Live from NCDM: Subscription Partners, Integrated Marketing Technology Take NCDM Platinum
Seventy-one years, the current age of the Direct Marketing Association, is a long time for an organization to exist, comedian Greg Schwem noted during the 2007 NCDM Database Excellence Awards.
“What sort of direct marketing was being done during the Woodrow Wilson administration?” he asked.
Schwem’s irreverence brought a light tone to the ceremony, which he emceed. The Database Excellence Awards saw Subscription Partners, LLC and Integrated Marketing Technology, Inc. take home top honors, the platinum award given to the “best of the best” entry chosen from among gold award winners in four categories.
Schwem interspersed distributing awards with gentle tweaks of both the direct marketing community and industry in general. At 71 years, he noted, the DMA’s longevity compared quite favorably with some of the startup companies he’s worked for.
One such firm, despite having been around only since 2004, trumpeted the “41 years’ combined experience of our employees,” he recalled — a dubious bit of math analogous to his taking nine two-year-olds to an R-rated movie and claiming that, combined, they were of age.
“Do the math,” he explained to the ticket clerk. “After the show, I’m going to the day care center, pick up a couple more toddlers and go hit the bars.”
In addition to the platinum award for overall excellence, award winners in four breakout categories included:
Analytics & Modeling Applications Category
Gold: Subscription Partners, LLC (marketer) and Integrated Marketing Technology, Inc. (agency) Silver: Adobe Systems, Inc. (marketer) and G2 Knowledge Consulting (agency) Bronze: Madison Square Garden
Technological Applications Category
Gold: The New York Times (marketer) and The Allant Group (agency) Silver: The Allstate Corporation (marketer) and ChoicePoint Precision Marketing (agency) Bronze: CognitiveDATA, Inc.
Multichannel Marketing Category
Gold: Progressive Enterprises Limited (marketer) and Proximity iD Limited (agency) Silver: Intrawest Corporation (marketer) and Responsys, Inc. (agency) Bronze: Packard Bell (marketer) and Neolane (agency)
Business-to-Business Category
Silver: EMC Corporation Bronze: UnitedHealthcare (marketer) and Digital Marketing Inc (agency)
The awards were presented during a luncheon ceremony at the National Center for Database Marketing Conference, which runs through Wednesday.
