International DM Marginalized by the DMA?
I would dearly love to stop knocking the DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION in the USA
for their negative stance towards international direct marketing, but I'm unable to do so yet.
In the last issue of DM Diary I reported they had agreed to reinstate the International Pavilion at
the next DMA Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida.
This decision was greeted positively by both international service providers and direct
marketers alike since an International Pavilion does provide them an opportunity to network in a
particular area of the exhibition hall.
This “victory” has turned out a hollow one. The “International Pavilion” may have been
reinstated but it has been relegated to the very margins of the Exhibition Hall. This is an absolute
disgrace and no thanks to Chris Gallagher, the official at the DMA who seems to have been responsible
for this decision.
Faced with a choice of exhibiting in a redundant International Pavilion stuck right on the outer
edges of the Show, or be located amidst a sea of US domestic service provider stands, MLA has
decided not to exhibit at all this year.
If the DMA gives the International Pavilion a more prominent location in 2004, we'll exhibit
again. Otherwise forget it!
We'll stick to exhibiting at the London International Direct Marketing Fair next March 2 -4 and
we'll meet up with our friends in the international DM industry there.
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Seeding Systems to Monitor Postal Delivery
I spent a few days in Rome recently attending Triangle's World Mail & Express Europe
Conference. (I helped judge the Mail Award there for “Best Customer Service”).
Some interesting points came out of this event apart from the usual somewhat acrimonious
debate between public postal administrations, who are members of the Universal Postal Union, and
private operators who are not.
One issue supported by public and private sector alike is the desirability of introducing
systematic, independent electronic seeding of mail to check if mail shipments are delivered in full and
on time – or not.
The cost of RF chips, a device used in seeding, are down to 5 US cents each, which makes
electronic seeding a lot more viable now.
In the last issue of DM Diary I referred to a recent conversation I had in Singapore with Carlos
Silva, Chairman of the Postal Operations Council, about the UPU's plan to introduce and promote a
universal system of seeding.
Ken McKeown from the UPU pointed out to me subsequently Mr. Silva was referring in his
remarks specifically to a plan to independently monitor quality of service in cross-border bulk mail
flows in Europe in collaboration with the European publishing industry.
This will involve the participation of 20 professional panelists per country who will be
registered as ordinary magazine and newspaper subscribers. If this seeding template is successful in
Europe it will be extended elsewhere.
Hopefully (if it does succeed) this service will in due course cover not only other territories but
other DM sectors outside the publishing industry.
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Cross-Border DM Waiting to be “Discovered”?
In Rome I had several conversations with Alistair Tempest, Director General of FEDMA
(Federation of European Direct Marketing) about cross-border direct mail. Apparently official data
indicates 3% of mail volume today is cross-border which is exactly the same percentage (3%) which
existed in 1992! In other words, even within the EU, despite the increase in cross-border commerce
which EU membership is designed to facilitate, there has been no growth in pan-European mailings
over the past 10 years or so.
However, FEDMA, Alistair assures me, do have a specific plan to encourage and facilitate
cross-border DM within Europe in the near future. Interesting to hear – and good luck!
His story is, of course, no surprise to me at all. I've been mailing across borders since 1976
(when I launched “Business Traveller” Magazine) and have assisted clients do so since 1984 when I
established MLA out of Hong Kong as an international list brokerage. The blue-chip players out there
in cross-border DM now are the same players who were out there 20 years ago (mostly international
magazine and newspaper publishers, Collin Street Bakery, Land's End, International Air Passenger's
Association and a few others). Unfortunately many of the new players since then are either misleading
offers or outright scams because of the lack of regulatory controls which apply when you mail
multinationally.
This is an enormous shame. The most common misconception, of course, is that cross-border
DM is subject to a multitude of local restrictions. Exactly the opposite is true -- and in the next issue
I'll explain why...
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ETOE Postal Delivery Can Be Upgraded
My interest in ETOEs (Extra Territorial Offices of Exchange) has always been somewhat
jaundiced by wondering who on earth was behind these rather secretive operations and just who is
actually promising to deliver your mail!
My interest has been rekindled recently after hearing National Geographic has tested ETOEs
successfully.
Many Offices of Exchange are set up in industrialized countries by postal administrations from
developing countries. In these host countries they accept mail which carries the postal indicia of the
developing country and postal documents of that country will then accompany the mail shipment.
The rates offered by ETOEs are low because these documents allow the operator to pay a lower
level of terminal dues applying to that developing country which is reflected in lower rates charged to
the mailer.
Until January 2006, when any new changes in the terminal dues system, which may be agreed at
next year's UPU Convention in Bucharest, will begin to take effect, these arbitrage opportunities will
remain and ETOEs will continue to exploit them.
