Nedma News November-December 2005

November/
December
2005

In this Issue:
Integrated Marketing Grows Up
Awards for Creative Excellence
NEDMA 2006 Annual Conference: NEDMA '06: It's A Brave New World
Permission-Based Email
I Would Like to Propose a Test
NEDMA Membership News
     1. Member Promotions and Appointments
     2. Members on Stage and in Print
     3. Member Milestones
From NEDMA

This issue of NEDMA News is sponsored by DMM and the Discovery Communications Group.

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George E. Wallace, President of the Discovery Communications Group, has recently written and published an inspirational, engaging, and uplifting new book. How to Enjoy Peace in Your Life Every Day, is set against the background of remarkable personal experiences and will show how changing your thinking and adopting new perspectives will dramatically improve the quality of every aspect of your life. You really can enjoy a life of peace and possibility right in the middle of a chaotic and often overwhelming world.
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Integrated Marketing Grows Up

NEDMA members who came to the monthly meeting on November 8 may have been expecting the usual show extolling the virtues of integrated marketing as the wave of the future. What they got was perspective on the second stage of this rapidly maturing trend. Integrated marketing, according to Shar Van Boskirk, Consulting Analyst with Forrester Research, is already being used by consumers. While marketers continue to look at marketing channels as silos, consumers zig zag among multiple marketing channels to research and make purchases. Consumers, she asserted, are now more heavily influenced by the web and by their peers than they are by marketers.

Advertising no longer secures customer attention, she said, but most marketers have not yet noticed, and ad spending is out of sync with consumer behavior. While the typical customer spends 30 percent of his or her week online, the web and email are only getting six percent of advertising dollars. Marketers are still relying on "reach" without regard to whether the media inspire action.

Most people, when they think of integrated marketing, think of the famous Mitsubishi Super Bowl campaign, which successfully used a website to complete a television commercial. And Shar Van Boskirk did mention that campaign. But unlike most commentators, who focus on the continuation of the story from one medium to another, she noted that the Mitsubishi website was broken into areas of interest -- accident avoidance, brakes, and performance -- that correspond to three different audience segments.

She explained how audience segments can be derived with something she calls a "persona exercise." This exercise is a framework for imagining and researching the different consumer types (or personas) in the audience. Using the example of running shoes, she explained how for one persona, the primary question is, "Who's wearing it?" For another, it's "How does it perform?" And for a third, it's "Is it manufactured in a socially conscious way?"

Integrated marketing, then, offers a way to address these distinct narratives. And it doesn't require a budget big enough to film car chases on a closed freeway, either. She cited the success of SlimFast, which used its research and a persona exercise to discover its prime customer is a woman who shops at Wal-Mart on Saturday morning. The research also showed the biggest problem in weight loss programs is lack of support. So SlimFast began holding in-store events at Wal-Mart on Saturday morning, including registration for a weight-loss community. Without filming a single car chase, they increased sales by 22 percent.

Integrated marketing, she said, can create a framework for a multichannel conversation between marketer and consumer.

Awards for Creative Excellence

Gary Lubarsky, Chairman of the NEDMA Awards Committee, has announced the 2006 Call for Entries to the New England Direct Marketing Association's Awards for Creative Excellence, taking place at the Roxy in Boston on April 6, 2006.

The NEDMA Awards will celebrate their silver anniversary this year, and the Committee is planning an event worthy of the occasion, including recognizing winners from past years as well as this year.

There is a special reduced entry fee for first-time entrants , and for anyone re-entering after a three year absence. And this year, you can enter a single entry in up to three categories. Several categories are newly expanded, offering new opportunities to enter and win.

Speaking of winning, click here to check out some remarkably simple and practical tips for a winning entry, offered by people who ought to know: judges for national competitions, including the Echos.

The deadline for entries is January 17, 2006 and the deadline for Early Bird entries (with a discounted fee) is December 19, 2005. For more information, visit nedma.com/events.html#awardsanchor.

NEDMA Annual Conference

The official Call for Speakers for NEDMA '06: It's A Brave New World has attracted an overwhelming number of responses from direct marketers not just here in New England but from other regions of the country as well. We've even heard from interested parties "across the pond." Over the course of the next few weeks, the conference committee will be painstakingly poring over more than 75 proposals from potential presenters, selecting the speakers and topics they believe will be of greatest interest to you. We can't name any names yet, but we can say the agenda promises to feature one of most exciting lineups of speakers in NEDMA conference history. To be part of this very special event, scheduled to take place June 14-15, 2006, at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts - as a sponsor, exhibitor, volunteer, or attendee - contact Beth Drysdale or Pat Lee at 781-237-1366 or drop them a line at .

