Direct Marketing articles from March 2000

Direct Marketing archives from March 2000

Australia Post, Back To The Roots!
March 1, 2000... As I mentioned last month, I was invited to be part of Australia Post's "Addressing the Future" Conferences in Melbourne and Sydney, February 4 and 8th. It was a first for me, leading the way for each of the days' meetings. To tell you the...

Proposed Postal Rate Increases to Adversely Impact Mailers.
March 1, 2000... Although The U.S. Postal Service's financial data shows the organization in good health, the USPS Board of Governors has filed an omnibus rate case with the Postal Rate Commission. The USPS is requesting an average 6.4 percent increase in...

Concern Over Zero Burden Proposal Addressed at E-Commerce Hearing.
March 1, 2000... Frank Julian, chairman of the Direct Marketing Association's Use Tax Committee, offered testimony before the Advisory Committee on Electronic Commerce in which he expressed concern over several aspects of the Zero Burden Proposal put forth by...

E-MPS Now Offered To Canadian Consumers.
March 1, 2000... Canadian consumers and businesses can now sign up for The Direct Marketing Association's e-Mail Preference Service (e-MPS) to reduce the amount of unsolicited marketing e-mail they receive. Consumers can register for the free service at...

Alec Resolution Calls for Internet Tax Moratorium.
March 1, 2000... The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has approved a model Internet Taxation Resolution that calls for the continuation of the current federal moratorium on state and local taxes on e-commerce. The resolution further requests that...

Veronis Suhler Releases Communications Industry Report.
March 1, 2000... According to the 17th annual Veronis Suhier Communications Industry Report (CIR) strong acquisition activity continued to drive double-digit asset and revenue growth in the communications industry in 1998. Out of the 473 publicly reporting...

PCH Drives Traffic to New Web Site With $21 Million Sweepstakes.
March 1, 2000... Publishers Clearing House, famous for its direct mail multi-million dollar sweepstakes prizes, has launched pch.com, a new company that brings to the Web a $21,000,000 sweepstakes--the largest on the Internet--and a totally new e-commerce...

British Post Office Warns UPU: "Change or Become Out of Date".
March 1, 2000... The British Post Office, the parent of Royal Mail US Inc., has warned that the Universal Postal Union (UPU) needs to move quickly to adapt itself to the rapidly changing global market to avoid becoming irrelevant to the future postal world. The...

eMarketworld Expands @D: Tech Events.
March 1, 2000... eMarketWorld has expanded it's series of @d:tech events to focus on the burgeoning Latin American market with the first ever @d:tech Latin America conference held recently at The Fontainebleau-Hilton, Miami Beach, Florida. Events in Hamburg and...

Shop2u Partners With Prevent Child Abuse America.
March 1, 2000... Shop2u.com has partnererd with Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA), an organization working at the national, state and local levels to prevent child abuse in all its forms. Shop2u.com is a new dimension in catalog shopping online that is...

NFWBO Studies Purchasing Patterns of Business Women.
March 1, 2000... According to a National Foundation for Women Business Owners study, women in the workforce make most of the major purchasing decisions in their households the majority of the time. The study, "Women Business Owners as Consumers," reports that...

Internet Retailing Trends Addressed at NRF Convention.
March 1, 2000... The National Retail Federation's 89th Annual Convention and EXPO continued the examination and exploration of the Internet as a retail sales channel, which, according to Forrester Research, Inc., is expected to generate sales of $20.3 billion...

New Web Site To Make Ellis Island Immigration Data Available Online.
March 1, 2000... The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. announced that Genealogy.com and Discover Card are sponsoring the development of a new Web sited geared to help individuals learn more about their ancestors who immigrated to the U.S. through...

Barnesandnoble.com to Offer Discounts to More Than 85 Million Customers.
March 1, 2000... Internet affinity marketer BATNET1 will conduct barnesandnoble.com's newest online affinity marketing campaign. The ongoing customer retention program includes incentives, discounts, exclusive member-only benefits and timely deals along with...

Winterberry Group LLC and ERA Join to Launch ECOOL.
March 1, 2000... Winterberry Group LLC and The Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) have formed a strategic partnership to launch ECOOL (Electronic Commerce Online Info Link), an Internet accessible online information database that will provide members with a...

Spiegel Reports December Sales.
March 1, 2000... The Spiegel Group reported sales of $520.6 million for the five weeks ended January 1, 2000, a 14 percent increase from sales of $457.5 million for the five weeks ended January 2, 1999. The company also reported that comparable-store sales...

About.com and Mypoints.com Announce Strategic Alliance.
March 1, 2000... About.com (www.about.com) and MyPoints.com (www.mypoints.com) have announced a strategic alliance to develop a highly targeted user reward program to increase membership, site traffic and time spent within the About.com network. Under the...

Global Ad Expenditures Still Accelerating.
March 1, 2000... According to Zenith Media's New Global Advertising Expenditure Forecast, worldwide ad spending grew to $300 billion last year and continues to rise. * Zenith Media expects 4.6 percent growth in global ad spending in 1999 after inflation...

Espanol.com Releases Survey on U.S. Hispanics Online.
March 1, 2000... Espanol.com (www.espanol.com), the first large-scale online retailer for Spanish-speakers worldwide, has released results of a proprietary survey identifying the demographic profile and behavioral patterns of Hispanic cybershoppers. Based on a...

Grizzard to Receive DMA Fund Raising Achievement Award.
March 1, 2000... Claude Grizzard, Sr. has been named the recipient of the Direct Marketing Association's Non-Profit Council's 2000 Fund Raising Achievement Award. Grizzard received the award at The DMA 10th Annual Non-Profit Washington Conference. ...

