A Fair Chance for New Media

FOR EACH OF the past four years I’ve had the pleasure of attending London’s International Direct Marketing Fair, there’s been a cultural milestone or world event that’s served as a touchstone in my mind for the event.

For example, during my first visit to London for the fair at Wembley, the news of mad cow disease spread worldwide (the morning after I’d enjoyed a big steak dinner, naturally).

The following year, the pervading cultural influence was the Spice Girls, who seemed to be everywhere, including the DM fair. (One stand alternately attracted and repulsed attendees with a life-size cardboard cutout of Spice-like babes extolling “Tell us what you want…”)

Last year, the U.K.-born Teletubbies’ pending invasion…er, debut in the United States (Tubbymarketing! Tubbymarketing!) was the mark of pop culture-or lack thereof. On a more serious note, this year’s time abroad coincided with two events of global significance: the European Commission members’ en masse resignation and the horrors in Kosovo.

But finding a direct marketing touchstone to symbolize the show has always been a bit more difficult. Like the annual fall Direct Marketing Association conference here, London’s fair is so sprawling and diverse it’s hard to put your finger on one theme that wraps up the package.

So, as usual, the 1999 fair was hard to define in a thumbnail. But next year will be different. For 2000, I think I can safely say new media will take center stage at Wembley.

Into the Future Do I have a crystal ball? Or do I just know the world of DM so well that I can prognosticate with confidence? No and no. The answer is much more realistic.

In a move strikingly similar to our DMA’s transformation of its spring conference into the net.marketing show, DM fair sponsor Reed Exhibitions has launched New Media Marketing, a conference that will run concurrently with the fair starting next year, March 14-16.

Is this a smooth move? Heck, yeah. The fair traditionally attracts a surprisingly small amount of new media exhibitors, prompting DIRECT in past years to run articles about the show with headlines like “Where are the Webheads?” (May 1, 1997). It’s a striking contrast to any U.S. direct marketing event, where you can’t swing a dead cat (or would a mouse be the more appropriate animal?) without hitting some Internet vendor touting the latest and greatest Web innovation.

Attendees of both shows will be able to go back and forth between events (admission to both is free), but New Media Marketing will have its own marketing campaign. Reed Exhibitions director Malcolm Whitmarsh says he wants to reach individuals who don’t “buy into the fair because its not their core market.”

Exhibitors I talked with were intrigued by the prospect of the new show, although one-Adam Sutcliffe, new media manager of online marketing consultancy pres.com-brought up the valid point that there are already “loads and loads of Web-type conferences, many quite successful.”

Let’s Stay Together New Media Marketing will occupy a hall adjacent to the fair with space for an estimated 70 stands (the fair itself had 325 this year). Whitmarsh says Reed is moving cautiously, as it’s uncertain of the size of the market. The show could eventually be folded back into the fair, or spun off as an entirely separate event.

Colin Lloyd, chief executive of the U.K. DMA, isn’t in favor of a spinoff.

“That would be a big mistake,” he says. “It’s all part of the same process. We need to bring direct marketing into this new environment and make it seamless.”

I agree. Direct marketing always has been and always should be an integrated discipline. There is much “Webheads” can learn from traditional direct marketers and vice versa.

While it’s undeniable that converting the DMA’s spring conference to an interactive forum helped boost the attendance and energy levels of the show, I can’t help but feel that attendees might be getting only one course of what could be a marketing feast.

As Whitmarsh and others have noted, the reason most new media firms shy away from London’s DM fair is that they feel they have nothing in common with the businesses traditionally associated with direct marketing, like envelope manufacturers, printers, list brokers and telemarketing bureaus.

Here’s hoping the fair’s new “sideshow” will warm them to the idea that new media is indeed an integral part of the direct marketing circus.

Pushing the Envelope and other columns and features from DIRECT are posted online at www.directmag.com.