What does Lester Wunderman, the generally acknowledged “father of direct marketing,” call Vinod Gupta, CEO of infoUSA?
As of yesterday, “boss.”
This is the result of branches of compiled data’s family tree twisting together incestuously, as was the case with infoUSA’s purchase of Direct Media Inc.
Here’s how it happened: About seven-and-a-half years ago, consumer purchase behavior databank I-Behavior inked a deal with Direct Media. Under the terms of the deal, Direct Media agreed to offer I-Behavior’s wares to its customers.
Additionally, Direct Media took an equity position in privately held I-Behavior. Large stake? Small stake? Published accounts don’t say.
Furthermore, Dave Florence, Direct Media’s chairman and co-founder, was given a seat on I-Behavior’s board of advisors, a chair he occupies to this day.
Switch over to I-Behavior’s board of directors. Lester Wunderman, chairman emeritus and founder of the Wunderman direct marketing agency, is the board’s chair. He’s joined there by I-Behavior’s CEO Christopher Dice — who before joining I-Behavior was COO of cooperative data firm Abacus Data Corp.
What’s that? You say there are still some compiling firms missing from this merry mishmash? Well, here’s another riddle: What does John Meyer, the new company leader at Acxiom Corp. (he replaced Charles Morgan earlier this month), call Vinod Gupta, CEO of infoUSA?
As of yesterday, “partner.”
That’s because a year and a week ago, Acxiom and I-Behavior announced a deal through which the two firms would jointly offer consumer purchasing behavior information. Under the terms of that deal, “the partnership also expands Acxiom’s integrated customer marketing databases solutions…In addition, both firms will actively recruit new contributors to I-Behavior’s co-operative database.”
Or, in layman’s terms, Acxiom is now going to be shilling for a firm in which infoUSA, by acquisition, holds an equity stake.
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