Old function, new method ... seems to me some folks around here have been saying that there's a lot more similarity to LL Bean and Sears catalogues and telemarketing than to MSFT and folks who PRODUCE proprietary items, not mere distributors of commodities, but please do not let me pessimism stop you from buying at these bargain basement prices -- some others obviously think it's a good buy here.
lp
interactive.wsj.com
October 12, 1998
Direct Marketing Association to Merge
With Association of Interactive Media
By REBECCA QUICK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Direct Marketing Association, eager to adapt its bulk-mailing
techniques for the Internet, plans to announce Monday that it is taking over
the Association of Interactive Media, one of the leading
cyberspace-business trade groups.
The DMA, representing bulk mailers and telemarketers nationwide, hopes
the alliance will give its members a leg up in using the Web to target
consumers.
Most of the DMA's members already use the
Internet, but many are just starting to embrace
the new medium. "They certainly have an
interest in finding out how to do things effectively," said Robert Wientzen,
president and chief executive officer of the DMA. "This acquisition is going
to provide for a technology exchange between two groups."
Many of the DMA's 4,100 members still do most of their marketing
through traditional methods. But the Internet promises a potentially
lucrative medium for these marketers if they can use bulk e-mail and other
interactive marketing methods without annoying recipients.
The Internet offers instant access to millions of users world-wide at a
fraction of the cost of traditional direct marketing. Under the traditional
model, mass marketers pay for the paper, printing and postage of every
piece of mail they send. In cyberspace, bulk e-mailings can be launched to
millions at virtually no cost.
But privacy advocates shudder at the DMA's new focus on the Internet.
The DMA's policies aren't up to speed with the Internet community's
expectations when it comes to sending unsolicited e-mail they say.
"The DMA's attitude is to spam the consumers until they scream, and that's
not the way things are done in cyberspace," said Jason Catlett, president
of Junkbusters Corp., Green Brook, N.J., which promotes privacy on the
Web. "In cyberspace, the consumer finds the seller, not the other way
around."
Spammers often have been fly-by-night operations, and many legitimate
businesses have steered clear of sending bulk e-mailings because frustrated
Internet users have lashed out at spammers. But the DMA hopes
consumers will grow more tolerant of unsolicited e-mail as long as it is
targeted and offers deals people are likely to want. "This strong fear that
consumers have about unsolicited e-mail messages, you don't get that
concerned when you receive a piece of unsolicited mail," Mr. Wientzen
said.
Under terms of the merger, expected to be announced Monday at the
DMA's annual conference in San Francisco, the association agreed to pay
an undisclosed amount and acquire the debt and operating costs for the
Association of Interactive Media. AIM will operate as a subsidiary of
DMA, based in New York.
AIM, Washington, D.C., is a not-for-profit association that represents
nearly 250 organizations that do business on the Internet. Its members
include MindSpring Enterprises Inc., Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank and
CDNow Inc. |
