas in the marketing pieces for a furniture chain, peo-ple would visit the stores, find the red sofa and then ask, “Do you have this in beige?” Putting a beige sofa in the marketing piece only created yawns and turning pages.

My point is simple: Take risks with color. Stand out from the crowd. Use patterns and a palette that is exciting, unique and speaks directly to your consumer. Know that people are attracted to fantasy, not reality. Give them that fantasy, and you are sure to attract them. l

: The growing adoption of personalized communications by marketers continues to drive improved return on investment and allows for improved brand building in customer relationships.

However, the question we still hear com-monly from marketers is: “When should I use full color — or just some color — vs. just using black and white in my direct mail campaigns?” The typical answer is: “It depends.”

Many issues need to be taken into con-sideration when deciding upon color for your next direct mail campaign. For example, consider program volumes, paper stock, mail piece design, bindery needs, use of personal-ization and other issues. What we ultimately focus on is the question, “Will color content drive improved results?”

This cost-effective level of measurement can only be attained through proper test-ing against a control. Our testing shows that color does have a significant impact on response rates when used properly.

The real secret, however, is not just the introduction of color, but using color that is data driven. Many studies show that market-ers gain the best results by using not only personalization of content, but also of color, when it’s driven by program automated busi-ness rules.

This could mean using spot color on a chart or graph to provide added visibility, or a palette change to reflect the target audi-ence, or modifying creative to reflect colors that match to a particular gender or target audience based on data modeling.

Using the technologies in the marketplace today, marketers have many cost effective solutions available to them. Proper testing and essential ROI analysis will ultimately drive what is best for your programs.

I firmly believe that the use of color increases results. Our goal is to introduce marketers to the concept and start embracing the use of data to drive personalized color within a digital print mail campaign.

Color usage driven by the value in the consumer data that you have collected really works. Give it a test. l

TECHNIQUE

THE TAKEAWAYMany marketers aren’t taking full advantage of the benefits of color digital print

Get senior editor Chantal Todé’s latest thoughts on recent work from Mindfire and Draftfcb at caples.org/creative- communityca

ples.org

: I really love Pepsi’s 1 Dear Mr. President campaign. The creative is simple, clean and built to contain the core func-tions of the campaign. The technical aspects of the work are also something to be applauded. I even like how the notion of ‘refresh’ has been applied to how we think about banner ads. This campaign knows exactly what it wants consumers to do and delivers on that ambition clearly and concisely. From concept to design and execution, this work presents itself as well as the man that is on the receiv-ing end.Not to be a cynic or anything, but I’m really over the whole brand of “viral” work exempli-fied by Purina’s 2 critter carols. We saw it done well with “Elf Yourself” and then ripped off a thousand times. Also, Oddcast’s technology is cool, but its appli-cation here is forced and just another example of a good idea being re-appropriated until it dies a slow, sad death. And, the creative is uninspired and predictable, too. Please stop.I hate being negative about a campaign that is clearly work-ing to make the world a better place, but there’s no personality in the S.E.VEN Fund 3 creative. For something with such an applaudable cause, the use of staid stock photography and neutral palette leads this work to become dull and uninspired. The sentiment of the campaign is lost in the lackluster visual language of the site. Where are the photos of the hearts and minds behind the cause? This campaign needs a human ele-ment that is clearly missing.

: Pepsi wanted a way to keep its product front of mind for consumers during the recession, and thought that initiatives that encourage consumers to inter-act with the brand would help. It also wanted to expand its Refresh national branding effort.

Working with R/GA and Eye-blaster, Pepsi launched “Dear Mr. President” in January, as the country was about to swear in President Barack Obama.

Banner ads ran on Yahoo Music, YouTube and the Google Content Network, prompting users to create video messages for Obama that could be directly

uploaded via the banner and added to Pepsi’s YouTube chan-nel. Users also could send text messages from Refresheverything.com or YouTube.

“We wanted to let people interact with the brand no matter where they were online,” says Dean Donaldson, digital experi-ence strategist at Eyeblaster.

In 15 days, more than 700 user-generated videos were submit-ted, 14% of which came directly from the banners. The videos got more than 3.5 million views across Refresheverything.com, YouTube and other sites. The banners also generated 103,000 mobile texts.

-Mary Hurn

The WorkPRIVATE VIEW

PepsiSituation Approach

: Purina worked with Oddcast and its internal agency Check-mark to create a “critter carols” feature on Petcentric.com, Puri-na’s pet community site. During the holidays, users could choose a holiday song for an avatar of their dog or cat to bark or meow while accompanied by dancing background singers, all of which would appear in an e-mail.