A number of countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan don't like to receive and
deliver ETOE mail because it is unregulated, undermines the UPU terminal dues system and leaves
their national postal administrations with less terminal dues revenue to cover their domestic delivery
costs unless, of course, mail is privately delivered in their country which would deprive them of
all revenue.
For mailers who use ETOEs there are cost savings, of course. But there are also uncertainties.
Who exactly are you dealing with? Are they reliable? How many different operators are involved in
the delivery of your mail?
A lower price is a meaningless advantage if not all your mail gets delivered!
However I'm told by the cognescenti it's possible to pay a premium rate for an ETOE delivered
Discounted First-Class Bulk Air Mail Service which is said to give you faster service and a greater
measure of certainty. You might want to check it out.
If you want to learn more, Triangle have published a rather expensive Report on the different
types of ETOE, how they operate and the regulatory issues surrounding them. Email Robin Parr-Davies
at RobinP@triangle.eu.com. Mention you're a reader of DM Diary and you'll get a 10% discount!
Another useful contact is Lawrence Chaido, an independent postal consultant, who talks more
openly and intelligently about ETOEs than anyone else I've met! Email him at transglobal@earthlink.net.
* * * * *
Enormous Response to New Telemarketing
“Do-Not-Call” Registry in the US
A couple of weeks ago the Federal Trade Commission opened their “do-not-call” registry in the
US. Within just a few days 23 million US consumers had signed up. This is an impressive number.
The FTC expect 60 million Americans to sign up by October 1, after which US based
telemarketers can be fined US$11,000 per violation and they may also face fines through State “do-not-
call” laws. This is a clear indication the American public doesn't want to be called and solicited by
telemarketers in their office, in their spare time or while at home in the evenings.
It seems changes are ahead for the US domestic telemarketing industry!
Similar regulatory restrictions on telemarketing are being introduced in the EU where the
“Privacy & Electronic Communications Directive” will encourage EU companies to register with their
national Telephone Preference Services. This is designed to protect individuals within companies from
receiving solicitation calls if they do not want to receive such calls.
These developments can only make those of us based in the Philippines, Thailand and elsewhere
in developing countries where there's no data protection, and unlikely to be so in the foreseeable
future, feel smug and content.
Our telemarketers will continue to call around the world at low cost, and with improving results
since local telemarketing competition within the USA and within larger European markets must now
clearly begin to decline!
This is one of the significant benefits from cross-border direct marketing. When you mail into
overseas markets from offshore, receive response offshore, process and fulfill from offshore, telemarket
from offshore and build customer relationships from offshore, you don't need to comply with draconian
local regulatory restrictions such as those now being inflicted on telemarketers in the USA and Europe.
* * * * *
Is the Tide of DM Response Swinging from the Downright
Deceptive Back to the Authentic?
Consumers around the world are sick and tired of receiving deceptive and offensive emails,
often misleading telephone solicitations at home during the evening --and a plethora of scams in their
morning mail.
What's happened to that famous “mail moment” when opening mail in the morning was one of
the day's most exciting events?
The support for a “do-not-call” registry in the US is a reflection of the international groundswell
of anger and prejudice against solicitations from people you don't know (and probably don't trust) and
with whom you have no existing relationship.
Calls, emails and mail from legitimate, sincere, blue-chip businesses is bearable and in many
cases entirely acceptable. But I believe the immense volume of garbage we have all been receiving
through our email boxes has coloured the public's perception of legitimate postal mail and has, quite
literally, been poisoning the international DM environment.
If this pollution by email, telephone and postal mail isn't cleaned up in a radical way, the
international DM industry as a whole could become irreperably damaged.
I'm told only 30 individuals around the world are responsible for 80% of email spam and that
relatively few individuals are also responsible for the huge volume of serious garbage being distributed
through the international postal system. This stuff simply makes it more difficult for blue-chip direct
marketers to generate commercially viable response from their entirely responsible and legitimate
offers.
To this end I congratulate Microsoft for launching 15 civil lawsuits recently against 15
individual spammers whom they have found responsible collectively for between 25 billion junk
emails!
The task of cleaning up this pollution is possible if responsible direct marketers and service
providers talk to each other and work together.
I believe it may now be time to form an International Mailer's Group not only to fight against
pervasive, illegitimate and poisonous DM materials, but to discuss positive ways through which
legitimate international direct marketers can share intelligence on marketing multinationally across
borders and within major markets from offshore avoiding local restrictions and local overheads.
If you would like to register your interest in being part of an informal, zero-overhead, online
discussion and information exchange group on this topic, please contact me at
thornton@intmailings.com
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