Star Power at DMA: Larry Kimmel & Bret Michaels

Ask an outsider who was the biggest star at the DMA:2010 keynote on Monday and they’d likely say rocker Bret Michaels.

And yeah, Michaels has had hit records and he won “Celebrity Apprentice.” But the real standout performer was new Direct Marketing Association CEO Larry Kimmel.

Everyone I talked to was impressed with Kimmel’s on-stage persona and message. I walked into the hall right at 9 a.m., to find it dark with images of lightning crackling around the room. I feared we were in store for a bit of wacky keynote performance art. And it was just too darn early in the day for wacky.

But then, the lights came up and the song “I Can See Clearly Now” boomed over the loudspeakers as Kimmel took the stage.

In contrast to many previous DMA keynotes, this was a positive experience, and not in a silly, rah-rah kind of way. While highlighting the prominent role direct marketing now plays in, well, all marketing, he reminded attendees that there was still a lot of work to do when it comes to improving the public perception of DM. As an example, he cited the crazily inaccurate Wikipedia definition of direct marketing.

Kimmel seemed at ease on the dais, and even had his parents there in the audience (awwwww