Direct Media Holds 25th Annual Co-op

Tracking E-Visitors May Soon Get a Lot Tougher SCRAP YOUR COOKIES. Within three years, legislation will prohibit the involuntary identification of visitors to Web sites, according to Rodney Joffe, president of Whitehat.com Inc.

Joffe made this prediction – and others – during Direct Media’s annual Business Mailers co-op in White Plains, NY in July. The event was the first of two dueling co-ops to take place within a week of each other. (For a report on the other gathering, hosted by MeritDirect, see story below.)

Joffe said that the use of cookies and other tracking devices will become obsolete as politicians pass legislation to block the use of such technology.

“I’m telling you now that if your business is based on cookies and tracking, you’re out of luck,” he said. “As a user, I may allow you to set a cookie on my computer, but you will have to convince me that there’s value there.”

Joffe also predicted that the notion of the Internet as a place will disappear. “Customers may never see your Web site directly,” he said.

That means consumers will no longer browse from site to site or log on to a specific site to shop. Those tasks will be replaced by “personal agents” or programs designed to conduct searches for specific items or services. “This will have an enormous impact on marketers,” Joffe commented.

“All the more reason to establish a relationship with your customers,” added Ruth Stevens, chief marketing officer at IPNetwork.com, New York, who joined Joffe onstage to react to his predictions.

Joffe went on to say that the numerous electronic devices now in use will be integrated and that marketers will need to ensure that the data displayed on, say, a Web site is compatible with a smaller, handheld device. “Prepare now,” he cautioned.

Stevens noted that a perennial problem already exists in tracking the value of marketing investments in a multichannel environment, and could be compounded by the use of integrated electronic devices. “As ROI direct marketers, we need to know if any of our marketing investments have paid off,” she said.

Also in the near future? A working closed-loop system, to include contacts for every stage of the marketing and buying process, from order entry to fulfillment operations.

So, how accurate are Joffe’s predictions? Here’s a sampling he offered some six years ago, when the word “Internet” was barely a blip on the direct marketing horizon.

– Request a domain name now or lose it.

– The printed catalog will be extinct within five years. Printers like R.R. Donnelley and Alden Press will be out of business or involved in something else.

– In DR ads, 800 numbers will be replaced by URLs.

– The publishing industry will be the first to be turned upside down, as books, magazines and newspapers will be published, sold and delivered online at practically no cost.

– When prospects visit an e-catalog, they will be greeted by name and presented with a personalized catalog.

– Marketers will be able to track consumers’ movements.

– Marketers will photograph a new product, create copy, conduct price tests and know the results, all within hours.