ARGI exhibited at the DMA Annual convention held this year at The Moscone Center in San Francisco. The weather was unseasonably warm and the mood of attendees decidedly more upbeat than in the past 2 years. Consensus seemed to exist that the economy is brightening and that marketing spending is beginning to recover.

Larry Kimmel, newly appointed CEO of the DMA, set the tone of the conference in his key note address yesterday. He spoke about the imperative for change by business in general and amongst marketers in particular. Any reader of this blog knows that change management has been a theme of this blogger and was the essential underpinning of ARGI's introduction of Acuity. Kimmel spoke with confidence, poise and unbridled enthusiasm. In the words of one trade journalist, he gave the equivalent of a half-time "pump-up" speech. In a departure from the past CEO speeches, his talk was less about the state-of-the-union of the DM industry and more about the ascendancy of DM as the rightful leader in the marketing communication mix. He even offered his own definition of DM as a "channel-agnostic approach to driving maximum customer satisfaction and optimal marketplace results".

Shown above are veteran ARGI booth staffers Hank Garcia and Kirk Schuh.

All the Best,

Ray

The Direct Marketing Club of New York has announced that Ray Butkus, CEO of ARGI is being presented its prestigious Silver Apple Award. The award, which has been presented annually since 1984, recognizes those individuals who have distinguished themselves for at least 25 years in the New York direct marketing community. In the press release DMCNY president Peg Nadler stated,” this year's Silver Apples honorees represent a wide range of contributions to the direct and interactive marketing discipline, and truly these individuals have made a difference in how we go to market, as strategists, as advocates, and as leaders in our field. We are proud and excited to have these honorees among us, and to celebrate their achievements."”

Ray Butkus commented, “I am honored and truly gratified by this award. New York has long been, and continues to be the nexus of the marketing communications industry and I’m very pleased to be a part of it. Past winners of the Silver Apple include some of the most preeminent marketers in the United States and I am very humbled to take my place in their ranks.”

Below is a link to the keynote speech that Seth Godin gave at the 26th Annual IBPA Publishing University 2010. What I love about how he presents his information is that he reinforces some key principles:

1. What seem like small changes in an industry can have huge ripple effects by the time those changes reach the customer, especially on customer behavior.

2. Those changes can have even larger ripple effects on those that support the industry especially after customers adopt and adapt to those changes.

3. Examples from other industries facing similar issues can always teach you either how to respond (or how not to respond) to those changes.

If there was ever a wake-up call of the inevitability of change, this is it. I work for a company that provides services to the publishing industry, and I'm also a fairly voracious reader. The company I work for is working diligently to adapt to the changes occurring in the publishing industry with Acuity, our new audience management system. I as a consumer, a consumer who still loves the physical act of turning pages, am adapting to the ways that the publishing industry is using to get me to buy more books, whether it be iTunes convincing me to download audio books so that I can get my book fix while I'm driving or Amazon bombarding me with emails plugging the Kindle, or authors using social media like facebook in order to spread the word about the printed page.

Seth's blog has a link to stream the audio. Here is a link to the .mp3 audio of the same speech.

For the last twenty-two years it has been the custom of National Public Radio to read the entire Declaration of Independence on July 4th or the Friday preceding the holiday. They did so again today and I listened, as I always do, with intense attention and keen interest. Last year I posted on this blog my custom of reading the document around this time of year. As good as it is to read, it is better to listen it to it being read. I always enjoy the sonorous voices of the NPR journalists and commentators reading this marvelous piece of prose. Anyone interested in the power of language to convey emotion, convince the doubtful, inspire the faithful or memorialize wisdom can do no better than to spend a few minutes listening to these words.

In these times when situational ethics, partisan politics and expediency seem to be the norm, one can find comfort in the conviction, the fortitude and the virtue that compelled our founders to pursue the course of action that was formalized on July 4, 1776.

Sometime over the next several days take time to listen it to these wonderful words.
Independence day is about more than fireworks, cook-outs and beaches. It is easy to forget that as the hustle/bustle of the weekend approaches. Spending a few minutes listening to and reflecting upon the words in one of the most extraordinary documents ever written in human history is a fitting way to remember the meaning of the holiday we celebrate.


All the best,

Ray

May was a busy month for Acuity sales. The ARGI sales team had a great month. Please read the Press Release about why Booz & Company selected Acuity for strategy + business magazine.