In This Issue...
See You In San Francisco
More than a Decade of Outstanding Service... and Counting...
China Data Enhancements Benefit Direct Marketers: Global-Z Helps You Get There from Here
Win an iPod: Global-Z's Around the World Photo Contest
Looking back on this past year as Co-Chair of the DMA International Council Operating Committee
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Welcome!
Thank you for your thoughtful feedback on our Summer GZ News issue. Your kinds words and suggestions are very much appreciated as we look to continually enhance GZ News to be a valuable resource from which you and your business will benefit. Please keep your feedback coming.
Simply Contact Us with your questions, comments or concerns. We look forward to your feedback!
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See You In San Francisco
The Direct Marketing Association's Premier Event, DMA06 Conference & Exhibition, will take place October 14 - 19 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. I highly recommend this event and urge you to attend if at all possible.
DMA06 Conference & Exhibition is the world's largest event for marketers, and offers unparalleled opportunities to learn new marketing best practices and meet new partners and vendors.
There are more than 140 educational sessions covering every aspect of direct and interactive marketing, dozens of targeted networking events, celebrated keynote speakers such as Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group and more than 500 exhibiting companies. To view the sessions in detail, please go to:
http://www.the-dma.org/conferences/dma06/sessionsbytrack.shtml
Additional features for 2006 include:
* Thought Leadership Forums led by best-in-class marketing execs from global companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Harrah's, Cingular and others.
* New Intensive Sessions before and after the show focusing on Search Marketing, DRTV, Creative Strategy, CRM, Database, Online Strategy, DM Fundamentals, E-Mail, and Branding.
* The ECHO Awards Gala on Tuesday evening, October 17 hosted by Dana Carvey.
* Interactive Sessions including Search Engine Marketing Labs, Web Usability Labs, and Ask-the-Expert Roundtables.
This is truly an outstanding event. I strongly believe that potential benefits for you and your company far outweigh the cost of attending. If you choose to go, please make sure to attend these council events:
* DMA International Council Open Council Meeting, Monday, October 16, 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM in Room C113 at the Moscone Convention Center
* DMA International Council Networking Reception, Monday, October 16, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM in the International Lounge, Room C110 at the Moscone Convention Center
To learn more, or to register for the conference, please visit www.dma06.org. Please use Key code COUNCIL so we get kudos for your registration.
We hope to see you there!
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More Than a Decade of Outstanding Service... and Counting...
Jennifer Eastman brings almost twelve years of skill and experience to benefit our clients' broad-reaching global data processing challenges. Please share in our thanks and congratulations to Jennifer!
Jennifer started in our Data Entry Department in January of 1995. She moved on to our tape librarian position and then into the Production Department, where she has been a data specialist for the past seven years. Jennifer enjoys working at Global-Z because of its people and great work environment.
Jennifer lives in North Bennington, VT with her husband and two children.
Leonid Garder, co-founder and Director of Research & Development at Global-Z
International, emphasized how fortunate Global-Z is having her on our team, emphatically
singing her praises: "Jenn is a dedicated and loyal employee!"
Jennifer's email address is jeastman@globalz.com
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China Data Enhancements Benefit Direct Marketers: Global-Z Helps You Get There from Here
Global-Z's Data Center team, located in historic Bennington, Vermont enjoy hearing the local folks share the common expressions of the region that help define what it's like to live and work in such a beautiful place. For example “If you don't like the weather... just wait a minute!” You see, the weather changes quite a lot, and quickly in Vermont, so the climate that you like most is just around the corner. In late February we'll often hear that “The sugar's runnin'!” This is when the spring thaw sees the maple trees pour their sap... if you haven't tried real Vermont maple syrup on your pancakes, you haven't lived! “You can't get there from here.” (Maine readers may claim this one... but it's an original Vermont expression. We checked.) There are a 1001 ways to get from anywhere in Vermont to anywhere in Vermont. Don't be in a hurry. There's no direct route between any two points, and during our spectacular fall foliage season you'll be glad there isn't. Drive slowly, take some of the paths less traveled (many of the best are unpaved roads) and you'll fall in love with Vermont, too!