ApproachPurina

Over the course of 35 days, 63% of users began a session after receiving an e-mail message. The site saw 532,000 user sessions, 58% of which were unique.

-Bryan Yurcan

: As a global, Web-based non-profit fostering enterprise-based solutions for poverty, S.E.VEN Fund needed a strong Web pres-ence. Agency Fresh Tilled Soil revamped the site to optimize it for search in November 2007 and still is updating SEO terms, create promotional microsites and update functionality to improve the site’s visibility.

ApproachS.E.VEN Fund

In summer 2008, S.E.VEN’s Google search rankings for key-words began to move from the second or third results page to the first or second result, and has remained there since.

-Jonathan Mack

Michael VenturaCreative director, Seed Gives Life

Showcasing creative solutions

Results

Results

Results

www.dmnews.com | January 12, 2009 | DMNEWS | 8


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NEW LISTSHigh Tech Savvy and High Income HouseholdsWalter KarlDescription: This file contains households who enjoy staying current with their tech-nology. These households earn more than $150,000 on average.Selects: 7,683,244 universeContact: Your list broker or Walter Karl, 2 Blue Hill Plaza, Pearl River, NY 10965 Phone: 845/732-7061Fax: 845/620-1885E-mail: jackie.renwick@ walterkarl.infousa.com

MP3MusicHQ.com Credit Card BuyersTrue North List MarketingDescription: This file contains people who have subscribed to MP3MusicHQ. com, a Web site from which they can down-load music, video and e-books. This list is 50% female.Selects: 501,931 universeContact: Your list broker or True North List Marketing, 755 Main St., Monroe, CT 06468Phone: 203/459-4348Fax: 203/459-4350E-mail: [email protected]

College-Bound CatholicsTrinity DirectDescription: This file contains Catholics who are on their way to college or university. These students are generally age 16 to 18, and their families earn $75,000 annually. Selects: 107,022 universeContact: Your list broker or Trinity Direct, 10 Park Place, Butler, NJ 07405 Phone: 973/283-3600Fax: 973/283-3606E-mail: [email protected]

Golfsmith – Tennis Buyers ALCDescription: This file contains people who have bought products from the Golf-smith – Tennis catalog, which offers tennis products to customers. These prospects earn an average of $90,000, have an aver-age age of 52 and have spent an average of $125. This list is 56% male.Selects: 31,726 universeContact: Your list broker orALC, 660 White Plains Road, Tarrytown, NY 10591Phone: 914/524-5248Fax: 914/524-5290E-mail: [email protected]

The Japan WoodworkerNames and AddressesDescription: This file contains people who have purchased woodworking tools and products through the Japan Woodworker catalog. These craftsmen and hobbyists have an average age of 50 and have spent an average of $90 on products from the Japan Woodworker catalog. Selects: 10,148 12-month buyersContact: Your list broker or Names and Addresses, 195 N. Arlington Heights Road, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089Phone: 847/465-1500Fax: 847/465-1521E-mail: [email protected]

Feeney for Congress 2008Robertson Mailing List CompanyDescription: This file contains people who donated to Tom Feeney during his 2008 campaign for Florida’s 24th Congressional District. The individuals on this list are conservatives and have donated as much as $210.Selects: 2,777 universe listContact: Your list broker or Robertson Mailing List Company, 44084 Riverside Parkway, Leesburg, VA 20176Phone: 571/209-6321Fax: 703/726-9882 E-mail: [email protected]

Bartender Magazine RecipientsGreatLists.comDescription: This file contains people who receive Bartender magazine. These include owners and staff of full-service drinking establishments in hotels, motels, restau-rants, taverns, bars and lounges.Selects: 126,142 universeContact: Your list broker or GreatLists.com 21351 Gentry Drive, Dulles, VA 20166Phone: 703/821-8130Fax: 703/821-8243E-mail: [email protected]

American Astro KarmaImpulse MediaDescription: This file contains people who have bought a guide to astrology which costs $19.95. This list is 50% male.Selects: 7,500 universeContact: Your list broker or Impulse Media, 248 Main Street, Danbury, CT 06810Phone: 203/207-0227Fax: 203/207-0347E-mail: [email protected]

