Industrial Strength
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
ThomasNet revamped its business plan by giving the people what they wanted — and what they wanted was less paper. ...

Engage 'Em
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Joe Pulizzi
Why do direct marketers have a such a tough job measuring the value of their custom magazines, newsletters and microsites? One reason is that they're ...

An Original or a Copy?
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Richard H. Levey
Quick is FedEx Kinko's new business loyalty program the original or a copy? It's a little of both, actually. On April 2, the Dallas-based company is relaunching ...

Healthy Dividends
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Ken Magill
Most marketers would be ecstatic with the $2 million-a-year savings in print costs alone that United Healthcare's custom e-mail newsletter has achieved. But the health insurance provider has more lofty goals. ...

Listline
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM
NEW LISTS WallSt.netFinancial Media Group Inc. has a list of 78,843 investors' e-mail addresses. The file combines registration data from WallSt.net and ...

Green Hype
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, RAY SCHULTZ
The Federal Trade Commission announced last month that it's revising its packaging guidelines to make them more environmentally sound. Fair enough. The ...

Back to the Future
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS
Did we ever have kinder, gentler times when direct marketing simply meant direct mail? We look back fondly at what we remember as happy days when we weren't ...

Yes They CanPull Pranks
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Ken Magill
As the primaries chugged along in February, some pranksters apparently found their own path to change by signing up anti-spammers' e-mail addresses and ...

Eyes Online
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
Television and movie writers are now back to work. But will the audiences be back too? A poll taken by online lead generator Prospectiv during the strike ...

Down and Dirty
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
If you're a small marketer, chances are good you've got more promotional chutzpah than budget. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Guerrilla Marketing, by Susan ...

Novel by Design
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS
Beginning writers typically are advised to write about what they know. That's a lesson Chip Kidd took to heart. Kidd is best known as a graphic designer ...

Put It On
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
If you think you've exhausted every possible place to splash your company's message, try this on for size. Wearable Video's Video Vest offers marketers ...

Beyond Brown Bags
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
If you were a kid, which would you choose as your lunchtime attaché: a plain brown bag or a colorful sack featuring games, puzzles and cartoon characters? ...

New and Improved
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
Everybody likes to freshen up with a new look in spring, and the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing is no exception. This year CADM is rebranding ...

Go All the Way
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Grant A. Johnson
You may recall a few or marketing campaigns that received industry accolades for message consistency across channels, clever use of online technology ...

Have Brand, Will Travel
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
With the dollar hitting new lows against other currencies, it seems the United States is headed for a recession. Does that mean direct marketers considering international expansion should put those plans on hold? Not necessarily. ...

Bare Bones
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Larry Riggs and; Ray Schultz
Postal reform works. The rate hike that takes effect May 12 is the lowest in memory: an average of 2.88%. And some mail classes are getting even less than that. ...

In Good Shape
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Larry Riggs
New mail formats could be the cure for DMers' postal headaches ...

Nobody Left to Blame
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, KEN MAGILL
It happened again last month: Another JupiterResearch e-mail buyer's guide, another round of press releases from all the service providers congratulating ...

Social Strategizing
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
If everyone was going to jump off a bridge, would you? No? Really? Then why do you have a blog? Many DMers are leaping on the social marketing bandwagon ...

Site Slighted
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, THOMAS L. COLLINS
It's a new print-ad world out there. It has been for 10 years now. But too many print advertisers still don't get it. They could be running what I now ...

The Unsinkable Andi Emerson Caples founder dies at 82
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Ray Schultz
She was a New England Emerson, she'd have you know. But Andi Emerson had a bohemian streak. It came out when she sipped wine and told of wild parties, ...

The Day Andi Emerson Made Me a Man
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Richard H. Levey
Roughly a decade ago I underwent a rite of passage that was necessary to my becoming a full-fledged direct marketing reporter. This rite occurred at the ...

Calling Up From Down Under
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Beth Negus Viveiros
It's no big news that the United States lags behind other countries in mobile technology adoption. Australian mobile marketing firm 5th Finger recently rolled out here intending to change that. Direct chatted with founder/vice president of marketing Steen Andersson and CEO Campbell Corfe about the challenges they're facing in getting Americans to go mobile. ...

It's Not Brain Surgery
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, RICHARD H. LEVEY
News item: A new research system measures consumers' reactions to advertising. Test subjects wear a baseball cap containing microsensors that track changes ...

Letters to the Editor
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM
SUGGESTION BOX I think Tom Collins' January makeover is an improvement, but could be less junky looking or simply less cluttery by moving the How We Helped ...