Permission-Based Email

The days of "batch and blast" email are over. Mass-market email has been left mostly to criminals, or at least those who would not admit in polite company that they do it.

And yet, email still has a bright future in direct marketing. In its recently published report, "The Top Marketing Technologies in 2005," Forrester Research noted that "CRM is reemerging as a basic business enabler for revenue acceleration and retention management, and email is the core enabling technology."

Permission-based email has emerged as the top choice method for long-term engagement of customers and prospects. Companies like The Scotts Company, Sherwin-Williams, Liberty Mutual, and Tour Andover Controls have found permission-based emailing as an effective tool for building customer loyalty.

NEDMA's seminar, "Permission-Based Email," held December 6th, featured Joel Book, Director of eMarketing Strategy for ExactTarget, the organization that distributes this newsletter. Joel has more than 25 years experience in data-driven marketing communications and provided a session filled with case studies from successful permission-based email marketers. For information about ExactTarget's Webinars and white papers on this and other subjects, contact NEDMA members Mike Silvester, or Craig Herman, .

I Would Like to Propose a Test
By John Pannell, Founder & President, Newport Creative Communications

Once upon a time, instead of presiding over my own agency, I was sitting on the other side of the desk as the Vice President of Development of the National Easter Seal Society.

Back then, I had the responsibility to pick and choose among the many direct mail marketing agencies that came knocking on our door looking for new business and promising breakthrough results leading to higher income, lower costs, less attrition, greater efficiency and more loyal donors.

All of the sales people had basically the same stories to tell, but, of course, some told their stories better than others.

Indeed, some of these sales people were extremely well-spoken, while others were tall and good-looking. Some of them were very intelligent, while others were gregarious and very knowledgeable.

There were long proposals, short proposals, detailed proposals, well-written proposals and pie-in-the-sky proposals.

How was I to choose?

I decided that I couldn't make a good, informed decision about such a major purchase, one that would have a decidedly significant impact on our organization, based on a proposal alone.

So what do you need to make such an important decision with the utmost of confidence?

Personally, I don't think nonprofit organizations should be making any big decisions about the future of their fundraising programs based on proposals received from a short list of direct response fundraising agencies.

Have you ever purchased anything of such size and scope without knowing more about the product? Would you buy a home without a house tour? Would you buy a car without a test drive? Would you buy a chair without at least sitting in it first? Of course not.

So here's what I would like to propose:

Don't send out that RFP and trust that the best proposal necessarily represents the best agency for you. Don't fool yourself into thinking that your suitors' references aren't carefully selected to provide only the most flattering recommendations. Don't mistake charisma for capability or promises for results.

Clearly, there are many good agencies out there. But instead of asking for a proposal, why not ask for a test package? It's quick, easy and objective. And the best part is you can use the results as a basis for your decision.

This is what most agencies don't want to hear, however. They don't want to change the way in which they acquire new clients. They'd rather just fine-tune their proposals, dust off their references and trot out their most presentable sales people for your consideration.

But this is what you should insist on because it'll make your decision easier.\

For example, a few years ago, we - along with two other agencies - were asked to create a new direct mail package for a major health-related nonprofit organization. The organization planned to choose the package they liked best and test it against their current control.

I thought there was a better way. I sat down with the development director and convinced him that it really wasn't possible for the organization to select the best package by committee, test it against their control and be assured that they, in fact, had made the right decision. There was no sure way to predict which of the packages would perform best in a test. Fortunately, he agreed with me, and decided to mail all four packages. Ours, which was not the consensus favorite, beat the others by a 15% margin. This success led to another test, which we also won, resulting in a long-term, mutually-beneficial relationship that lasted more than 10 years.

Now I'm certainly not suggesting that one winning test package provides enough information on which to base a future client-agency partnership. However, what this initial test does provide is the knowledge that such-and-such agency can beat your control. You get a good feel for your account team, their abilities and their responsiveness to your needs.

The bottom line is that proposals have their shortcomings, while testing provides objective, conclusive evidence of an agency's capabilities. After testing has been completed, you may discover that your current agency is doing a fantastic job for you. You may find a way to improve your direct mail fundraising program. Or you may find that it really is time for a change.

