The U.S. DMA Makes
Positive Decision on Location
of “International Pavilion” at New Orleans in 2004
After first canceling the “International Pavilion” at last October's DMA Annual Conference and Exhibition in
Orlando, and then reinstating it but relegating it to the far margins of the Exhibition Hall where international
service providers (including MLA) almost universally chose not to exhibit, the DMA have made a positive decision.
“We've done a 180º turn for you,” Bob Wientzen, the DMA's President and CEO, told me at the DM China
conference in Shanghai recently. The DMA have wisely decided to give the “International Pavilion” an
acceptable, central position in the Exhibition Hall at the next DM Annual in New Orleans in 2004.
This will make it possible once again for international service providers and visitors to network within the
same area assuming those service providers decide to exhibit within or at least near the newly positioned
“International Pavilion” in 2004. MLA will certainly be there.
The area allocated for the “International Pavilion” runs along both sides of Aisle 1700 including Stand No's.
1719 to 1741. Plan now by emailing Charles Prescott at cprescott@the-dma.org c.c. Gaye Dullaghan at
gdullagh@the-dma.org asking for a copy of the Exhibition Floor Plan and other necessary details if you don't
already have them.
* * * * *
Will the DMA Come
Up With a Relevant Global DM Track in New Orleans?
I'm told the DMA also intend to expand the Global DM track at the next Annual Conference. In my own view
(and I was a member of the International Advisory Board which helped the DMA introduce the first “Global
Weekend” in 1997), the Global Weekends have never been particularly successful and attendance has always
been disappointing. One can come up with reasons for this ad nauseam, but I think the Weekend should be
dropped.
The fundamental flaw in nearly all global DM tracks I've ever attended at any DM conference anywhere, is
they tend to be dominated by service providers who in return for picking up the tab for tea-break, get to
make a presentation -- with their own agenda in mind. The result in terms of “education” for direct
marketers is zero.
Experienced international direct marketers with something to say, because they have years of experience
under their belts, either don't get invited to speak or they prefer to keep their mouths shut!
This is a pity and it would be good if the DMA's conference planning committee could identify some
hard-nosed practitioners (not preachers with personal agendas) to speak next year during the Global DM track
either as individuals or as participants in panels addressing some of the real issues and challenges out
there in international DM (and there are a few!).
As a final note on this, Bob Wientzen told me in Shanghai he believed many international DMA's had currently
lost their way because their committees are dominated by service-providers - not users. I totally agree with
this. It would be good if the U.S. DMA could put into practice their sentiments in this respect and try to
persuade some experienced international DM users to become involved in the 2004 Global DM track.
* * * * *
International
Direct Marketers From Outside USA
Now Mailing into the Big Kahuna Itself
US corporations direct marketing internationally have traditionally operated in two categories. Those like
Reader's Digest, AIG, American Express, McGraw-Hill, Land's End, Time Warner and Viking Office Supplies have
invested in larger overseas markets by establishing offices there and operating locally or regionally. On the
other hand, others like Collin Street Bakery, Victoria's Secret, Bloomingdale's, Careertrack, Harvard
Business Review, Neotech, Brooks Brother's, Global Shopping Exchange and so on have chosen to operate from
their headquarters in the USA mailing into large and small markets around the world without having any local
presence at all in the markets into which they are marketing.
In exactly the same way, smart direct marketers outside the USA especially in Western Europe are now building
customer bases inside the USA without establishing an agent, representative office or legal presence there.
Response is directed back to their headquarters offshore, they process payments, fulfill and maintain their
databases from offshore, and they incur no special local costs.
Furthermore they can telemarket cheaply from offshore into the U.S. to up-sell and cross-sell without
interference from the Federal Trade Commission who recently implemented the national no-call registry. U.S.
consumers who do not want to be called don't provide their telephone numbers -- and many, of course,
don't -- in the U.S. market.
Uncle Sam may not like this “offshore” strategy very much, but what can he do about it?
* * * * *
Asia's an Even
Lower Cost Entry Point into the USA
In Asia too we're beginning to manage mailings into the USA for international clients since the cost of doing
so from Asia is lower than from Europe.
The average cost of mailing a lightweight package into the U.S. from Asia is around US$372 per 1,000 compared
with US$550 for a cross-border multinational mailing (some mailers pay US$700 per 1,000 and up). The cost
includes private, but reliable, postal delivery into the USA from Asia of under US$220 per 1,000; list costs
are cheap in the USA averaging US$100 per 1,000; and print and lettershopping will cost US$52 per 1,000 or
less out of Asia.
Not only are good, responder lists cheaper in the U.S. but they're more plentiful and many have hotlines.
(How many hotlines are available outside the UK / Germany / France -- hardly any!).
You can also target mail-order responder lists and hotlines for your offer, many with substantial roll-out
potential. What more do you want and what more can I say? Results out of the USA for offshore direct
marketers are speaking for themselves!
