Oct 02

Response September: Performance-Based or Bust

Response September 2015With Response‘s October issue wrapped and off to the printer today — and a biz trip to Vegas in the cards for next week — today’s the perfect time to put together my personal recap of the magazine’s September issue. Always one of our bigger issues of the year, September is led by a piece on the multifaceted integrated marketing programs at Bridgestone Americas, the world’s largest tire company, and includes the annual State of the Industry Report, as well as a series of solid contributed columns — all speaking to the expansion of the performance-based marketing universe. The expansion is so rapid and diverse, honestly, that we decided to update our cover tagline beginning with this issue. Yes, Response is now “The Magazine for Performance-Based Marketers.”

  • In May, I received a press release from Cassie Jones, a senior account executive at PadillaCRT, the public relations agency for Bridgestone. The release touted a then-upcoming TV campaign for its new DriveGuard tires that starred actor/comedian Will Arnett, perhaps best known for his character Gob Bluth on the hit TV show “Arrested Development.” I responded to Cassie, inquiring about the campaign and its overall fit in any direct, digital, or data-driven efforts underway by the Bridgestone marketing team. All credit goes to Cassie for listening to what our readers want from Response and producing an interview in late June with Amber Holm and Scott Palubinsky, talking about how performance-based metrics are becoming crucial to not only Bridgestone’s tire sales, but also for its 2,200 retail stores under the Tires Plus, Wheel Works, and Firestone Complete Auto Care brands. If you missed the link to the cover story above, here it is again: The Rubber Meets the Road
  • In the print and digital pages of Response, readers were able to hear a cross-section of answers from members of our Advisory Board as part of the magazine’s 20th annual State of the Industry Report. However, one of the best parts of our online edition is the opportunity to expand on such stories. For years now, we’ve been able to present the full, unabridged answers from all of our Advisory Board members who choose to take part in the story to each question. This version is no different. So, if you’ve read the print version and were left wanting more, click the link now to read the extended, Web-exclusive version of the story: Response Magazine’s 20th Annual State of the Industry Report
  • On a monthly basis, we run somewhere between two and six submitted columns from experts in the industry. These pieces are designed to share thought leadership from those who do the work of the performance-based marketing world on a daily basis, touching on hot topics and providing crucial tips and tricks for our readers. The September issue was no different — other than the fact that, from my perspective as the person who assigns and edits each and every one of these submissions, we were lucky to have a couple of exceedingly strong viewpoints. Doug Garnett of Portland, Ore.-based Atomic Direct (and a long-time Advisory Board member) touched on how DRTV is a boon for online businesses, while Venable LLP‘s Jeff Knowles and Ellen Berge gave readers the lowdown on new EMV credit card technology and how it could cause a burst of fraudulent activity in card-not-present processing. (Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a shout to the Washington, D.C., law firm’s practice group development manager Chuck Wilkins, whose help has been invaluable to Response‘s editorial efforts over the years).
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings recap takes a look at the first DR radio results of 2015. Those results maintained a recently positive trend for the market, showing a minor 1.6-percent increase over results from the same time frame in 2014. Lately, with recent DRTV billings struggling, it’s been refreshing to get around to the radio results each quarter. This quarter is no different, as a small jump in the total number of radio campaigns and increased spending on small-to-mid-level campaigns point to a strengthening marketplace. For a more in-depth look at 1Q 2015 DR radio media billings, click here: 1Q 2015 DR Radio Media Billings Stay Positive
  • Last but not least: not only do I own up to playing fantasy football for the past two decades in my September Editor’s Note column, I’m able to link that to the incredible expansion of weekly fantasy sports, brought to you on your TV nightly by businesses like DraftKings and FanDuel. What do these recently valued billion-dollar entities see in the combination of short-form DRTV and their fully digital product? And what does their ubiquitous advertising mean for the performance-based marketing business? If you missed the link to the column above, here it is once again: Fantasy-Level Media Investments Signal Huge Opportunities

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Jul 07

Response June: Viviscal and Visions of a Growing Market

Response June 2015The June issue of Response actually started coming together at a poolside bar in Miami Beach in January. For more of that anecdote — and on the issue as a whole, which went live online a couple of weeks back — keep on reading below.