Now, about that test....

Editor's Note: John Pannell is founder and president of Newport Creative Communications, a full-service direct response fundraising agency, which you can find on the web at www.newportcreative.com. This article was originally published in the September, 2005 issue of Fundraising Success magazine.

1. Member Promotions and Appointments

Amergent, a leading full service direct marketing firm located in Peabody, MA announced that Corinne Biggs has been selected as Vice President, Account Services. Biggs will provide strategic counsel and support to a host of Amergent's nonprofit clients, including Thirteen/WNET public television, Fox Chase Cancer Center and The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, among others. Biggs joins Amergent from Newport Creative Communications, where she led a business unit that included among its accounts Catholic Charities, Hope School for Children, Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank and Crossroads RI Homeless Shelter.

ExactTarget, the excellent purveyor of on-demand email software solutions and distributor of this newsletter, has announced the appointment of Scott Thomas as director of new markets. As director of new markets, Thomas is responsible for developing a global preferred reseller network that will sell ExactTarget solutions within their markets. Based in Munich, Thomas assists resellers in staff development, sales pipeline advancement and sales opportunities. He was involved in helping to facilitate ExactTarget's first global preferred reseller partnership with Keymail Marketing Limited, Surrey, England. ExactTarget also announced a pair of international-market events. See "Member Milestones."

2. Members on Stage and in Print

Nancy Harhut, Executive Creative Director of Hill, Holliday Relationship Marketing and a Past President of NEDMA, was a featured speaker at Vermillion's One to One Marketing seminar in Waltham on November 17. Her topic: "Hey, I Should Look at That!" -- 10 Techniques That Make Your Creative Impossible to Ignore.

Dianna Huff, President of DH Communications, is slated to speak on search engine optimization at Bob Bly's Copywriting Boot Camp in February 2006.

BeNOW's Paul Weiss, Vice-President of Strategic Marketing Services, and Don Graumann, Vice-President of Account Services, co-authored an article published in the Oct. 24 online edition of DM News. The article is titled "Getting Business Results Through Strategic Marketing Delivery and Analytics."

3. Member Milestones

Hill, Holliday Relationship Marketing reports they are currently working on a product launch for PetSmart... for their new service, Doggie Day Camp. Also, the DRTV spot they did for Serono, advertising their Fertility LifeLines service, produced so many phone calls Serono needed to bring more customer service reps in to answer the phones.

Paperloop unveiled PPI Latin America News, a new pulp and paper industry newsletter, at the ABTCP Annual Pulp and Paper Congress and Exhibition in Sao Paulo, Brazil in October. The twice-monthly publication is dedicated exclusively to the Latin American market and covers industry news, prices and statistics on pulp, paper and packaging-key information for professionals involved in the pulp and paper business. PPI Latin America News joins Paperloop's established group of industry newsletters such as PPI This Week and Pulp & Paper Week.

Paperloop also reports that it named Georgia-Pacific's chairman and chief executive officer, A.D. "Pete" Correll the 2005 CEO of the Year. The award was presented at the 20th RISI North American Forest Products Conference in San Diego, Calif. Paperloop selected Correll because, over five years, he transformed Georgia-Pacific from a cyclical forest products producer into a more consumer-oriented company obtaining half of its profits from tissue manufacturing.

The Boston Business Journal recently named Peter Vessenes, Partner and CTO of OHO, a Cambridge-based integrated marketing agency, one of its 40 Under 40 honorees for 2005, its eighth annual program of recognizing emerging business leaders in Greater Boston. A serial entrepreneur and the principal architect behind the rich-featured, highly customizable OHO technology solutions, Vessenes has founded four companies since he was thirteen. OHO provides web, brand and identity development, and marketing and promotional services to progressive not-for-profit and mission-driven organizations.

OHO also reports it was nominated as a 2005 finalist for the prestigious MITX Awards by the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX) for a unique interactive map solution developed by OHO on behalf of the Montefiore Medical Center, in New York City. The nomination is in the "Healthcare" general category. The map can be viewed at www.montefiore.org/guide.

UniGraphic Inc., a premier, full-service print shop headquartered in Woburn, MA, announced the purchase of Syngery Graphics of Wilmington. Synergy employees began working out of the Woburn plant as of November 7, bringing with them more than 30 years of printing expertise, especially in the area of on-demand, short-run printing.

