DMA News May 2009

Welcome to the DMA news for May 2009.

The DMA News is updated monthly to bring you up to speed on the latest developments at the Direct Marketing Association.

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DMA News

NEW REPORT TRACKS WEB 2.0 DEVELOPMENTS FOR DIRECT MARKETERS

The DMA has launched its first quarterly Social Media Report to help direct marketers understand the marketing opportunities that exist within social media.

Produced by digital intelligence analysts StrategyEye, the Social Media Report arrives at a time when 41% of UK marketers have cited 'lack of understanding' as their main barrier to investing in social media.

The Report has been designed to help break down these barriers by providing direct marketers with commercial intelligence and analysis on how the major players behind websites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are changing their business models to increase advertising revenue. It also covers the latest developments and trends across all social networking and user-generated content websites and applications.

The maiden report, which covers Q4 2008, focuses on mergers and acquisitions and venture capital investment activity within the social media sector, as well as compiling the new modes of content that social media websites have added to their service offerings.

Commenting on the launch of the report Mark Brill, Chairman of the DMA Mobile Marketing Council, said that the Social Media Report will be "important for direct marketers wanting to understand the marketing opportunities that social media present".

The Social Media Report is available for download from the member research section of the DMA website: www.dma.org.uk

RESEARCH REVEALS BENEFITS TO CONSUMERS OF NEW TELEMARKETING REGULATIONS

60% of UK households are actively preventing unsolicited sales and marketing calls, according to new research unveiled by the Telephone Preference Service.

The 'TPS Report on Unwelcome Calls 2008', a research project investigating consumer attitudes and trends in the telemarketing industry, is a comprehensive review of the extent of unwelcome and silent calls within the UK.

The report also made a number of significant findings regarding consumer attitudes towards telemarketing and the new trends emerging within the sector.

According to the research, consumers' trust and confidence in telemarketing has been eroded by concerns over data privacy and aggressive sales tactics, and are using a number of methods to control the calls they receive.

However, the impact of the introduction of Ofcom's nuisance calls regulations has had a dramatic effect, reducing the average number of silent calls per month from 9.6 per month in 2005 to 2.1 per month in 2008. In response to these legislative changes, telemarketing companies are changing strategy and cutting the number of cold calls they make. As a result, the average number of unwelcome calls received by consumers is down by 20% in the past 12 months to 4.6 per month

Speaking on the TPS Report, Mike Lordan, Director of Consumer Services, Direct Marketing Association, said that it "provides unique insights, not only into how the public currently views telemarketing, but also how practitioners and government are raising the professional standards of the telemarketing sector".

The TPS Report on Unwelcome Calls can be downloaded from the 'research' section of the DMA website: www.dma.org.uk