At some point in life, people start being less stirred up and more scared by presidential elections. The same is true, I now believe, of DMA fall conferences.
Gone are the days when the event was attended by a close-knit group of people who partied hard and then returned home with list orders or whatever they went there to get.
Today’s attendees face a staggering array of session choices and an exhibit hall that may take three full days of walking to cover. And much of what they will hear from speakers this year will be contradictory and hardly reassuring.
For starters, there’s a postal rate case in the offing and serious regulatory challenges. Moreover, business remains flat for many firms, and it’s no mystery why: The economy was stagnant this summer, and at deadline consumer confidence was ebbing.
Then there are the problems unique to individual sectors.
Still, we expect that this year’s crowd will hear a lot of good news as well, for the industry does seem to have regained its footing (and its senses).
Stripped of their illusions, companies are building their Internet businesses in a sane way. The online revolution, contrary to what many believed five years ago, has turned out to be 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, and that’s good.
Even the most hell-bent dot-commers are no longer focused on mastering one medium at the expense of all others. Now they’re pursuing multichannel marketing.
Moreover, every reputable company of any size is now privacy conscious, and allows customers to choose the channels through which they will be contacted. Direct marketers invented CRM, and they are the leading exponents of it.
There is, of course, one interesting variable on tap this year. In August, John Greco came on board as the new DMA president.
It will be months before we get to fully know his leadership style, but we will all see him in action at the fall conference. We’ve heard good things about John, not only from the search committee, but from several DMers who have already met him. He is interested in what members have to say.
Like his predecessor, he will have a full plate of problems to deal with. But he also will get a chance to steer the DMA (and by extension, the industry) into a prosperous new era.
To him, we say: Welcome aboard. See you in New Orleans.
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