Meet the Broker: Mary Ellen Quirk
Today we meet Mary Ellen Quirk, executive vice president, Direct Media Inc. She’s a specialist in publishing lists and feels her experience working for creative agencies and in circulation helps her anticipate clients’ needs.
Her previous gigs were at agency Rapp Collins, list brokerage the Lake Group and the magazine Inside Sports’ circ department.
“I think being in so many different areas of the business has given me a real appreciation for both the constraints and the challenges clients’ face,” she says. “And it has really given me hands-on experience to know what can work and what doesn’t, whether it’s the list, the package, the offer or the creative.”
At Direct Media, Quirk brokers lists for a host of titles ranging from well-established multimillion-subscriber magazines to new launches in niche markets.
One striking change she has observed is how quick the pace is today.
“What’s incredible right now is just the speed,” she says. “Files are now transmitted electronically in hours and it’s redefined the term recency.
“I think this has led to a foreshortened lead time in the planning process. You don’t want to miss anything, so I make sure I look fully at what’s being planned, because it can all happen so fast.”
Predictably, Quirk doesn’t like the decline in print, which overall economic conditions are not helping.
“Some mailers may not make it through the current downturn. Or they may, but they will radically change their business models,” she says. “I think in the case of publications, it may mean reducing circulation or going to an online product or doing both.”
But on the whole she’s optimistic that publishing is here to stay. And she believes direct mail will survive, too.
“When people get their catalogs, direct mail drives them to the Web site,” she points out. “Certainly a lot of mailers have found out when they stop mailing, the hits on their Web site go down too.”