KoolKids Vitamins The Catamount GroupDescription: This file contains parents who buy their children daily vitamins at a cost of $19.95 for a 30-day supply. This list is 56% female. Selects: 670,332 universeContact: Your list broker or The Catamount Group, 18 Elizabeth St., Bethel, CT 06801Phone: 203/778-4110Fax: 203/778-4130E-mail: [email protected]

Money Edge Opportunity Club BuyersList Services Corp.Description: This file contains people who have bought tapes and books to educate themselves on how to open their own home business. These prospective entrepreneurs have an average age of 50, earn an average of $50,000 and have spent an average of $16.95. This list is 50% male. Selects: 58,000 12-month membersContact: Your list broker or List Services Corp., 6 Trowbridge Drive, PO Box 516, Bethel, CT 06801Phone: 203/791-4450Fax: 203/778-4299E-mail: [email protected]

Canon Communications Tradeshow Attendees MasterfileStatlisticsDescription: This file contains people who have attended one or more tradeshows put on by Canon Communications. Selects: 441,339 universeContact: Your list broker or Statlistics, 69 Kenosia Ave., Danbury, CT 06810Phone: 203/778-8700Fax: 203/778-4839E-mail: [email protected]

Catalogue Card Credit ApplicantsInteractive Marketing SolutionsDescription: This file contains people who are looking to get a credit card and estab-lish additional lines of credit.Selects: 378,514 universeContact: Your list broker or Interactive Marketing Solutions, 233 W. Route 59, Nanuet, NY 10954Phone: 845/624-1155Fax: 845/624-4890E-mail: [email protected]

Licensed Business Professionals Masterfile At Home AddressesEstee Marketing GroupDescription: This file contains business professionals at their home. This list is 50% female.Selects: 13,778,304 universeContact: Your list broker or Estee Market-ing Group, 270 North Ave., New Rochelle, NY 10801Phone: 914/235-7080Fax: 914/235-6518E-mail: [email protected]

Music Enthusiasts from Listopedia ConsortiumMarketing Advisory Group Inc.Description: This file contains people who enjoy listening to music. It is 50% female.Selects: 4,062,055 universeContact: Your list broker or Marketing Advisory Group Inc., 120 Broadway, Amityville, NY 11701Phone: 631/264-3802Fax: 631/264-3806E-mail: [email protected]

RecipeRewards.comAdrea Rubin ManagementDescription: This file contains people who have subscribed to RecipeRewards.com, a Web site on which they can search a wide array of recipes. This list is 80% female.

Selects: 925,975 universeContact: Your list broker or Adrea Rubin Management, 441 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10017Phone: 212/983-0100Fax: 212/983-0107E-mail: [email protected]

America’s Business Financial Group VThe Services GroupDescription: This file contains business professionals. These professionals earn $75,000 annually. This list is 74% male.Selects: 265,020 universeContact: Your local list broker or The Services Group 430 Eisenhower Lane, Lom-bard, IL 60148Phone: 630/599-5008Fax: 630/495-5578E-mail: [email protected]

NEW MANAGEMENTAstrology Fanatics UKImpulse MediaDescription: This file contains members of the Astrology Fanatics club, which is devot-ed to information, products and services regarding astrology. This list is 75% female, and its prospects have paid a $39.95 mem-bership fee.Selects: 221,083 universeContact: Your list broker or Impulse Media, 248 Main Street, Danbury, CT 06810Phone: 203/207-0227Fax: 203/207-0347E-mail: [email protected]

ZoobooksBelardi/OstroyDescription: This file contains people who have subscribed to Zoobooks, a book that highlights different animals and is geared toward children. The subscribers on this list have spent an average of $23.95 for Zoo-books and earn an average $65,000. This list is 38% female.Selects: 265,426 universeContact: Your list broker or Belardi/Ostroy, 16 W. 22nd St., New York, NY 10010Phone: 212/381-1741Fax: 212/364-1649E-mail: [email protected]

NEW SELECTSChristian Churches and Religious OrganizationsPratt Direct Inc.Description: This file contains contacts at Christian churches and religious organiza-tions who are interested in receiving prod-ucts and information that will better their organizations and help them grow. Selects: 361,200 universe, company size, county, denomination, job title select, monthly hotline, phone number, presence of e-mail, presence of Web site, geographyContact: Your list broker or Pratt Direct Inc., 10600 W Higgins Road, Rosemont, IL 60018Phone: 847/299-6180Fax: 847/299-6280E-mail: [email protected]


LISTS AND DATABASESFor Publication: All list and insert information sent to DMNews for publication should be e-mailed, preferably in a Word attachment, to [email protected]. 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.

