The head of the Direct Marketing Association pulled no punches in his keynote address yesterday.
“This has been the toughest year the DMA has gone through,” H. Robert Wientzen, CEO of the DMA told his audience after emerging from a magician’s trick box—perhaps a metaphor for the bind the industry finds itself in with more legislation, spam and a poor economy.
Among the roster of bad news, more than 50 privacy bills have been introduced in Congress, and 500 in the states, he said. The DMA won two court battles to halt the federal do-not-call list, but “We have not won in the very powerful court of public opinion.” And, California has passed an “outrageous” law that outlaws sending most commercial e-mail to anyone in the state who has not explicitly requested it, he said.
He related the DMA’s remedies, including a push for federal spam legislation, standing up against the DNC and developing technology and self-regulatory methods. But he also voiced optimism, saying, “We face a ‘perfect storm’ of opportunities.”
The marketers’ code during these trying times? “Honor thy customer,” he said to applause.
The DMA also released its annual economic forecasting report on Monday. Marketers are projected to produce $904 billion in sales attributed to lead generation in 2003, which is 20% lower than last year, it said. Sales attributed to traffic generation are expected to reach $212.6 billion in sales. Total DM-driven sales are projected to reach $1.7 trillion in 2003, 13% lower than last year’s $2 trillion.
American marketers this year are expected to generate $635 billion in direct order sales, a 6.6% increase over 2002. Direct order sales are projected to compound 7.3% annually, exceeding $900 billion in 2008.
Marketers are projected to spend $203 billion on direct response advertising—a 5% increase over 2002 ad spending. Web-driven DR sales are projected to generate the strongest growth of all direct marketing channels, $41 billion in 2003, a 22% increase over 2002 sales.
Catalogs are forecast to reach $133 billion in 2003 sales.
