Right-Time Marketing
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, RAY SCHULTZ
Here's some news from ExactTarget that may change the way you send your e-mail. A study shows the highest average open rate in 2005 was on Fridays. But ...

Messy Brand Building
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, KATIE MULDOON
Back in the 1980s I was part of the team that built IBM's first catalog on the Web. Very few catalogers or retailers had Web sites then, so How do you ...

The Age of Anxiety
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS
Want a free 42-inch flat screen Sony TV? Want all kinds of goodies for evaluating Dunkin' Donuts against Krispy Kremes? How about a $1,500 Kmart Gift ...

It's in the Cards
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS
SURE, BLOGS, E-MAIL AND SEARCH ARE GREAT. But for continuity card publisher IMP, nothing beats the tactile appeal of good old-fashioned direct mail. ...

An Eye for Success
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM
THIS ISSUE DIRECT INTRODUCES Pick the Winner, a new semi-regular column by award-winning copywriter and creative director Malcolm Decker. Think you have ...

Getting Through
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY KEN MAGILL
E-MAIL WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THIS COMPLICATED. With four authentication standards to understand, multiple accreditation sources to choose from and seemingly ...

TIMELINE
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM
June 1, 2006 THE INTERPUBLIC GROUP, affirming the importance of direct marketing, announced it will combine its Draft and FCB units to create the Draft ...

The Honest Listmaker
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, Ray Schultz
A.J. Liebling, who wrote for the New Yorker for almost 30 years, was known mostly for his articles on boxing, food, the press and World War II. But buried ...

Security Leads Global IT Priorities
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, Richard H. Levey
What are corporate decision-makers focusing on in information technology? Online security and data protection first, followed at some distance by online ...

The AOL Meltdown
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY KEN MAGILL
WHEN AN AOL executive asks bulk e-mailers to stop sending e-mail, should they comply? Maybe, but not immediately, judging by the actions of some marketers ...

The Zoo Story
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY RICHARD H. LEVEY
AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS about as long as an Asian elephant's gestation period Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo is back in the mail with a 125,000-piece membership ...

AIG's Homegrown Solution
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY LARRY RIGGS
WHAT HIGH-PRICED system did American International Group buy in 1998 when it needed a way to shovel leads to commercial insurance brokers in the United ...

On-the-Job Marketing
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY BRIAN QUINTON
MOST JOB-STAFFING services put marketing dollars into brand advertising. But Allegis Group is running in the other direction, building awareness almost ...

Now Hear This
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY LARRY RIGGS
SOME MAY THINK OF BLOGS AS just a place for the Internet-savvy to rant and rave. But for longtime public relations and technology executive David Copithorne, ...

Marketers Feel Data-Challenged
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY RAY SCHULTZ
ONE THING YOU CAN SAY ABOUT marketers is that they're hardly satisfied with themselves. It's especially true about their customer data systems. In a recent ...

DSW's E-zine Way to Loyalty
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY EDA GALENO
Shoe retailer DSW Inc. is using a monthly e-newsletter to connect with its 4.5 million active loyalty program members. In the past, we've done a traditional ...

DM Growth Falls in First Quarter
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY BRIAN QUINTON
DIRECT MARKETING GROWTH flagged in the first quarter of 2006, dropping below the last two years' robust levels, according to the Direct Marketing Association's ...

Canadian Telemarketers Face Jail
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY RAY SCHULTZ
A Canadian telemarketing operation that allegedly defrauded businesses on both sides of the U.S. border is now in trouble on both sides of that border. ...

I Am Your Monkey, Walt Disney
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS
I'M JUST AS CYNICAL AS THE next gal. But when it comes to my kids, I'm as big a pile of manipulatable mush as you'll ever find. My oldest son Jacob is ...

A Boy Named Sue
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, RICHARD H. LEVEY
News item: The nation's largest class-action law firm, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, was recently charged with kicking back more than $11 million ...

Shed No Tears for Blue Security
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, KEN MAGILL
THE ENTIRE DIRECT MARKETING industry should stand up and applaud the mid-May demise of anti-spam concern Blue Security. And not just because the company's ...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM
CLUELESS ABOUT ADVERTISING Wanna know why ads like Illy's three coffee cans with the one-line caption/headline (The Makeover Maven, May) will always fail? ...

ATTENTION, PLEASE
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, By Beth Negus Viveiros
DIRECT TALKED recently with Rob Norman about the current state of direct marketing media buying. Norman is director, interaction at Group M Worldwide ...

Synonyms Ain't Synonymous
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, By Herschell Gordon Lewis
Editor's note: Herschell Gordon Lewis, Direct's Curmudgeon-at-Large, is a copywriter renowned as an authority on the use of words. This is one of an occasional ...

Late to the Table
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, By Randolph Hobler
OF THE TOP 130 restaurant chains in the United States only seven, or 5%, have loyalty programs. I've always known it's not a big number, says Tim Cusick, ...

Black or White?
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, MALCOLM DECKER
Welcome to Pick the Winner, a new semi-regular column in Direct. Take a look at the two creative packages and guess which one pulled best. Then go to ...

LISTLINE
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM
NEW LISTS Eating Well This list names those subscribers to Eating Well magazine who requested a corresponding e-mail newsletter. Some 24,834 newsletter ...

Caught Up, or Just Caught?
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BRIAN QUINTON
ANYBODY ELSE AROUND HERE miss Walter Cronkite? How about Huntley and Brinkley, or Harry Reasoner? Or, for that matter, who misses the 7 o'clock network ...

Click Fraud Has Radiator.com Boiling
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, BY BRIAN QUINTON
CLICK-FRAUD TROUBLES HAVE given industrywide prominence to a handful of small search marketers unaccustomed to the spotlight: Lane's Gifts & Collectibles, ...

Anderson Ad Wooden Win Any Response Awards
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, THOMAS L. COLLINS
ONE OF THE COMPOSITIONS IN A RECENT AVANT-GARDE MUSIC concert was a single long deconstructed chord lasting about 10 minutes. When it had been performed previously, it was reported that cries of “I confess! I confess!” had risen from members of the audience. But this time the composition received a standing ovation. How come? ...

Still Frustrating After All These Years
Jun 15, 2006 12:00 PM, GENE A. DEL POLITO
WELL, THE LATEST RATE CASE is under way, and that means sometime in late spring or early summer of 2007 new postage prices will go into effect. The U.S. ...