DMI Starts Consumer Co-op

Direct Media Inc. launched a consumer co-op database Tuesday comprised of 100 merchandise and publishing response files. And more co-ops are in the offing, said the Greenwich, CT list firm.

The LifeFile Data co-op includes 3.3 million last-12-month postal records.

The co-op was developed because there are so few new lists, said Rosemarie Montroy, chief marketing officer at DMI. “If you go to a client meeting, the first thing anyone says to you is, ‘What’s new? Any new names coming out?’ And there aren’t.”

Each list has been merged, deduped and enhanced with Acxiom’s InfoBase data, Montroy said.

The database files are marketed as “lifefiles” and are broken down into three segments. The Lifelines file features ethnic and religious enhancements. Lifephases are demographics and Lifetrends are psychographics, such as fashion interests, cat owners, hobbies and personal investing, among many more.

Each file is priced at $85 per thousand. The fundraiser rate is $75 flat.

LifeFile Data is a blind co-op, which means particular lists aren’t identified. List owners share in the co-op’s monthly revenue based on how many of their names were rented that month. Not all of the list owners who contributed a file to the database are DMI clients, Montroy said.

The LifeFile Data co-op is the first in a series, Montroy said. Another 15 or 20 new databases are being developed.