The DMA’s Data Woes
What’s the key to almost all successful direct marketing?
THE Data.
Isn’t it ironic then, that this week, at the office of my firm, Johnson Direct, we received three (3) ship-shape ECHO award call for entry pieces and two of the three were addressed to individuals who have never worked for Johnson Direct?
They included the company name and their titles, CEO and President with the wrong names. My piece was correct. Note: No other associate here received a piece, but two never-beens did.
Effective direct marketing is about credibility. How credible do the ECHO awards, and the DMA, seem if they themselves cannot even get their data in order? While some may dismiss this as a small oversight, I would argue that it represents the core issue of the DMA: Its relevance.
I used to judge the ECHO awards, but after seeing too many fellow judges giving high scores to “killer creative” while dismissing the results that were achieved made me pull away. A lot of effective direct marketing is ugly, or at the very least, less glamerous than traditional brand advertising.
While awards are nice, firms that get real results for their clients rarely have to enter such competitions because their work has created a waiting list of client’s who need their help.
It’s too bad that the DMA is losing its credibility, in a channel that helped define it as a powerhouse association — direct mail. This latest mishap will do little to boost its fortunes and will simultaneously demonstrate how the ECHO Awards have become another common creative award gala.
I long for the days when the ECHO awards, and the DMA itself, represented results.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Perhaps the DMA is using its ‘predictive’ skills . . . these new names may be your new employees . . . all kidding aside, I attended the Annual in Las Vegas specifically looking for ECHO entrants in financial services and insurance. I was surprised to see that most of the awards were international. I admire New Zealand a lot but the regulatory environment in the US differs dramatically from Asia, Europe, Australia and New Zealand . . . wouldn’t it make more sense to have ECHO awards for the US and then the international community?
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:25 pm
BOOM Grant - I yearn for the day as well. In an age where 1 to 1 communication can accurately be reproduced due to technology innovations it still comes down to the details and how they are applied. So much of the creative detail has been dummied down over recent years due to processing, technology, time and space. So if the devil is in the detail, then explain it to me. Is the devil winning or losing? Congratulations to you and the never beens on you awards. Although they don’t stand for what they use to, I am sure there is someone out there that wishes they had one too.