Direct Response articles from November 2003

Direct Response archives from November 2003

EDITORIAL: The devil's in the detail.(Editorial)
November 30, 2003... Lest you hadn't noticed, we're playing devil's advocate with our cover story this month, posing the question as to whether aging Census data is of any use to marketers (see feature, page 35). The consensus seems to be that while the demographic...

NEWS FOCUS: Customer Data - Sainsbury's launches data service.(J Sainsbury PLC)
November 30, 2003... Sainsbury's has launched its long-awaited commercial data service for its suppliers - two years after a similar move by its arch rival Tesco, the UK's number one supermarket chain. Manufacturers whose products are sold in Sainsbury's will...

NEWS FOCUS: Industry - Better tidings for direct marketing.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2003... Budget spend on direct marketing was revised up in the third quarter of 2003, according to the latest Bellwether Report on marketing spend among the UK's top marketing professionals. The report, compiled by NTC Research and published on...

NEWS FOCUS: Mailing - Mailing house concern at European competition.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2003... Representatives from the UK mailing house sector are meeting with Postcomm, the postal services regulator, to express concern over how UK postal deregulation is creating unfair competition from Europe. As Direct Response went to press,...

NEWS FOCUS: Geodemographic Systems - Census products unveiled.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2003... The industry's leading geodemographic segmentation systems (see box) providers are to launch updated products using recently-released 2001 Census data. New versions of the best known systems, CACI's ACORN and Experian's Mosaic, are due...

NEWS FOCUS: What's new.
November 30, 2003... DATA Ebiquita/W3 Commerce Ebiquita is partnering with US web company W3 Commerce to run an internet data collection service. Postal and e-mail data is collected from consumers who use search engines to find information on specific...

NEWS FOCUS: Events planner.(Calendar)
November 30, 2003... NOVEMBER 17 ISP/DMA/BPMA Making It Happen Awards Venue: Hilton Hotel, Park Lane. Contact: 020 7837 5340 25-27 Digital Print World 2003. Venue: Olympia, London. See: www.digitalprintworld.co.uk 26 DMA E-mail/SMS Marketing and...

NEWS FOCUS: Diary of a doormat.
November 30, 2003... Amaya Tasker, 37, is managing director of data provision at Prospect Swetenhams. She lives in a basement flat conversion in a nice Victorian house in Twickenham and drives the same sporty BMW Z 3 as James Bond, although the resemblance ends...

NEWS FOCUS: Customer Relationship Management - AA hires financial marketer for cross-selling brief.(Automobile Association)(Brief Article)
November 30, 2003... The Automobile Association has hired Scottish Widows marketing director Simon Skinner to head its CRM activity by implementing a new customer services directorate (CSD). The directorate will be responsible for integrating customer service...

NEWS FOCUS: Postal Services - Compensation plans unveiled for post users.(Brief Article)
November 30, 2003... Postcomm, the postal services regulator, has launched compensation schemes for business and domestic users of Royal Mail. Under the scheme for business users, which is already in place, bulk mailers will be compensated at a rate of one per...

NEWS FOCUS: Smart Awards 2003 - EuroDirect is 'Supplier of the Year'.
November 30, 2003... Data services company EuroDirect has won the 2003 Direct Response Smart Awards Supplier of the Year award. The Leeds-based company, part of the Skipton Group, beat off strong competition from a shortlist that included The Preference Service...

OPINION: Reaping the rewards of retail loyalty.
November 30, 2003... Are you struggling to implement CRM? Frustrated that you're not getting the benefits you expected and drowning in an ocean of data? The recently published Scoring points: How Tesco is winning customer loyalty could be the perfect Christmas...

HOW TO ... conduct mystery shopping campaigns.
November 30, 2003... If you want to see how well a brand or promotion is doing, try getting in at the point of purchase. Sharon Richey offers some tips on how to get the best results from a mystery shopping exercise Mystery shopping exists to feed back...

LEGAL EAGLE: Next month sees the implementation of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.(Column)
November 30, 2003... James Milligan answers queries on the implications. Q: My company has collected e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers on an unsubscribe/opt-out basis. Will we still be able to send e-mail and SMS marketing messages to them? A: Only...

