U.K. DMA Slams E-mail Opt-in Proposal

Association’s CEO argues that ARM’s policy would hurt DMers APROPOSAL for e-mail marketing regulations in Great Britain has drawn sharp criticism from the U.K. Direct Marketing Association as being against the interests of direct marketers, especially smaller advertisers. The opt-in policy was prepared by media planning and buying agency All Response Media (ARM), London, and has already picked up support from U.K. e-mail bureau 24/7, a number of similar agencies and e-mail data owners.

ARM director Colin Gillespie says: “What we’ve done is create a document to start the conversation among media owners. What we have seen in this area is little accountability as far as list owners are concerned.” That’s why the core of the e-mail marketing proposal covers the responsibilities of e-mail list vendors and e-mail marketing bureaus to ensure the quality of their data.

But what concerns the U.K. DMA is the suggestion that opt-in should be adopted by all those involved with online data. Currently, U.K. and European law only requires data subjects to be given an opportunity to opt out. Gillespie says the reason for this proposal is to pre-empt any emerging backlash.

“We’re very aware of the rising expenditure in this area and the issue of opt-in. Before everything goes ballistic, we should do something. We need to have industry codes of practice that people buy into on a voluntary basis,” says Gillespie. He points to similar steps that already have been taken in the United States.

But U.K. DMA chief executive Colin Lloyd believes choosing opt-in as the basis for online data capture would set a dangerous precedent for all data used by direct marketers. And he believes it favors a small group of practitioners over the majority of DMers.

“The opt-in requirement has been mainly driven by those that will benefit from it, like Internet service providers,” Lloyd says. They want to avoid the possibility of bulk e-mail distributions because it would force them to invest more heavily in their networks to handle the traffic, even though their revenue streams from subscribers would remain the same.

“My argument is also that to achieve opt-in, you have to spend money on advertising to get somebody onto your Web site. What about a small garage owner, for example, who just wants to send a few e-mails to prospects because he can’t afford to do direct mail? How will he acquire those names? Small companies should be able to buy properly cleaned lists,” says Lloyd. He notes that there are 4 million businesses in the United Kingdom with a turnover under $375 million that would be affected.

Gillespie counters that “I don’t know why this has antagonized the [U.K.] DMA. I don’t like to think it’s because we are not members.” He believes Lloyd’s argument about small companies misses the point: “Are they saying it’s OK to spam?” As e-mail volume grows in the United Kingdom, Gillespie and others believe it’s vital to have the best practices in place to avoid any backlash.

“We’re not getting negative feedback from consumers now, and only very little concern about how they got on an e-mail list. But that will grow as more media owners enter the permission marketing arena without guidelines,” he says. Although the U.K. DMA does have e-marketers represented on its committees, it has not so far adapted its code of practice to cover new media.

However, a reorganization of the association’s structure is under way that’s intended to offer online marketers better representation. Given this change, and the popularity of e-mail marketing among its membership, it appears as if the U.K. DMA is going to have to settle the very argument it started.

Senior vice president spent 22 years at the DMA Richard A. Barton, the Direct Marketing Association’s senior vice president for congressional matters, said at press time that he would retire Dec. 31, 2000 after 22 years with the organization.

Barton, who is pursuing his doctorate in public policy at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, said he plans to become an industry consultant on postal and privacy issues.

DMA president/CEO H. Robert Wientzen was expected to name a successor to Barton shortly.

Born in Baltimore, Barton earned his undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University in 1960 and his master’s from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Between 1961 and 1978, when he joined the DMA as vice president for public affairs, Barton served as an aide to former Louisiana congressmen Hale Boggs and James Morrison, helping to write the legislation that transformed the old Post Office Department into the U.S. Postal Service.

In the early 1980s Barton was appointed the DMA’s senior vice president for government affairs. Six years ago he was named to the then-new position of DMA senior vice president for congressional matters.