Sweepstakes Update: New Modifications To Be Aware Of.
March 1, 2000... In the November issue 1999 of Direct Marketing the author discussed the latest in sweepstakes legislation. In the advent of the newly enacted "Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act," he updates us on the latest modifications. ...

Applying Successful Direct Marketing Methods to Your Web Site[ldots]and Enjoy More Profitable Sales.
March 1, 2000... Web sites that are focused on customers' needs, want, hopes, and goals are those that have a higher probability of working, and those that get customers involved offer more positive results. There is a big difference between conventional...

Cataloging For Entrepreneurs: When It All Hits the Fan--How To Survive a Major Cataloging Disaster.
March 1, 2000... Of the 10,000 to 11,000 catalogs in the U.S., an estimated 90 percent are run by entrepreneurs. These articles explore cataloging from their unique standpoint[ldots] this month, how to survive when a cataloging catastrophe occurs. A rush...

Things Remembered: Creating the Ultimate Retention Catalog.
March 1, 2000... Within two years, Things Remembered went from a retail chain that was barely on the minds of customers to a cataloger that they couldn't forget. In January of 1998, Things Remembered, an 800-store personalized gift chain, was recovering...

Use Testimonials and Be More Persuasive.
March 1, 2000... What would you prefer? Let's say you are considering a new product or service purchase. Are you content just reading the literature you've collected or would you also like to hear what a co-worker or neighbor who's used the product or...

Where Did You Come From?
March 1, 2000... The libraries at Mormon Headquarters in Salt Lake City have record crowds. Each tracing their ancestry. New software programs to determine your genealogy are best sellers. People line up at Ellis Island to find a trace of their roots. The...

The Greatest Marketer on Earth!
March 1, 2000... Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, allow me to introduce you to one of the greatest wonders of his time[ldots] [ldots]an astounding man with crucial lessons, for today's marketers. A consummate showman, an advertising and...

Grocery Shopping Goes Portable.
March 1, 2000... Denmark's ISO Supermarket chain is successfully using portable digital technologies to build loyalty and grow its business. Driven by demand for shopping convenience from time-starved dual-income households, online grocery sales in the U.S....

The Trouble With Direct Marketing, Revisited.
March 1, 2000... If we're unable to persuade our customers that supplying us with certain kinds of information will help us help them, we're a pretty sad lot of professional communicators. Back in the 1980s, I wrote an article for this magazine called "The...

Reaching American "Faces".
March 1, 2000... An interview with Gen Inomata, cheif executive officer, Fancl International After launching a successful mail order company in Japan, Fancl Cosmetics is now targeting American women, using a mix of traditional direct mail, e-mail and a Web...

8 Stupid Things People Do to Screw Up Their Direct Mail.
March 1, 2000... Avoiding stupid mistakes won't guarantee success. But like the chess player, you will reduce your losses and thereby increase your wins. A famous chess player once revealed to me how he wins so many games, often against far more...

How to Keep Your Sales Career From Getting Caught in the Net.
March 1, 2000... For those who choose to deny the impact of the Internet on selling, the future is indeed frightening. However, salespeople who take steps to make themselves valuable to their companies and customers will do well. Salespeople are scared."...

Indulge.com Markets the High life.
March 1, 2000... Seeking to cultivate a sensual and enlightening experience for consumers, Indulge.com will provide an online destination for shoppers who want to truly indulge. Concluding a merger with the upscale catalogue brand L'Art de Vivre, Indulge.com...

ePrize Sweepstakes Service Drives Traffic to Sites.
March 1, 2000... ePrize, Inc.'s (www.eprize.net) Pooled eDrawings solution enables businesses to attract and retain visitors by helping them design, administer and maintain successful online sweepstakes and promotional efforts. Unlike a destination site, ePrize...

Simplexity.com Simplifies Telecommunications Shopping.
March 1, 2000... Simplexity.com (www.simplexity.com) is working to bring order to the confusing telecommunications marketplace. The Web site offers the first online service to provide side-by-side comparison and selection of telecommunications services direct...

Branders.com Expedites the Purchase of Promotional Products.
March 1, 2000... Sales and marketing professionals who order promotional items for trade shows and sales meetings can now see the design of their custom-branded items, zoom in on fine details such as embroidery and embossing and view the product in different...

MarketingServicesNow.com: Full-Service Agency Online.
March 1, 2000... MarketingServicesNow.com is offering full-service advertising and marketing capabilities directly online. Apart from the competition, the site provides a request for proposal (REP) form as well as a Virtual Client Conference Room. And depending...

DM People.
March 1, 2000... WCJ APPOINTS EXECUTIVES Wunderman Cato Johnson has appointed Neil Contess as president, WCJ Promotions Worldwide, Emmanuel des Moutis as president of WCJ's Paris office, and Martin Colyer as chief financial officer of WCJ's regional London...

DMCNY and WDMI Discuss Digital Media.
March 1, 2000... The international streaming of video is not as easy as some say. As a matter of fact, it's not easy even for those who specialize in the technology as was seen by the joint audiences of the Direct Marketing Club of New York and Women In Direct...

Harcom Facilitates Web Page Creation for Online Businesses.
March 1, 2000... Harcom Corporation is offering Internet Web sites that allow anyone to create their own Web pages for online businesses by using their own existing Internet Browser. Each Web site has the capacity for over 2,000 pages and can be rented for as...

Instant Listening Service Motivates Music Purchases.
March 1, 2000... MP3.com's Instant Listening [Service.sup.TM] enables consumers to immediately listen to CDs they buy from participating online e-tailers through their MP3 account. The new service, which is being showcased at www.JungleJeff.com, avoids the two...

DMA Reformulates Board Level Committees.
March 1, 2000... The Direct Marketing Association's board of directors has reformulated its board-level committees into four areas: ethics and privacy; government affairs; new initiatives; and industry segments. In addition, new advisory committees will be...