CREATIVE MASTERCLASS: How to get the most from automotive mailings.
November 30, 2003... Car accounts are nice to work on, but Daren Kay believes there's more to them than high production values and the affection of awards judges. The Land Rover campaign by Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel is the most lauded below-the-line...

DATA CLINIC: Ask the experts.
November 30, 2003... Leading database specialists answer readers' real-life data problems. This month they tackle mobile customer churn, lifetime value, channel integration and mailsort discounts. The customer churn rate for our mobile telecoms business has...

DATA CLINIC: Get connected.
November 30, 2003... Mel Stanley likes to keep abreast of viral marketing campaigns and digital stats, but the web really comes into its own with online dating and Robbie Williams chat rooms. As an e-marketer and campaign planner I make it my business to be up...

DATA CLINIC: How to buy ... geodemographic data.
November 30, 2003... There is a wide range of geodemographic datasets on the market. Nigel Magson, managing director of Talking Numbers, advises on choosing the right one. Application and use for your business Geodemographic data enhancement applies to...

DATA CLINIC: Data Health Check.
November 30, 2003... Caring Together The charity fundraiser dramatically cut costs and sped up its operations by moving to a system of electronic data gathering and validation. The case The traditional image of charity fundraising is of well-meaning...

DATA CLINIC: DataTalk.
November 30, 2003... Large national files are relying more heavily on inputed data. Lee Witherell argues that users of such files need to understand the sometimes tenuous architecture on which these files are built. Let's face it, we data owners bombard the...

DATA CLINIC: What I do in data - Victoria Thornton, data technician, GB Group's DataIntegrity division.(Interview)
November 30, 2003... How did you get into this job? Looking back it was a natural transition after I decided not to pursue a career as a microbiologist! Both worlds demand a thorough approach, a lust for interrogation and an analytical mind - all in a very...

DATA CLINIC: What is ... Multivariate analysis?(Brief Article)
November 30, 2003... Multivariate analysis is the analysis of more than one statistical variable at a time. Many outcomes, such as response to a mailing, depend on more than one factor. Sending all men a hair loss product mailer will not result in all men...

DATA CLINIC: Case Study - Royal Mail.(Royal Mail Group PLC)
November 30, 2003... The postal services operator wanted to enhance its B2B database and target its communications more accurately, but first had to prioritise which data to collect. It's a proud boast, being able to say you own one of the UK's largest B2B...

DATA CLINIC: A manager's view.
November 30, 2003... Do mailers still need net name deals? Kelvin Langley argues that brokers should use their skills to help clients and owners embrace volume discounts. Net name deals, what a pain in the proverbial. Are we desperate enough to inflate our...

DATA CLINIC: Which list? A round-up of new or updated consumer, business and online lists.
November 30, 2003... NEW LISTS Consumer Holiday Masterfile Integral Marketing has launched Holiday Masterfile - a database consisting of 735,000 named individuals who are regular purchasers of holiday offers. All the names in the file have responded...

CALL CENTRES: Special agent - licensed to contact.
November 30, 2003... Companies are now investing heavily in training and retaining key call centre staff. Christina Papas casts an eye over some of the techniqes being used. Change is in the air for the much-maligned call centre agent. Thanks to high staff...

CENSUS DATA: Two years old and counting.
November 30, 2003... The 2001 Census data was released recently, leading some to question whether the two-year-old data set is of any commercial value to marketers. David Murphy reports. The latest Census data is finally upon us. It prompts a question on many...

E-FULFILMENT: Four steps to e-fulfilment.
November 30, 2003... E-fulfilment can be a minefield but it's one that has to be negotiated. Tracey Travis of Zendor sets out the key elements of e-fulfilment that will guarantee your customers come back for more. Now that the backlash from the dot com hype has...

SECRETS OF MY SUCCESS: Don Peppers, Founding partner, Peppers and Rogers Group.
November 30, 2003... I've never actually held a job for which I was educated. Not one. My undergraduate degree, from the US Air Force Academy, is in engineering - astronautical engineering, no less - and I hold a Masters in Public Affairs (concentration in...