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Getting your coupons to stand out in a crowded space, landing page optimization and more

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She reminds marketers that “effective direct market-ing is all about reaching out to a known population and making sure consumers have a desire to receive your coupon. This can mean less frequent distribution or obtaining a consumer’s consent more than once. A customer is far more likely to act on a coupon and buy a product if a brand respectfully engages them.”

DIRECT MAILIn an economic downturn, how can using promo-tional products in a direct mail campaign be an effective way to apply a limited budget?“When paired with appropriate promotional products, direct mail campaigns can be highly targeted to a specific audience,” says Sherri Lennarson, master advertising specialist and chairman of the board at the Promotional Products Association International. “Promotional prod-ucts bring life to mailings by enhancing the brand and providing a tangible connection with the five senses.”

According to a survey conducted by LJ Market Research, more than 76% of respondents could recall the marketer’s name on the promotional product they received in the last 12 months, she adds. “When you consider the cost per impression, combining promo-tional product advertising with direct mail is powerful, especially when budgets are tight,” she says.

SEARCHHow can I best optimize my landing page for search?“Google rewards relevant landing pages with better placement and lower cost per click, so adding keywords can increase your volume while lowering costs,” suggests Mike Jacobs, chief services officer of iMarketing LTD. “Consumers have already told you what they’re looking for, so it’s important to show that you are listening. Ad-ditionally, key product information and an action button, should be in clear view. Eliminate navigation and menu bars if possible — they distract consumers, and can keep them away from the actions that will generate sales.

It’s good to keep it simple, he adds. “Only provide choices where appropriate,” he says. “Don’t ask users to repeat choices they may already have made in searching.”

DEMOGRAPHIC TARGETINGHow can I tap into the buying power of the female consumer in the current economy?“In the US, women make more than 85% of household purchase decisions and control $3.3 trillion in buying power,” says Kelley Skoloda, a partner at Ketchum. “But over the next 10 years, the way women shop will change dramatically.”

A marketer must consider three key areas to reach women. First, quickly connect with simple messages. Engage with those that influence women, online and off, because women seek credible opinions from friends, media and experts before purchasing. Finally, remem-bers that women treat online resources as an extension of their friends and family, so engage women online through search engines and via sites where they already gather. “It’s all about engaging the female consumer in a long-term, holistic relationship,” Skoloda says. l


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: ShopNBC has promoted Keith Stewart (1) to CEO. He had served as COO of the company.

: AOL has appointed Greg Coleman (2) president of AOL Platform-A. Most recently, Coleman was president and CEO of NetSeer.

: Greater Than One has hired Joe Barone as director of media. He had managed digital and direct media at Ogilvy & Mather. : Meredith Corporation has appointed Cathy Christino associate publisher/marketing. Most recently, Christino served in the same position at Home magazine.

: OgilvyAction has named Gareth Ellen director of the North American digital activation team. Prior to moving to OglivyAction, Ellen developed digi-tal programs at OgilvyInteractive.

: Campbell-Ewald has promoted Anne Feighan (3) to EVP. Before joining Campbell-Ewald in 2005, Feighan served as marketing manager at Church and Dwight Co.

: Publicis Groupe has named Isabelle Simon (4) SVP. She will oversee the mergers, acquisitions and legal departments. She had been an executive director in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs.

:Vertis Communications has promoted David Glogoff to chief legal officer. He had been VP and deputy general counsel.

: Mojivahas named Julie Preis VP of product marketing and Tim Cronin VP of business development.

: BroadSign International has promoted Brian Dusho to president from chief strategy officer.

PEOPLENEWS

Keith Stewart (1) Greg Coleman (2) Anne Feighan (3) Isabelle Simon (4)

Karen TripiInteractive and direct marketing recruiter, Karen Tripi Associates

With jobless ranks rising thanks to the recession, how can candidates rise above the clutter?

ExPErTADVICE

: The best thing to do is not get into the clutter in the first place. Right now, the first thing people do when they are looking for a job is they get on the Inter-net. Candidates think that job-hunting is spending hours and hours in front of the computer. Turn off the computer, get outside and start face-to-face interaction with people.

Simple networking can be very effec-tive. People can get daunted by the word networking, but it’s all about just getting out and doing what you normally do. Talk to people. The most important thing you can do is face-to-face in any circumstance.

Continue to interact with any associa-tion or networking groups you belong to and use the Internet to find other groups. Volunteer work is a great way to meet people. You never know where your con-nections might lead you.

