Close-Up: 'I don't want to debate the direct mail medium'.(IPA Direct Marketing Group)

Chris Whitson, the newly appointed chairman of the IPA Direct Marketing Group, outlines his agenda for the next year.

Create the platform

The break-up of digital shops into separate disciplines will happen just as it did with the breakaway of direct marketing from advertising. It's just a matter of when. If the Direct Marketing Group is to represent the industry as a whole, it must embrace the various different types of direct marketer, such as digital specialists and media specialists. We will only succeed if we can unite practitioners of the discipline, whatever the channel.

I don't want to spend my time debating the direct mail medium. It is a key part of the DM mix but it is not the only part, and as the modern consumer becomes more digitally literate its role will diminish. I will be actively looking to bring representatives from IPA member direct, media and digital agencies to take their place on the group.

Change the Charter

The IPA Direct Marketing Group produced the DM Charter in 2004. It's encouraging that many issues it uncovered have proven to be correct but I feel we need to revisit it and produce a new document that reflects best practice thinking in the current climate, something that helps member agencies as they ply their trade in the current communications environment.

Win back the hearts and minds