The Direct Marketing Association, which is attempting to stave off a proxy challenge from board member Gerry Pike, mailed a second request for proxy statements early Wednesday morning.
In a brief message headed “Your DMA Ballot and Proxy are Due - Urgent Do Not Delete!”, the DMA asks recipients to vote on its 2010 DMA board candidates, complete their proxies and return them. The message, which had a personalized salutation, was signed by SVP of member and segment services Ken Ebeling.
It did not mention Pike at all, nor did it refer to the proxy challenge. The DMA’s first message to voting members, which it sent Friday evening, addressed some of the issues raised by Pike head-on (http://directmag.com/news/dma-board-gerry-pike-0928/index.html).
The DMA’s most recent request follows a second message from Pike, who has vowed to wage a direct response e-mail campaign for proxy votes. Pike’s second blast went out Tuesday morning (http://directmag.com/news/pike-letter-dma-aig-0930/).
The DMA declined to comment on whether it plans to send out more reminders; whether it is -- as Pike claims he is -- maintaining a suppression file for those who had already responded (although the most recent DMA message includes the phrase “If you have already cast your ballot - thank you”); or how many proxies it had received.
Pike claimed that within two hours of his first solicitation, which was sent out last Friday, he had received 200 or so proxies, although he declined to update that figure after his second blast.
The DMA also did not comment on whether it had sent out reminder messages to its members in previous years when there had been neither controversies nor challenges.
Pike is hoping to raise concerns regarding DMA president and CEO John A. Greco’s salary, the organization’s value to members, its efficacy as an industry advocacy organization and recent staff cuts and responsiveness to member concerns. He plans to present dissident views regarding the organization during the Oct. 18th DMA annual business meeting, which will be held during the DMA’s annual conference in San Diego.
