DMA Celebrates Earth Day and Asks Marketers to 'Recycle Please' and Take the 'Green 15' Pledge

Washington, DC, April 22, 2009 — The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) today asked all marketers worldwide to join its “Recycle Please” campaign and take its “Green 15” Pledge in honor of Earth Day 2009. Both programs inspire innovation, encourage awareness, and deliver environmental benefits.

DMA’s “Recycle Please” campaign is a nationwide public education program that asks DMA members to prominently display the “Recycle Please” logo on their catalogs and direct mail pieces for the purpose of encouraging consumers to recycle them after reading. The campaign was developed by DMA with the assistance of its member-driven Committee on Environmental and Social Responsibility (CESR). To date, more than 100 companies and nonprofit organizations are now using the “Recycle Please” logo.

The “Green 15” Pledge program, also developed by DMA’s CESR, asks marketers and suppliers to attest that their organizations are taking certain steps throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process to improve their environmental footprint and “triple bottom-line” performance (people, planet, profit). In June 2008, DMA’s Board of Directors established its first of several “green goals” for measuring success in key areas of the “Green 15.”

“Our ‘Green 15’ Pledge and ‘Recycle Please’ programs offer a blueprint toward sustainability that can help deliver a profound impact on direct marketing’s environmental footprint,” said Senny Boone, DMA’s senior vice president, Corporate & Social Responsibility. “Numerous members are demonstrating their environmental responsibility, and we are pleased to see their leadership. We urge everyone to participate — not just on Earth Day, but everyday — to help us showcase the power of direct, spreading the message and stimulating paper recycling and recovery across the nation.”

Later today DMA will host a virtual seminar providing greater detail on these programs, and the many other green initiatives and resources available to its members. For more information on DMA’s virtual seminar “Critical Issues in Direct Marketing: What Direct Marketers Need to Know about Improving their Environmental Impact,” please email environment@the-dma.org. To learn more about DMA’s “Recycle Please” campaign and the companies currently supporting it, please visit www.recycleplease.org. For more information about DMA’s “Green 15” Pledge program, please visit DMA’s Environmental Resource Center at www.the-dma.org/environment.

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 — spent $176.9 billion on direct marketing, which accounted for 52.1 percent of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $2.057 trillion in incremental sales. Last year, direct marketing accounted for approximately 10 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also, there are today 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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