  • Yes, a poolside bar in Miami Beach. That’s where I was introduced to Mark Holland, North American CEO for Lifes2good, the Ireland-based marketer of hair-growth supplement Viviscal. During an industry event, I was called over to the bar after wrapping another meeting, where Holland was meeting with one of his vendors. A quick introduction turned into a conversation about new campaign success metrics that Response was digging into more deeply — something of great interest to Holland, as you’ll read in the story. From there, after some further conversation, we’d slated Holland to sit on a panel at Response Expo and decided that Viviscal’s story — a long-term retail success that was now being promoted with long-form DRTV — would be an outstanding fit for our pharma/nutraceutical issue. If you missed the link above, here it is again: A Vivid Plan for Growth
  • Trends in the long-form and short-form DRTV space, as well as hot new categories like digital goods and online-to-offline marketers, form the basis for our second quarterly Response Advisors Forum of 2015. In the story, five of our esteemed Advisory Board members kick around the struggling long-form space, growth opportunities in new marketing spaces, and the outlook for direct response marketing in the coming months. If you didn’t already click the link above — here it is: Change Agents.
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings recap takes one last look at 2014 DR radio results. Though the astronomical rise in 4Q 2014 likely can be attributed to an unreported error in fourth-quarter 2013 results from Kantar Media, there’s no doubt that the DR radio market enjoyed its strongest year in some time — seven years, as a matter of fact. Can the radio space continue to ride the wave in 2015? We’ll find out — but for a more in-depth look at 4Q 2014 DR radio media billings, click here: Turn It Up! DR Radio Wraps Best Year Since 2007
  • As noted in recent issues — and again in the note above on our Advisors Forum story this month — more and more online marketers are finding extensive success by taking their marketing efforts offline. My June Editor’s Note column touches on this idea and more. The pool of marketers utilizing direct, digital and data-driven marketing methods across all media is growing — and that’s great news for the agencies and vendors serving the space. Here’s that link once again: Entry Points Into Direct and Digital Marketing Continue to Expand

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!

Apr 13

Response March: Vistaprint’s Vision, Housewares Galore and a New Spotlight

Forgive me for my tardiness, but the March issue of ResponseResponse Digital March went live less than a week before my wedding and 2-week honeymoon to Fiji — so, honestly, getting this post up took a pretty deep back seat to all of that. When I returned to work a little more than a week ago, it was right into the teeth of planning for next week’s Response Expo. However, late this afternoon, I had a chance to dig into the issue for my regular look at some of the back story behind some key pieces in the issue.

  • This month’s cover feature on Vistaprint, the now well-known online business services provider, came to us via our link with media agency Havas Edge. For years, the presenting sponsor of Response Expo‘s keynote address, Edge and its leader, Steve Netzley (a member of Response‘s Advisory Board), are not only key partners for us but also one of the leading media agencies in the direct, digital and data-driven world. Netzley connected me directly with Peter Tardif, Vistaprint’s director of North American channels and markets, in fall 2014. His company’s story of utilizing offline media to drive response to Vistaprint’s website is one that’s becoming more and more familiar to readers of Response. Next week, Expo attendees interested in hearing more about Tardif’s work at Vistaprint will have the opportunity to see him as part of a panel discussion on Wednesday, April 22 at 3 p.m. If you missed the link above, here it is again: Getting Down to Business
  • As usual, our March issue was timed out to take part in bonus distribution opportunities at the International Home+Housewares Show in Chicago — as well as our very own DRMA reception during the event. With housewares continuing to be a crucial category for marketers and service providers in our world, we took our annual look at what’s hot and happening in the space — from both a product and a method standpoint. Not surprisingly, digital continues to expand its influence among housewares marketers big and small. If you didn’t click the link above, here’s another chance to read the story: Moving Housewares
  • The March issue also marks the return of our DRMA Spotlight section after a few months off, as DRMA member Swipe Payment Solutions joined us for a Spotlight Update Q&A. Now chief operations officer for the payment processing company, Curtis Kleinman is well-known in the direct response space for his tireless networking efforts. If you missed the link above and want to catch up with what’s new at Swipe, click here: DRMA Spotlight: Processing the Right Answers for Clients
  • Our monthly direct response TV and radio media billings update focuses on third-quarter 2014 DR radio results, which were shockingly good. With a 50-percent jump over 2013’s 3Q numbers — pushed mainly by the network radio outlet and the “Drug and Toiletry” category — these third-quarter results were the best in the DR radio market since the middle of the past decade. For a deeper dive into 3Q 2014 DR radio media billings, click here: 3Q 2014 DR Radio Media Billings Spike 50.3 Percent
  • As noted in last month’s blog post, February marked the debut of for our new exclusive research page provided via a partnership with DRMetrix. I’m of such a strong opinion on the power of this new research that I decided to cover it once again in my Editor’s Note column this month. For years, research in direct response television has been hampered by a number of blind spots and a lack of technology. DRMetrix truly takes some major strides in shining a light on some of those long-term dark spaces. In case you missed the link to the piece, here it is once again: Introducing the ‘Metrix’ System: New Research for All Marketers Using DR

Thanks again for reading and interacting with Response!