Direct Marketing Educational Foundation Honors Jon Roska and Scholastic at Annual Awards Dinner

Each year, the DMEF Annual Awards Dinner and Auction for Education celebrate the growth of multichannel direct marketing, honor excellence, and help grow cutting-edge direct/interactive marketing education at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the US. This year they also celebrated their new website branded with the title, "DirectWorks," which emphasizes both the power and efficiency of the direct marketing field.

"This year’s dinner was truly thrilling," said DMEF President, Terri L. Bartlett. "We honored two of direct marketing’s greatest, Jon Roska and Scholastic, both of whom emanate the true essence of what DMEF is all about — commitment, excellence, and a passion for giving back to ensure the future of direct marketing. That type of attitude is contagious! Our guests contributed almost $400,000 to support initiatives ensuring the future of this field through the attraction, education, and placement of workplace ready talent entering the direct/interactive community.

"Overall, Saturday was a momentous day in the history of DMEF," continued Bartlett. "As established professionals and corporations stepped up to pledge thousands of dollars, the true highlight of the evening was watching both recent graduates and current participants of the Direct Marketing Leadership Development Program stand and pledge as well. It is so encouraging to see the younger generation support DMEF to ensure other students will have the same opportunities they have experienced. From launching our brand new website supporting the growing network of students, professors, and corporations in the direct/interactive marketing arena; to the kick off of our Direct/Interactive Marketing Research Summit; to the Annual Awards Dinner and Auction for Education, I am so proud of all DMEF’s accomplishments as we work to position ourselves as the Foundation of choice for the direct/interactive marketing community."

The Mayer Award, the DMEF’s most prestigious annual award, honors individuals who demonstrate the highest level of personal commitment to helping create effective programs, concepts, teaching methods or materials for the instruction of college students or professors; providing personal and corporate financial assistance; and executing any other contribution, which effectively assists or promotes the DMEF’s objectives.

Mayer Award nominations are submitted by peers and reviewed by DMEF’s Board of Trustees, which selects the honoree. Past Mayer recipients include Tim Litle, Litle & Co., David W. Florence, Direct Media, Inc., Dick and Mary Cabela, Cabela’s Inc., Katie Muldoon, Muldoon & Baer, Inc., Stephen Polk, Polk & Co., Markus Wilhelm, past DMA chairman, and former chief executive officer, Bookspan, and David Shepard, David Shepard Associates, Inc.

Aside from founding Roska Direct Advertising in 1981, Roska has pioneered acquisition and customer marketing techniques that have set the standards in the business-to-business, consumer, and healthcare sectors. A passionate visionary, he is the author of Ducks in the Henhouse, the Challenges of Integrating Direct and Brand Advertising and is an internationally recognized speaker.

Roska is the recipient of other industry honors, including the 2004 Caples Andi Emerson Award for lifetime creative achievement, the Philadelphia DMA’s Direct Marketer of the Year Award, a DMA Gold ECHO Award, and the Henry Hoke Award.

This unique and significant award honors businesses that offer their own employees multiple opportunities for personal and professional improvement and are dedicated to continuing education, diversity, and inclusion. Past DMEF Corporate Leadership Award recipients include Draftfcb, The Martin Agency, ACXIOM, America Online, Kraft, Experían, Allstate Insurance Company, and R.R. Donnelley.

For more than 85 years, education has been at the center of Scholastic’s success. Today, the multichannel marketing company is a leader in children’s publishing, education, and entertainment, all of which is underscored by its corporate mission to install a love of reading and learning in all children. This same commitment to learning is carried into Scholastic’s workplace.

The mission of e-Scholastic is to maximize the potential of the Internet as a significant channel of distribution and e-commerce and to expand the company’s core businesses. Scholastic.com has won numerous awards, including the Webby Award and the People’s Choice Award for Best Kids Site, and is one of the Top 50 online retailers in the Internet Retailer 500 survey.

Headquartered in New York City, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) works to attract, educate, and place top college students in the business of direct/interactive marketing and, thereby, expanding and enriching the talent pool of trained, market-ready direct marketers. Established in 1966 by members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) who wanted to give something back to the community, DMEF is today a separate, 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that is supported solely by tax-deductible contributions from individuals, companies, and regional clubs and associations. Funds raised go toward a broad range of world-class educational programs.

In 2008, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — will spend $176.9 billion on direct marketing, which accounts for 52.1 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures will generate approximately $2.057 trillion in incremental sales. In 2008, direct marketing accounted for approximately 10 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2008, there were 1.6 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly support 9.3 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 10.9 million US jobs.

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