The Power 100 in Direct Marketing
Marketing Direct presents the first ever annual guide to the movers and shakers in direct marketing.
Power 100 in Direct Marketing
1. JOE & JOSEPHINE PUBLIC – Consumers
Everyone listed in this Power 100 ultimately owes his or her livelihood to the acceptance of direct marketing by consumers. The past few years have seen a growing response by Joe and Josephine Public to direct marketing but an increasing awareness of their power to block it.
Telemarketing malpractice has resulted in registrations to the Telephone Preference Service rising to an all-time high of more than six million individuals this year; carpet-bombing by financial services companies could have a similar effect on the Mailing Preference Service. Yet consumer power has an overwhelmingly positive influence on DM too: although they may not know it, Joe and Josephine Public keep the DM wheels turning by consuming goods worth billions of pounds a year as a result of DM activity.
One thing is certain: the fate of the industry is not only in the hands of the DM practitioners and clients in the Power 100, but also in those of the great British buying public. We ignore their influence at our peril.
2. TERRY HUNT – Chairman, EHS Brann
The erudite Mr Hunt is the sole remaining member of the trio that set up Evans Hunt Scott, the trail-blazing DM agency, back in 1986. He has since proved his leadership skills many times over, propelling the agency into the top five of the UK DM agency league. Elected a Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing in 1997, Hunt can also claim to have helped the careers of a generation of agency leaders, including Stuart Archibald, Simon Hall, Ian Haworth, Jon Ingall, Steve Stretton, and Tony Watson.
Among the many long-standing client relationships Hunt has developed for the agency over the years, those with Tesco and British Gas stand out. Two years ago he took time to co-author a book, Scoring Points, about the Tesco Clubcard experience. Hunt remains directly involved with EHS Brann’s biggest clients, including Tesco, Barclaycard and The Economist.
3. MARC MICHAELS – Director of direct and relationship marketing, COI
Marc Michaels, the government’s direct marketer-in-chief, is the biggest commissioner of direct marketing in the UK. His remit at COI is wide, helping government departments get their messages across using direct channels with a DM spend of ú36.4m. He manages all aspects of COI’s DM services – from creative agencies to call centres. He exhibits none of the hauteur that often comes with power. Michaels is described by agency creatives as a man with “a big commitment to DM who champions agencies that value creativity”.
As well as his day job, Michaels is a board director for the Call Centre Association, he sits on the DMA’s Door to Door Council, chairs the ISBA’s direct marketing action group, and is on the DMA’s main council. He is a regular speaker at events.
4. DAVID COUPE – Managing director, Experian Marketing Services
Why is David Coupe a powerful guy? If you work in any of the UK’s top 20 mailing companies, chances are Coupe’s division of Experian has supplied you with data and services. Added to this, he spent two years as chairman of the DMA, banging the drum on improving the public’s perception of DM. Coupe was elected an IDM Fellow in 2001 and remains a committed DMA board member. All the while he has kept his eye on the Experian ball, driving the company’s recent acquisition of QAS, the international address management software company. The move undoubtedly gives Experian an edge in name and address management.
5. CLIVE HUMBY AND EDWINA DUNN – Chairman and CEO, Dunnhumby
Much lauded for their continuing work on the Tesco Clubcard database, Clive Humby and Edwina Dunn are arguably the UK’s most high profile and successful data practitioners. The former CACI directors set up dunnhumby in 1989 in their back bedroom, achieving their target of ú10m turnover and ú2m profit by 2
