DM Media Digest: German prostitutes test loyalty cards; Susan Boyle scepticism starts...and more

by Nikki Sandison and Noelle McElhatton, Marketing Direct 29-Apr-09, 08:00

LONDON - Marketing Direct's weekly round up of national and international media coverage of direct and digital marketing

German sex workers' reward card acts as ‘stimulus' package
Germany's 400,000 legal sex workers who toil in an $18 billion industry are feeling the recessionary pinch. So the oldest profession is adopting modern marketing tactics, including customer rewards card schemes. Chicago Sun Times, 27 April 2009

Viral marketing and the Boyle effect
The Scotsman asks how much of the Susan Boyle/YouTube phenomenon is down to the internet's instant democracy, and how much of it was contrived to benefit the television talent show and its producers. The Scotsman, 24 April 2009

US DM agency revenue grows despite downturn
Revenue for US marcoms agencies rose 3.7% to $33.7 billion in 2008, according to Ad Age's Agency Report, largely down to digital services. DM agency revenue increased 2.8%, while promotion revenue slipped 0.8%. Sixty per cent of the 900 DM, ad and SP agencies listed reported digital revenue. Ad Age, 27 April 2009

Acxiom tells Daily Telegraph: 'We know where you live'
Major interview with Acxiom chief executive John Meyer in the Daily Telegraph, where he assures the Telegraph reporter that he is on Axciom's database: "Your name, address, phone number. You have a cat. You're right handed. That sort of thing." Meyer took up his position a year ago and has rebranded Axciom as a global integrated marketing services company. The Telegraph, 28 April 2009

X-Men and Star Trek marketing teams battle for top spot
Australian sex symbol Hugh Jackman arrived hanging out of a helicopter at a promotional event for his new movie ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine', while the marketing team for ‘Star Trek' has been working away to generate word-of-mouth among its target audience of 13 to 24-year-olds. The Wolverine event also benefited from the buzz generated when a leaked copy of an almost finished version of the film hit the internet.
Brisbane Times, 29 April 2009

Social media shops provide new-era direct response
An article coinciding with the Inbound Marketing Summit this week in San Francisco talks about the death of traditional advertising and DM and the rise of social media shops. Typical is BzzAgent which operates a network of agents who sample new products and services and then buzz about them online. Another is Advance Guard, whose campaign featuring a robotic stuffed toy that utters messages sent to it via Twitter had a huge response that wowed the client. Boston Globe, 26 April 2009

Facebook opens up more real-time data to external developers
Facebook is planning to open more of its data to external developers, who are particularly excited about the shared content and newsfeed data. Facebook could pack extra punch because of its structure of geographical networks but opening up the newsfeed fully may prove controversial because of the privacy settings of each person mentioned.
The Guardian, 27 April 2009

US retailer Express shares its Twitter strategy
Express devotes a majority of its marketing budget to direct mail and in-store efforts but when Lisa Gavales joined the company she jumped into Twitter and after just three months is nearing 4,000 followers. Many of them are Express shoppers who tweet everything from return policies to becoming a fashion model for the chain. AdAge, 27 April 2009