Direct Marketing Association Announces Partnership with China Direct Mail Association

DMA and CDMA to Join Forces

New York, NY, October 29, 2008 — The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) today announced a partnership with the China Direct Mail Association (CDMA), which is owned by the China Post, to promote business development in light of the economic globalization and blooming direct mail business across China.

DMA and CDMA will come together, as equals, to both benefit from each other and form a reciprocal source of information promoting further global business development. Both organizations seek to improve the effects and efficiency of their respective associations, making full use of their competitive edge, creativity, and knowledge.

“DMA is proud to partner with CDMA in pursuit of our common goal,” said Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, Ph.D., DMA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “Exploring new economic opportunities gives both our members access to establish new relationships in new markets.

“This announcement comes at a crucial economic time for everyone, including marketers. The pairing of these two organizations, and by opening the lines of business and communication both US DMA members and CDMA members will benefit,” continued Ratan.

“Throughout its 91-year history DMA has accumulated rich experiences in serving its members and promoting the development of the US direct mail industry,” said Mr. Li Guohua, chairman of CDMA and vice president of the China Post Group. “In recent years, the direct mail industry in China has been booming — it is an emerging industry and has obvious advantages.

“CDMA and DMA are complementary to each other, and reciprocal cooperation between the two parts is of strategic importance. CDMA is willing to both learn from DMA, and work with it to strengthen mutual understanding and trust; to serve as a bridge to enhance a bilateral cooperative partnership between both associations,” continued Li Guohua. “In this way, CDMA and DMA will achieve the goals of mutual benefits, win-win results, and continued encouragement of the direct mail enterprises of both China and America.”

Specifically, DMA and the CDMA will share with each other their information, experiences, statistics, and trend forecasts concerning direct mail. Additionally, both organizations will exchange and consult with each other on a variety of topics including:

· Cross membership and other membership opportunities;

· Guidelines;

· Ethical codes;

· Best practices;

· Consumer and economic research; and

· Strategic community development for interacting with policy makers.

About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents more than 3,400 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 48 other nations, including half of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

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.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.

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