Sally Hooton was pleasantly surprised to join a throng of international marketers at the recent DMA09 event in the US.

No matter what any critics might say – and there are always plenty of those – the best conference and exhibition on the planet for direct and interactive marketers is still the one held every autumn, somewhere in the States.

This year, it was in San Diego and, although it didn’t attract the huge crowds of bygone, boom years, plenty of people pitched up. On the awful red-eyed flight(s) over, I had imagined I would be walking solo along a deserted sun-drenched beach – so close to the Mexican border you can smell the drug barons – in search of something upbeat to report.

But, if we are all supposed to be on the edge of ruin and despair, we were hiding it jolly well! Apart from among the rows of homeless people – their lives in shopping trolleys arrayed along the east side of this temperate seaside town – I didn’t feel any sense of desperation; maybe just a little lingering unease about business stability.
And inside the DMA09 conference centre, the exhibition floor isles were busy – yes, really! The amount of stands seemed up on last year and the buzz was definitely back. Exhibitors were, by and large, sporting smiles rather than the stoic, clenched grins they wore in Las Vegas DMA08, when oh-so-much was at stake and trade was clearly tanking.

So, is the global economic climate we are told is improving beginning to warm up direct marketers? Are we really on the verge of sunnier times? Or was it just a case of California dreaming . . . Well, some erstwhile stalwarts didn’t show up and the ‘International Pavilion’ within the exhibition hall was frankly dismal – surely our global DM world is not as small as that? Are the booths too expensive, I asked? Is the USA DMA charging like a wounded rhino? Some DMA members claimed they had plenty to be sore about – but mostly it was leadership issues and million dollar smiles which were hurting them. The soaring cost of sponsorship had also created some grinding of teeth – but more about that later.

Conference sessions varied in terms of audience turn-out – DMI columnist Herschell Gordon Lewis was as popular as ever but some audiences were down to three or four; which is tough on the speakers who have spent precious time researching their material. This ‘fall show’ is noted for its long-held role as a quality educator but, as one attendee told me: “The sessions are as good as ever but they just ain’t cheap. We may be upbeat, but we sure ain’t flush.”

I noted acquisition and prospecting sessions were generally better attended this year than those focusing
on retention and loyalty – giving us insight into a marketer’s post-recession strategy, perhaps?

Survival instinct
Keynote speaker and omnipresent lifestyle guru Martha Stewart almost filled the vast main hall; all of us dying to know how she made it from mom to mogul with only a few blips along the way (OK, one fairly large blip). Without mentioning that jail term, she showed her survival instinct, declaring her maxim to be: “When you are through changing, you are through.”

Her best advice for direct and interactive marketers was: “You must be where the customers are to maximise their attention.” She dubbed Twitter the Walmart of the Internet and  “a good way to reach people” and reported her 140-character recipes – although a challenge to devise – work perfectly!

Later in the day, there was a chance for internationals to ‘Meet the Global Leaders’ – a regular session in which heads of various DMAs from around the world present relevant information and news about their regions, answering any questions from the floor. This time, chaired by the USA DMA’s global development VP, Jodie Sangster, those on the podium were: Rob Edwards (Australia); Mary Teahan (Argentina); Alastair Tempest (Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing); and Yousef Hamidaddin (Arab DMA). Sadly, their audience was the smallest I have ever seen at this event. Where was everyone? Two similarly global sessions were being held at the same time as this – one addressing green issues, another on Internet law.

Did they thin the crowd?
Shoot the programmer!

There are still very few conference sessions where cross-border marketers can glean quality advice about different markets; there will be even less if sessions clash and thus lack support.

Another opportunity for internationals to get together and share information is the FEDMA List Council Breakfast Meeting, which is held twice a year – during the US fall show and in Europe in the spring. This meeting drew a bigger crowd, Alastair Tempest is pleased to announce! It was also chaired by Zena Manda (Mardev, UK), delighted to be back in the hot seat again after time away.

School disco
As for those sponsored events I mentioned earlier – no DMA parties or ‘school discos’ had been arranged to welcome weary international travellers to this flagship show – which I’m told is worth 70 per cent of the DMA cash cow. Perhaps potential party sponsors felt that cow  was being bled dry.

So, the internationals got on with it and arranged their own soirées. First up was a superb evening courtesy of Pacnet Services, Data Services Inc, Regency Direct Mail and international Caging Services. More than 300 thronged this global networking event and it was clearly an ideal place to exchange business cards as well as genial banter: I witnessed a couple of good deals being done next to the bar!

This bonhomie and cheer continued the following evening at this magazine’s own networking event – whimsically entitled Direct Margarita International – where those drinks and many similar ones went down very well with the Mexican fare on offer. Again kindly sponsored by Data Services Inc, alongside Call Credit Marketing Solutions, Brokers Worldwide, Global-Z International, Consumer intelligence and Mardev – it was a truly international occasion with visitors attending from 14 different countries.

DMI will be continuing to stage and support these hugely valuable networking events around the world. As publisher Matt Edgar said: “They take a bit of organising – sourcing the venue blind, in advance and from a distance, then letting everyone know when and where to meet can be tricky. But it’s so worthwhile because the events are eternally popular and there are precious few occasions when everyone can congregate.”

He added: “There is less and less call for big ticket affairs which cost thousands in this new age of thrift – so we all have to work together to get together.” Watch this space for details of our next DMI networking event.

But one ‘big ticket’ affair which does still draw a good crowd Stateside is the DMA International Echo Awards gala evening. Judges this year sifted through around a thousand entries from a total of 16 countries to find almost 100 award winners.

The diamond ‘best in show’ Echo was given to Tourism Queensland and CumminsNitro Brisbane, Australia, for the Best Job In The World campaign – a tourism promotion dressed up as a recruitment drive which garnered worldwide coverage and tens of thousands of applicants: a worthy winner.

I can’t possibly record all I witnessed on these two pages – make the trip and find out for yourself! The DMA10 fall show will be back on the west coast  of the USA next time – we left our hearts in San Francisco back in 2006 (and 2002), when DMA showtime gusto was at its height and the R-word meant Results, not Recession.

My fingers are crossed for a sunny 2010 Return . . . on investment.