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Last week, I spent a couple days in New York to attend three list industry events: FastForward Conference, The List Leader of the Year Awards Dinner, and List Day.  Although lightly attended, I thought the events were worthwhile because it’s one of the few opportunities I get to meet these colleagues face-to-face.

One of the more provocative comments came from Amy Africa.  I’ve seen her speak many times in the past — she’s really great because she knows her stuff, is entertaining, and is willing to tell you what you don’t want to hear.  In her presentation, she expressed her disdain for the list industry and compared it to an afghan blanket: "comfortable, colorful, and out of date."

Amy’s not wrong very often.  Is the industry out of date?  (It’s certainly colorful)

As discussed in the Mergers and Acquisitions Panel discussion, the industry is maturing and consolidating.  What used to be a bunch of disparate family-run businesses is now a much smaller number of corporations and private equity firms.  Outside professional management is replacing tenured industry veterans.

Another change predicted is the introduction of an infrastructure for the industry.  We discussed this at the EDI roundtable discussion.  Basically, the industry has no infrastructure today.  Despite the complexity of the deals and the number of parties and transactions involved in the value chain, it’s effectively a "bubble gum and bailing wire" operation today.  The reason it has hung together in the past is because the procedure has been verbally handed down through the generations.  That’s all changing and the world is moving faster so it’s inevitable the old methods will fall apart.  In fact, one well-respected company reported a 97% error rate on order entry (can you believe that?). Fortunately, all the technology exists today to efficiently build an infrastructure.  The major challenge will be adoption.  Fortunately, Ramesh Ratan from the Direct Marketing Association and others recognize its need and support the solution.  I hope it’s implemented before it’s too late.

Your thoughts?

I just read an article in Direct Newsline that cites do not mail legislation under consideration in 15 states.  Do we really want no mail? I don’t think anyone wants no mail. Some of the mail that arrives is appreciated. For example, I always like receiving a new fishing catalog. I don’t have the stats here in front of me, but I would guess that mail is welcome in most homes (perhaps in contrast to attitudes towards telemarketing).

Then why all these do not mail bills? What to we really want? I have a theory…

We want more control over our mailbox. When I get something in the mail from a company with whom I’ve never had a relationship, I would like to know "how did they get my name?" And, if I feel the mail was inappropriate or not relevant, I want an easy way to stop it from happening in the future (opt out).

Maybe what we really need is a universal "how did they get my name tool" with an opt-out feature.  What do you think?  Would this work?  What would it look like?