The Direct Marketing Summit – organised by US-based data company Infocore – was staged during the MINT Global event in Amsterdam last week; a one-day session of best practices with examples of exciting innovation in the discipline of direct marketing.
President and CEO, Kitty Kolding (pictured) gave a series of presentations and group discussions were held among the audience of marketing experts gathered from around the world.
To begin, she reminded the audience of what direct marketing is all about and gave her generation of marketers the title, ‘Dinosaurs of Direct Marketing’. She said that, while figures prove direct marketing continues to show results for many companies, the general perception is that this traditional marketing method is dying.
To help understand and allay this, the morning session of the Infocore presentation focused on the reasons why – what is currently going wrong? What makes people believe direct marketing (DM) has no chance of survival in this era of social media?
Delegates at the summit discussed effectiveness and heard that, although some might not agree, there is real evidence that direct mail is working and, as long as new marketer practitioners accept it as part of the marketing mix, mailshots can still be effective. It was mentioned that the younger generation of marketers doesn’t understand where the DM generation comes from and how DM practitioners have survived, but they can still work with the channel.
Arnaud Le Lann (owner and CEO at Euroleads) said that marketers today expect immediate results and will not accept anything less. Stephan Merz (CEO Deutscher Direktmarketing Verband e.V.), added that companies are spending more on segmentation, but commented that too much Analytics can have a negative impact on business and not offer clear future directions. Focusing on tech-injected direct, Global Identity Verification models and the use of segmentation systems were also among the topics discussed.
The summit presenters and delegates summed up that change is a process that must be embraced, along with new perspectives and fresh proposals – but it is crucial to understand the different levels and aspects involved. To do so, one must not step too far away from the roots of marketing and always consider the circumstances.
Following the panel discussion and afternoon debate, speakers agreed that ‘the clash of the dinosaurs’ is still some way off!
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