INTERACTIVE LEADERS JOIN DMA INTERACTIVE MARKETING ADVISROY BOARD (IMAB)

San Francisco, CA, October 16, 2006 — The rapidly changing and expanding interactive marketing space has changed the way companies communicate with customers, enabling them to customize messages in real time across multiple media platforms. Recognizing the implications this evolution has for the optimization of communications, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Interactive Marketing Advisory Board (IMAB) has announced the expansion of its charter membership with the recent addition of top interactive marketers to its roster who will drive the Association’s interactive marketing policy and programming efforts.

The impressive lineup of interactive marketers joining IMAB come from some of today’s top companies — including Google, Yahoo!, eBay, and Advertising.com — and represent the entire spectrum of interactive media platforms. Prominent leaders in the interactive community who have joined IMAB to serve as advisors include:

• Jim Brett, business head, eBusiness Development Group, Prudential Financial
• Alan Chapell, president, Chapell & Associates
• Dick Costolo, CEO, Feedburner
• Leslie Dunlap, acting vice president, Global Public Policy, Yahoo
• Peggy Dyer, vice president, Allstate
• Heather Lloyd-Martin, CEO, SuccessWorks
• Bill McCloskey, CEO, Email Data Source
• Mike Moran, distinguished engineer and manager, Web Experience, IBM
• Dave Morgan, founder & chairman, TACODA
• Jonathon Nevett, vice president and chief policy counsel, Network Solutions
• Meg Reynolds, director, email, REI
• David Rosen, senior vice president of marketing, MyPoints
• Craig Spiezle, director, Windows Live Safety Group, Microsoft
• Mollie Spilman, chief sales and marketing officer, Advertising.com
• Bill Wise, CEO, Did-It
• Michael Yang, policy counsel, Google

The new members join chair Matt Blumberg, CEO, Return Path, and vice chairs Michael DellaPenna, chief marketing officer, Epsilon Interactive, and Shawn Mielke, vice president of direct marketing, eBay. These industry leaders will advise DMA on policy issues and public affairs topics that are critical to today’s interactive marketing community, promoting thought leadership on interactive marketing within the organization.

IMAB will also advise DMA on its operating functions on best and emerging practices, trends, metrics, and other practical matters to help the Association meet the evolving needs of interactive marketers. Those DMA functions include conferences and events, research and publications, and education and seminars.

"It is my vision to rewire the DNA of the DMA in order to embody the thought leadership position that leverages the knowledge, research, and expertise of industry-leading interactive marketers as they begin to utilize interactive technology more effectively within their own marketing programs," said DMA President & CEO, John A. Greco, Jr.

The interactive marketing discipline is practiced by more than 80 percent of DMA’s members and this significant expansion to IMAB will allow the Association to deliver high quality advocacy, brand building, education, networking, and research to its member organizations while supporting all of the groups touched by direct marketing.

"We are excited to get the IMAB off the ground," said DMA Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, PhD. "With 3,600 member companies, the DMA is already one of the leading associations serving interactive marketers. And we realize that we can do much more to make the DMA a place that interactive marketers can call ‘home.’ The IMAB will help reach that goal."

"The last decade has seen a fundamental change in marketing," said Matt Blumberg, chairman & CEO of email marketing firm Return Path and founding Chairman of the IMAB. "The rise of the Internet has turned direct marketers into interactive marketers, and interactive marketers into direct marketers. Moreover, the shift in power towards consumers has required marketers of all shapes and sizes to rethink the relevance of their messages, the definition of ethics, and their public image. We applaud the DMA for launching the IMAB to better integrate interactive marketing into mainstream direct marketing in terms of its organization, principles, and people."

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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 industry 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 3,600 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 50 other nations, including a majority of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2005, companies spent an estimated $161 billion on direct marketing in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated an estimated $1.85 trillion in increased sales in 2005, or 7 percent of the $26 trillion in total sales in the US economy (which includes intermediate sales). All together, direct marketing accounted for 10.3 percent of total US GDP in 2005.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.