Meet the Broker: Lutz Schremmer
Today we meet Lutz Schremmer, a partner and vice president of list brokerage with MeritDirect. Schremmer has 12 years of experience as a witness to an industry reinventing itself.
He is grateful to be working with databases because it frees his time from chasing individual list orders in an otherwise shrinking universe of response lists.
“The reality is most brokers have shifted to working in a database environment. Let’s face it. Anyone can order a list. On that level, a list is just a commodity,” says Schremmer.
He sources business-to-business lists derived from databases to target the office supplies, sales and marketing, high tech, seminars and human resources markets. His client relationships include Personalized Concepts, FranklinCovey, Taylor Corp., PaperDirect and Get Motivated Seminars.
Schremmer has a B.A. in architecture from Columbia University; he changed his career to direct marketing in 1995 during a slump in the building industry.
He started as a broker at Direct Media Inc., where incidentally he met his wife before they both later joined MeritDirect. This data duo has a girl 16, and a boy, 13.
Schremmer works from a home office in Hilton Head, SC, and he travels frequently for work. Outside of work he devotes his time to parenting, helping his kids with homework and playing golf.
“I enjoy fishing too, but since I caught and released a 10 foot sailfish a few months ago, I can retire from saltwater fishing, since it won’t get any better than that,” he says.
Does consolidation in the list business really matter?
Consolidation is a reflection of the brokerage business in transition. Nothing lasts forever, whether it’s a neighborhood travel agency or the horse and buggy, Schremmer points out.
In his opinion, the survivors will be those that can best make a transition from list researchers and order takers to circulation planners and, eventually, outsourced marketing departments.
“Traditional list brokerage is heading the same way as the buggy whip business,” he says.
Can you give one example of a postal list market in decline?
“I’ve seen a good chunk of list brokerage for the publishing industry just go away,” says Schremmer.
Many publishers are acquiring more new subscribers online because it’s less expensive than direct mail, he explains.
Know someone you’d like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mail [email protected]
