There’s an extra special reason to attend the ever-popular springtime gathering of direct and interactive marketers at the side of the River Thames this month . . .

The eighth annual International Direct Marketing Networking Party at the Little Ship Club will be starting earlier than its usual evening slot on Monday April 27, to include an afternoon of industry debate.

Held on the eve of the Internet World show (Earls Court, April 28-30; www.internetworld.co.uk), tickets for the Little Ship Club party include a free debating session – which starts at 3.30pm – and can be booked here:  http://www.pacnet.memlink.org/dmnp/default.aspx

Under discussion will be: ‘The Cross Media Challenge – Making the most of integrated campaigns’. The debating panel will explore the marketing effectiveness of integrated campaigns and the challenges they present. Case studies will illustrate how some very different products have benefitted from an integrated approach, despite the established ‘system’ of individual agencies for each channel and a lack of cross-media analysis. Panellists confirmed so far will include Rosemary Smith (RSA Direct), Dominic Duffy (Ceros.com) and Ian Hughes (Consumer Intelligence).