Direct marketers awoke on Feb. 10 to find that there was more competition in the database compiling business – or less, depending on how you look at it.
Equifax, the Atlanta-based credit bureau, signed a deal to acquire the Customer Information Services Group of R.L. Polk & Co., Southfield, MI, for roughly $260 million. Included in the purchase, which is expected to close by April 30, are the TotaList and Lifestyle Selector databases.
The acquired units, which generate $165 million a year, contain data on 180 million consumers and 105 million households. This information is culled from 250 sources, including public records and product registrations.
Prior to the deal, Polk’s was the last big stand-alone compiling operation. In a three-year period, Donnelley Marketing was acquired by FirstData and then by InfoUSA; Metromail was purchased by Experian; and I Rent America became part of KnowledgeBase Marketing.
Despite this consolidation, most industry observers agree that the Polk acquisition will help mailers by bringing another player with major resources into the market. Equifax will now have a direct marketing arm similar to those of the other major credit bureaus – Experian and TransUnion.
Not that everyone is applauding the deal. Some observers wonder about the impact of the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. The Shelby amendment to the DPPA requires that state motor vehicle programs get express permission from drivers before releasing data on them for marketing purposes, potentially limiting the availability of vehicle identifiers to products such as TotaList.
Equifax executives are down-playing these concerns. “The Supreme Court ruling on the amendment is a non-event in this transaction,” says Michael Shannon, senior vice president, corporate development for the credit bureau. “It is one of many, many different sources of data for TotaList. It is not critical for the success of TotaList.” Shannon adds, “We believe that the data will continue to be available, if not from the states than from other sources. There’s opt-in data.”
He notes that the Shelby amendment “affects the transportation side more than the direct marketing side,” referring to the operations retained by Polk. Polk will continue to serve the automotive industry, although the two companies are expanding their strategic relationship to jointly serve their mutual customers.
But there’s no question this is a big deal. Polk’s direct marketing group generates $98 million a year, 60% of the purchased properties’ revenue. The Polk City Directory accounts for one-third ($55 million) of the group’s revenue.
Polk will retain its Global Transportation business, which provides services to the automobile industry; the automotive-related portions of Polk Canada; and its Geographic Data Technology and Carfax subsidiaries.
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