Meeting someone face-to-face singles you out in a way that a résumé in a clut-

tered environment does not. Job fairs are a good option. At job fairs, you at least have an opportunity to use your personality and powers of persuasion to be remembered.

Right now, every single time you send a résumé over the Internet, you run some risks. One of them is that there is résumé-screening equipment, so if you don’t have the right words in your résumé, a person doesn’t even see it.

It’s no different than a search engine kind of software. You’re taking a shot by placing your résumé online. Maybe it will work. It’s OK, but it doesn’t afford the human connection necessary to exhibit your best qualities.

The Internet provides a long shot. The bigger the job boards get, the harder it gets for people to find jobs. The boards attract everybody, and résumés start to be judged on whether or not they have the right or wrong words, which is not the right way to assess talent. l

Adria Kyne, Senior Client Manager, Idearc Search Marketing

▲

talking both to them and about them, said Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communications for the airline.

“We became much more conversational and tried to engage the community not so much as a billboard [but] as an information booth,” Johnston said. “We were looking for a way to be more transparent.”

The service also has provided companies with real-time market and brand perception research. Marketers can use search.twitter.com to find anything from their company name, to competitors, to generic category terms, in order to find people who are Tweeting not only about their brand, but about their vertical.

Many of the people with which JetBlue interacts — in the maximum 140 characters at a time — often are not even soliciting a response from the airline, but simply airing a grievance, Johnston said.

“If someone’s sitting in Oakland and says [on Twitter] that they’re trying to check in, but there are no counter agents, we can look into that and respond to them directly,” Johnston said. “There’s a lot of utility in being able to talk to [customers] when they’re having the experience.”

David Berkowitz, director of emerg-ing media and client strategy at 360i, has worked on several Twitter initiatives with companies such as H&R Block and the National Geographic Channel.

Berkowitz stressed the importance of these two-way conversations, but said that there needs to be a concrete strategy in place before brands dive into the Twitter pool.

“If a brand starts building a following and gets noticed in the community and gradually starts giving offers to those in the Twitter community, then the effect can be very viral,” he said.

“You can’t just expect to post coupons on Twitter and expect everyone to click and suddenly get this huge sales drive,” Berkowitz continued. “Twitter can really put brands on the front lines with their custom-ers, maybe in a way that’s more personal than they’ve ever used before.”

Comm agrees. “Companies, whether large or small, are all about relationships, interacting with the customer and listening to what they have to say,” he said.

“It’s like the old saying: ‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’ People who use Twitter as only a broadcast system are missing out on 95% of its benefits,” Comm said.

“It’s about staying top of mind,” he contin-ued. “If a brand was to run an ad campaign and it only reached 1,000 people, it wouldn’t be doing so well, but a brand can do very well with 1,000 followers on Twitter because of who they are and how conversions can reverberate within the community and out-side the community.”

Because of the personal nature of Twitter feeds, consumers may feel like they’re talk-ing to a person instead of a building, which, Berkowitz said, can build loyalty. l


DIRECTCHOICE

Brands and marketers use Twitter to converse with their customers

Mail volume may drop after hike: DMA’s Cerasale

Contact File

: “Viral” is a daunting word for digital marketers. Agreeing to produce a viral campaign is easy to promise and hard to deliver. Numerous brands have executed successful viral campaigns, but there is little rhyme or reason about which videos gain popularity and those that fall flat. Unexpectedness and offering a unique perspective are two commonalities that drive a massive following, but those traits are too vague to be useful at the draw-ing board. Here is a video that I think

captures users’ attention and promotes a brand without coming across as a blatant advertisement.

Nike has its choice of all-star athletes to appear in their marketing executions. Here, they opt for a popular actress from the CW’s television show Gossip Girl. Star Taylor Momsen is featured escaping from an onslaught of paparazzi by jumping over cars and leaping over photogra-phers, but before all of this, the camera deliberately shows viewers her new Nike shoes and athletic apparel.

This subtle advertisement is notewor-thy for two main reasons: It targets a new demographic group for Nike (teenage females) and piggybacks onto an earlier viral video. Its predecessor ran last year and shows Kobe Bryant donning Nike gear and jumping over a speeding Aston Martin. The video has been watched by millions of YouTube viewers and spurred a number of spoofs.

