This essay on the future of direct marketing was the winning entry in a competition held by the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing to help celebrate CADM’s 50th anniversary.
LET’S JOURNEY TO DIRECT marketing’s future. Ideas born at the dawn of the 21st century seem embryonic when viewed after their full expression decades later as the 22nd century approaches. DM has morphed from direct marketing to data marketing. DM now drives retail as well as direct. Marketing messages are immediate, constant and at the consumer’s fingertips, but filtered by pre-set consumer preferences. Media, geo-marketing and search have undergone huge transformations.
FILTERING, SEARCH AND GEO-MARKETING
Consumers are always reachable via personal communicators that deliver video, audio and text. These devices, successors to the Web and BlackBerry cell phones, are embedded in clothing (like the Scott eVest, which has a solar panel to charge your phone and a
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