* * * * *
Telemarketing is
the World's Biggest Direct Marketing Channel
According to the DMA
As we all know, telemarketing is a wonderful back-end tool for building a relationship with your
international customers and for converting, up-selling and cross-selling.
In the context of direct marketing into the USA from offshore, the cognescenti tell me not only do
call-centers in the Philippines provide inbound and outbound services into the States costing one-third
less than U.S. call centers operating within the States but, more importantly -- in straight tests -- their
performance is more than one third better! Philippines based telemarketers generate more sales! This is not
surprising when you consider the average life-span for a telemarketing “drifter” in the U.S. is three
months. By the time they've begun learning how to up-sell your product they're gone! By contrast Filipina
telemarketers have all graduated from leading universities. They're well-trained, intelligent, personable,
articulate and devoted to their jobs. Who would you choose to work with?
* * * * *
150 Plus Attendees
at Both DM Thailand and DM China
Both these events took place recently, DM Thailand for the second time and DM China for the first time. The
good attendance reflected well on the efforts made by Ramesh Shrestha who independently organized DM Thailand
and Gabrielle Chou who led the planning of DM China as Chair of the recently formed China DMA.
The attraction of both events was email and online marketing and CRM techniques. When old hands like me rose
to their feet and talked about traditional customer acquisition through the mail (after all, for CRM you do
need customers), I could see before me long lines of young, polite but non-comprehending faces. Were they
interested in traditional DM practice? Probably not -- which indicates why little use is made of postal
mail and the telephone in either country yet. Their bosses don't know anything about DM and their young
employees have been led to believe that digital is the only way to go.
Instead of referring to “names” I now reluctantly find myself starting to use the utterly impersonal word
“data” -- along with the rest of them!
* * * * *
Should We Fear a
“Do-Not-Mail” Registry In the Future?
During my lunch with Bob Wientzen in Shanghai he spoke at some length about the possibility of a “Do-Not-
Email” Registry in the US following the success of the “Do-Not-Call” Registry which now lists over
55,000 consumers in the US who do not want to be called.
He also referred to the future danger of a “Do-Not-Mail” Registry. I think this is unlikely since mail is
much less intrusive -- in fact almost benign -- compared with unsolicited telephone calls outside an
existing relationship and email spam which almost everyone agrees should be “canned” or “slammed”!
In the same way that calls can be made into any large market from anywhere else avoiding local compliance
restrictions, so the spammer can go about his insidious business from anywhere remaining camouflaged and
unidentified. For as long as spam is allowed to continue, the growth of e-mail as a legitimate marketing
channel is threatened. As the Chinese would say: “We live in interesting times..."
* * * * *
Yet More Spam . . .
Before leaving the issue of spam (my least favorite topic), it was suggested to me the other day by a
“search-engine optimization” specialist that I can attract more traffic to my website by hijacking well
known “brand” names in the industry and using them as meta tags.
This sounded a neat idea, but if you think about it, it's another form of spam, and it must be illegal to
profit from someone else's brand name without their consent and without paying royalties. We'll soon find
out because there are several cases currently awaiting judgement in international courts.
* * * * *
Another Challenge
for Donors:
How to Detect International Fundraising Scams
Last month I spent a couple of days (for the third year in succession) on MLA business at the International
Fundraising Conference in the Netherlands.
This is a big conference each year with around 850 delegates. Last year there was one presentation on
international fundraising and this year there were four. The growing interest in international reflects the
fact that both North American and Western European donor populations have become almost saturated. Response
rates to fundraiser offers in Asia on the other hand are not only better but average donation value is a
lot higher than elsewhere especially from donors generated through regional and multinational lists.
However, what concerned me most at the IFC is what concerns me elsewhere in international direct marketing.
That is the proliferation of scams.
I heard stories about the escalation in well-known charity names -- being used unlawfully, and without
consent, by unauthorized people to raise money for non-existent causes especially in the third world.
One session I attended was about fundraising in Africa and other third world regions. During the dialogue I
got to my feet and suggested more use should be made in the South of DM copy, techniques and packages used
successfully in countries North of the equator. In other words follow Rule 3 on Page 1 of the Direct Mail
Handbook: “Thou Shall Steal Other People's Ideas”!
This idea went down pretty well, but when I suggested fundraisers in the South should mail to donors in the
North since that's where the money is, a gentleman from Africa in front of me replied immediately to a
chorus of agreement and mirth around him “That Would be Like Daylight Stealing”!
The inference, acknowledged by the audience, was that any funds raised from the North would more likely
stay in the pockets of the fundraisers in the South than reach the beneficiaries of the cause itself.
This was a damning comment, and the issue must remain a hurdle for lesser known charities trying to acquire
donors from the North to support causes in the South -- however ethical their practices may be.
Well-known, totally legitimate “brand” charities with impeccable reputations have an easier time in this
respect -- but not much easier -- according to Richard Pordes of UNICEF who attended the conference and to
whom I spoke after this session.
As we know elsewhere in the international direct marketing industry, the malpractices of the few simply
make it harder for the rest of us to do our jobs properly.
* * * * *
