Channel | Direct Marketing | Print

One of Postmaster General Pat Donahoe

Storms like Hurricane Irene provide an important reminder for database marketers—keep up to date on the news! As the holiday mailing season creeps closer, marketers need to pay close attention to events that can significantly affect deliverability.

Storms like Hurricane Irene provide an important reminder for database marketers—keep up to date on the news! As the holiday mailing season creeps closer, marketers need to pay close attention to events that can significantly affect deliverability.

Welcome to Broker Roundtable, where each week we ask list brokers to give their opinions on issues that matter to the marketing community. This week's question: How much have the U.S. Postal Service's annual summer postage sales helped the industry?

American Express is always testing, but tried and true voucher packages still pull best in their acquisition efforts. Chief Marketer recently talked with Tom Mastrocola, director of subscription acquisition for American Express Publishing Corp., about trends in mail package design, postal concerns and list/database use.

For years there has been a strong demand for pre-movers—people planning to move. This was prompted by moving companies, who wanted to pitch the pre-mover on their upcoming moves. When online surveys became popular, companies started asking "are you planning to relocate within the next three months?" Those names became the first pre-mover lists.

Where should marketers allot their budget dollars in 2012? Chief Marketer recently talked to several marketing professionals to get their opinions in several key areas of spending:

Welcome to Broker Roundtable, where each week we ask list brokers to give their opinions on issues that matter to the marketing community. This week's question: Looking ahead to next year, how important will political mailing lists be—especially in light of Obama's success with electronic media in 2008?

There is no question that the U.S. Postal Service is facing financial trouble. In early September, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe characterized its "restrictive business model" as being in a state of "crisis." Remedies for this crisis could include anything from rate increases to curtailed delivery days to reductions in labor forces.

It seems like odd fit: a well-known cheese brand, Kraft, sponsoring a popular chili cook off whose rules do not allow for the chefs to use cheese as an ingredient in their competitive recipes.