Breaking E-borders
The International Federation of Direct Marketing Associations (IFDMA) voted last month to support an e-mail preference service without borders, providing e-mail recipients a way to avoid unsolicited marketing e-mail from participating firms. The planned service, voted on at the Global Symposium on Direct Marketing and Self Regulation during the DMA’s annual conference, will be coordinated and accessed globally by IFDMA members in 29 nations.
Fifteen of the IFDMA’s 29 associations agreed to a new Global Convention of Telephone Preference Services, enabling DMers in signatory nations to exchange national do-not-call lists. The convention is modeled after an existing one for mail preference services.
“It’s worth thinking about the problem before it becomes a problem,” said Charles Prescott, the DMA’s vice president of international business development and government affairs. “With telecommunications deregulation, multinational and international telemarketing becomes very feasible.”
The associations also agreed to share information about consumer complaints involving cross-border DM transactions and formed a committee to develop global principles for children’s marketing.