This new video is far more subtle and just as effective at resonating with its

Nike shows savvy with viral video ad featuring ‘Gossip Girl’ star Momsen

target audience. When this video came across my desk, I watched it twice to decipher whether this is in fact a guerilla Nike advertisement or just a fortunate coincidence. Apparently, I am not the only one because many of the video’s viewers are debating the legitimacy of the advertisement. The ambiguous nature of the commercial helps contribute to its popularity. It literally forces viewers to watch it multiple times and forward it on to their peers for a second opinion—the heart and soul of a viral execution.

The context of the video is also effective. The young, female demographic are the main consumers of celebrity news, so by creating a covert advertisement in this situ-ation, Nike is able to attract viewers’ atten-tion before they are aware of its underlying marketing message. In short, targeted users would watch the video regardless of the actress’ outfit and shoe choice.

Send your Direct Choice to [email protected]

Andreas RoellCEO, Geary Interactive

: Send news releases to [email protected]: Send feature pitches to [email protected]:Web site www.dmnews.com: Jobs site www.dmnews.com/jobs.php: Subscriptions (800) 558-1703:Advertise (646) 638-6017:Reprints (646) 638-6152

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DMNews is published weekly on Monday (48 times a year), except for the following: July 6, November 30, December 21, and December 28. Publisher: Haymarket Media Inc., 114 West 26th St., New York, NY 10001. Periodicals postage paid at New York and additional points of entry. Reproduction of any part of DMNews or its trademarked or copyrighted supple-ments without express permission of the publisher is prohibited. Postmaster: Send address changes to DMNews, Subscription Department, PO Box 316, Congers, NY 10920-0316

DMNEWS VOLUME 31 NO. 7

salary of officers and executives, suspending post office construction, and reducing staff-ing through attrition and voluntary early retirement by 37,000, Kearney said.

The actual rate increases, which take effect May 11, include an average increase for Standard Mail Flats of 2.3% and an aver-age rate hike for carrier route flats of 4.3%. Standard rate parcels went up an average of 16%, and the cost of a First-Class stamp was raised two cents, to 44 cents.

The standard rate parcel increase will most affect mailers that send items weighing under a pound, such as apparel, or music items such as CD, said Jerry Cerasale, SVP for government affairs for the Direct Mar-keting Association.

Overall, Cerasale said that the DMA and other groups advocated for no rate increase, and he believes the further loss of mail vol-ume due to the increases may cancel out any additional revenue the USPS might see because of it.

“Historically, when [the Postal Service] raises rates, it gets more revenue, but times are changing,” he said. “They may still generate additional revenue, but it may be much less revenue than anticipated.”

The modest increase for Standard Mail Flats, the category affecting most catalogers, was largely seen as a victory for that indus-try. However, Hamilton Davison, president of the American Catalog Mailer’s Associa-tion, said that victory was only minor.

“Our rates did not go down, the rates just increased by less than others did,” he said. “I’m appreciative of the Postal Service real-izing the fundamental issues that catalogers face. On the other hand, this hasn’t solved all the problems we are facing.”

Ideally, Davison said he would have liked to have seen “no increase for a couple of years,” and given the economy and cost of mailing, catalogers will have to continue to invest money in more cost-effective alterna-tive media.

“We’re going to continue to look at non-mail alternatives like e-mail, driving con-sumers to Web sites, and digital catalogs,” he said. “We are in the midst of a full-blown crisis for the mailing industry — however, it is addressable.”

The Congressional Government Account-ability Office (GAO) issued a report in late January with recommendation on how the USPS could reduce costs.

One option would be to reduce the USPS payment for retiree health benefits, which Postmaster General John Potter, in testi-mony before Congress, said could save the agency $2 billion this year. The agency is seeking Congressional approval to allow it to pay its share of retiree health benefits out of the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund instead of its own pocket.

The GAO said another option was “to close unnecessary retail facilities and thereby reduce its large maintenance backlog.”

“USPS’s network of retail facilities has been largely static despite population shifts and changes in mailing behavior,” the GAO explained. “It is important to note that large [urban] retail facilities… generate much larger costs for the retail network than the smallest rural facilities and may therefore potentially generate more cost savings.” l

‘Twitter’ continued from cover

‘USPS’ continued from cover

“There’s a lot of utility in being able to talk to [customers] when they are having the experience.

Morgan Johnston, manager, corporate comms, JetBlue

“We are in the midst of a full-blown crisis for the mailing industry — however, it is addressable.

Hamilton Davison, president, American Catalog Mailer’s Assn.

DMNews Feb 16 issue

Documents

Transcript of DMNews Feb 16 issue