Exchange Network, Inc., has moved its call center to a new location located in North Billerica, MA. The company, which provides call center services along with live answering services, moved from its former Lowell location where it had been doing business for the past 29 years, to a new 5,000-square-foot space, which now holds up to 25 operator positions with room to grow.

Newport Creative Communications, a leading direct response agency in the fundraising industry, is celebrating its 20th anniversary (November 5, 1985 - November 5, 2005) with a new tagline, "The Measure of Success," along with a new advertising campaign, brochure and website, which is scheduled to launch by the first of the new year. Founded in Newport Beach, California, by John Pannell, a former Vice President of Development for the National Easter Seal Society, the agency has been headquartered in historic Duxbury, Massachusetts, on the south shore of Boston, since 1990.

Alliance Data, Dallas, is merging its Frequency Marketing Inc. unit into Epsilon, a multichannel marketing services firm it acquired in late 2004. Frequency Marketing had been operating as a separate unit under Alliance's umbrella. FMI management will report to Epsilon COO Bryan Kennedy. Frequency Marketing's Colloquy, a publishing, consulting research and educational services operation, will remain a separate entity owned by Alliance Data. Frequency Marketing provides both consulting services and technology for companies wishing to implement loyalty-marketing programs. The merger will strengthen Frequency Marketing's analytics and customer communication abilities, as well as provide its clients with access to Bigfoot Interactive's email capabilities. Epsilon acquired Bigfoot Interactive in September. The unit has since been re-named Epsilon Interactive.

Beginning in April 2006, Collette Vacations will offer a 16-day tour visiting some of the most magnificent cultural and historic areas of Japan and China. Japan is a destination Collette has not previously visited and the company is excited to add this destination to its selection of over 200 itineraries covering seven continents.

Dianna Huff, president of DH Communications, won a Gold MarCom Creative award for the Cabot Corporation e-newsletter she writes, "Particle Matters."

Yellowfin Direct announced the addition of two new clients. The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has retained Yellowfin Direct for direct mail fundraising. Bridgewater State College (Bridgewater, MA) has signed with Yellowfin to mail one of the agency's tried and true front-end premium campaigns for its FY06 annual fund program.

Sullivan Creative received three graphic design excellence awards from Graphic Design:usa magazine's annual Graphic Design award competition. This competition honors the year's outstanding graphic design, advertising art, and marketing communications. Sullivan Creative's awards were for the Boston University Summer International Brochure, the Boston University Summer Term Poster, and the Sullivan Creative Open House Invitation.

ExactTarget also announced that it was ranked highest in market suitability in the low volume newsletter and promotional categories in the JupiterResearch report, E-mail Marketing Buyer's Guide, 2005, which evaluated 30 email service providers (ESPs). This is the second consecutive year that ExactTarget has received such recognition from JupiterResearch. JupiterResearch based their 2005 E-Mail Marketing Buyers Guide on six types of marketers: small-business, service-oriented, low-volume promotional, low-volume newsletter, high-volume promotional and high-volume newsletter. ExactTarget received top honors in the two categories in which the company was reviewed.

From NEDMA

Health Insurance Benefits and Dental Discount cards. NEDMA small business members can access HMO, PPO and Health Savings accounts and avoid the standard joining fees typically associated with these plans. Visit www.insurance4members.com -- linked from NEDMA.com -- to learn more. You may save hundreds of dollars on joining fees alone!

Also, NEDMA members can have free, in-depth discussions of their specific situation with these health insurance experts. As health insurance costs rise, you can explore all your options with this free consultation member benefit.

NEDMA members can now access a dental discount option offered by DENTAL for ME.

Unlike dental insurance (which this is not), this program has no deductibles, annual maximums, employee participation requirements or paperwork.

Instead you or your employees purchase a dental discount card, and then receive 10%-40% off the usual dental fees at hundreds of participating Massachusetts dentists. Dental discount cards cost $79/year for individuals and $139/year for families.

Details, including participating dentist list, sample savings examples, FAQs and enrollment forms at www.DentalForMe.com. Or call DENTAL for ME at 508-297-1408.

NEDMA Members: Please keep sending news of your promotions, new clients, publications, new capabilities, or other events to . As always, we reserve the right edit information. Note that we don't ordinarily put clickable links or telephone numbers in the member news section. But links and phone numbers are always accepted in advertising!