Direct Marketing

A new study of people who texted in donations on their cellphones for disaster relief from the Haitian earthquake in 2010 suggests they may not be the most steadfast and reliable contributors.

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Both Zynga, the online games company whose offerings include Farmville, Mafia Wars and Zynga Poker, and Groupon, the daily deal site, are dot-coms which deal primarily in virtual goods. They hold no physical inventory and rarely generate transactions that result in drop-shipped deliveries.

Despite this, the Zynga IPO, unlike the one presented by daily deal firm Groupon, doesn’t make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. The differences are rooted in how each company presents and markets itself. more

Chances are pretty good a consumer who hasn’t opened a marketer’s e-mail in three and a half years isn’t a viable prospect. Yet in a study of more than 100 retailers, almost one-third were still mailing to these individuals at exactly the same rate they had when their communications were being opened. And another 23% were sending out messages, albeit at a reduced frequency.

Fewer than half (46%) had stopped mailing entirely.

No harm done? Wrong and wrong. Internet service providers (ISPs) are increasingly giving weight to engagement metrics when determining deliverability. They know – and care – which messages are and aren’t being opened, even if marketers don’t. And messages that go unopened will increase the likelihood a marketer will be labeled a spammer. more

For some reason, I am more excited than I have been in quite some time about the DMA in Boston next week. Perhaps it’s because I get to go to a favorite city of mine, have the chance to “mingle” and visit with some of the best marketing minds in the universe and get to see people I don’t see nearly enough.

This year’s conference looks to be a great one, even with me included in the speaker’s line up! I hope we can connect on Monday or Tuesday, and please feel to reach out and say “Hi,” even if we haven’t met yet.

Mike’s Pastries, here I come.

The Whole Foods/LivingSocial deal, under which one million consumers purchased $20 grocery coupons for $10, is already a win for Whole Foods. The high-end supermarket chain has received a wealth of media mentions as a result of the deal, a phenomenon which isn’t likely to be repeated for the next major marketers who sign up with LivingSocial.

So chalk the coverage up as a unique win for Whole Foods, and not necessarily a universal benefit of using LivingSocial. The bigger question is whether the actual deal itself will bring in valuable customers.

The grocery chain has already proven the value of incentivized shopping: Its “The Whole Deal” campaign, which mixes coupons, recipes, in-store value tours and other deals, generated average basket sizes of $66 during its fiscal year 2010. In contrast, its overall average basket in the same stores was $34. more

Steve Jobs has been vacuuming up accolades since he announced he was stepping down as Apple’s CEO, with commentators lauding everything from his engineering savvy to his marketing acumen to his fierce protection of Apple’s exclusivity.

The New York Times’ David Carr adds his own sendoff to Jobs, one which incorporates both huzzahs and raspberries. But nestled within Carr’s piece are a few throwaway lines most of the world could easily blip over…but which may make the hair stand up on the back of data marketers’ necks. more