100 Educators & DM practitioners attend DMEF's first annual educators’ conference

100 EDUCATORS & DM PRACTITIONERS ATTEND DMEF'S FIRST ANNUAL EDUCATORS' CONFERENCE Six academic research papers were presented by their authors to an audience of more than 100 marketing and advertising professors and direct marketing practitioners at the first Direct Marketing Educators' Conference, held in Washington, D.C., in September. Sponsored by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation, the conference was designed to unite professors and professionals under one roof to exchange thoughts and ideas ... "an exchange of ultimate importance in the fostering of direct marketing research," according to Richard Montesi, DMEFs President. Those attending -- presenters and audience alike -- agreed that such an exchange occurred, and that it was productive, informative and mutually beneficial. Comments represented both academic and practitioner perspectives and included suggestions for future research and possible industry interest and applicability. In addition to attending the Educators' Conference, 100 full-time educators who were the first to register also were invited to attend the Direct Marketing Association's 72nd Annual Conference & Exhibition -- the DMA's major conference with almost 8,OOO in attendance. The six papers on the conference program were chosen by a peer review board from more than 40 submitted in response to the Conference Call for Papers. After a presentation of the fmdings by the autbor(s), each paper was discussed by a panel of professors and marketing professionals. Cash awards of $loo0 also were presented to the authors of the two best papers: F. Robert Dwyer, University of Cincinnati, for his paper on

60 JOURNAL OF DIRECT M A R K E T I N G

the lifetime value of a customer and marketing decision-making and to E. Lincoln James and Bruce Vanden Bergh, Michigan State University, for their paper on the informational content in direct-response versus general space advertisements in magazines. In addition to the cash-award winners, the other presenters were Glen Nowak, University of Georgia, on direct response TV commercials; Chaim Ehrman, Loyola University of Chicago, "Correcting for 'Regression to the Mean' in List Selection Decisions"; Alan Bush and Robert Bush, Memphis State University, who did a content analysis of direct response TV advertising and Martin Topal, Pace University, and Myron Gable, Shippensburg University, on "Integrating Direct Marketing into Financial Services: Strategic Approaches." Another highlight of the conference was the presentation of the first Robert B. Clarke "Educator of the Year" award to Dr. Don Schultz, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, and Editor of the Journal of Direct Marketing. He was chosen by the DMEF Board of Trustees for his outstanding achievement in direct marketing education. The impetus behind this major new DMEF initiative is a $lOo,OOO personal contribution from Robert B. Clarke, former chairman and CEO of Grolier Incorporated. His gift will enable the Foundation to sponsor an Educators' Conference each year. It also inaugurated a special DMEF Major Contributions Account where individuals and organizations are able to dedicate resources to a specific Foundation project or area of interest. The Direct Marketing Educational Foundation is a separately-chartered, non-profit corporation supported by tax-deductible contributions. Established in 1965 to increase, improve and support direct marketing education at the college and university level, the Foundation offers a series of programs and services to college students and professors and currently has a membership of more than 400 companies, individuals and local direct marketing organizations.

V O L U M E 3 N U M B E R 3 S U M M E R 1989