How do local Vermont expressions relate to Chinese postal data, you ask? Well, this is GZ News' Fall issue and we wanted to have a little fun relating a local expression to what any direct marketer can attest to when marketing to China. Green Mountain folks and Maine'iacs alike will have to share the expression with these marketers. Say it with me... “You can't get there from here!” As with most every common expression, there is a degree of exaggeration. How about, “You can get to China with your direct marketing pieces, but it's not easy on your nerves!” Those of you who read our white paper in GZ News' Summer issue, “Focus on China:Marketing Data Management Strategies”, you learned about a number of significant challenges that exist reaching the Chinese market, including language and cultural challenges as well as China’s developing infrastructure. In addition, complex encoding issues related to the storage of Chinese text on computer systems can create challenges in maintaining and analyzing marketing data. (If you missed it you can access the White Paper in our Quick Links section on the left: “Web Format of GZ News' Summer 2006 Issue”) Related to Global-Z's services pertaining to China's developing infrastructure we have some great news. Things are looking up... big time! Enhancements to China Post's data are being incorporated into our address standardization/hygiene services where the results will be greatly enhanced. Your Chinese marketing initiatives will benefit from what we can relate to some other local common expressions:
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“Jeezm Crow, that's great!”: Newer, improved postal data from China Post increasing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts into China;
- “The whole nine yards.”: The ability to process incoming data in either western or "local" mode (in other words, data encoded in standard ASCII or in a multi-byte encoding such as GB2312) has been enhanced. That is, your Chinese address data can now be processed better in either encodings depending upon your needs. This ability has benefited Global-Z's direct marketing clients to, say, Japan and is now enhanced for China, also;
- “Ya toss that in, too?”: The treatment of address elements that are not part of the official China Post data, but are significant to delivery, has been enhanced. For example, Chinese geographic sub-devisions, and similar local geo-data, which are arguably the key to deliverability though not included in the China Post data, are now identified in processing your Chinese data;
- “If you go past the red barn you've gone too far.”: Records that fail regular processing (i.e., fail to receive a proper postcode) are standardized and parsed wherever possible. Our enhancements now identify address elements previously unavailable in processing to such a fine resolution. This data can be parsed to benefit your merge/purge effectiveness and improving upon your statistical analysis, for example.
Direct marketers are keeping a close eye on the press related to trade relations with China-- particularly US-based marketers. Recent news (see “US, China set up economic cooperation dialogue” (source: The Boston Globe) highlights the importance of the developing market opportunities in China. "Given growing economic globalization and increasing bilateral economic relations, a high-level strategic economic dialogue between China and the United States will promote economic cooperation and the growth of China-U.S. relations," the two sides said in an official statement.
With ~1,300,000,000 people in China there are outstanding opportunities ahead for all direct marketers. With experience and expertise targeted on multi-byte/local language countries, Global-Z's services are being continually enhanced to benefit the efficiency and effectiveness of your marketing initiatives into China and around the world. Look, you can get there from here! Please contact us today to discuss how our ongoing development can benefit your business.
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Win an iPod: Global-Z's Around the World Photo Contest
Traveling internationally? Know anybody that is? One snapshot and a cool iPod Nano could be yours!
Beautiful sights deserve beautiful sounds. Global-Z is having our first "Around the World Photo Contest" for our GZ News readers. One lucky winner will receive an Apple iPod Nano just for taking a picture. If you or someone you know will be visiting an international landmark like, say, the Great wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids of Egypt you're half way to winning the iPod! Simply print out our Around the World Photo Contest (click here) and include it in the foreground of the picture of the international landmark (see the example... minus the cheesy... and contest-disqualifying photo editing... by clicking here. Pretty well any well known, signature landmark in any international (i.e., non-US) country will qualify the photo for our contest. Pass on GZ News... anyone can play! (other than Global-Z team members and their families... sorry GZers!)
We will post submitted photos on our website and provide updates in our Spring issue of GZ News. Good luck!... and have a fun trip! Thanks for bringing Global-Z with you!
Submit your entries and/or ask us any questions by emailing us at gznews@globalz.com
Contest ends April 30, 2007 at midnight EST
Photo Example (with a little disqualifying Photoshop included)
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Looking back on this past year as Co-Chair of the DMA International Council Operating Committee
Every once in awhile, in one's professional career, an opportunity / experience comes along that measures up to be one of the most meaningful of all. For me, just being apart of the DMA International Council’s Operating Committee (OpCom) was momentous in itself, but to be asked to Co-Chair the Council with Mark Bridges of Mokrynski Direct was something I would never have expected nor imagined. First of all, to be along side some of the most truly gifted international direct marketers in our industry provided me with a rare and wonderful opportunity from which to learn many facets of our industry. As important, it has been a lot of fun, and I very much value the lifelong friendships I have developed.
Historically I have never been an “organizational” type person, but I must say that I absolutely love being a part the OpCom, its members and all the hard work that goes along with it. Even though it can be a lot of work, we sure have a lot of fun and laughs.
This past year has been a great one on many levels. We have grown in membership numbers, stature and are on track to provide a much higher level of informational education and events for our membership. For 2007, the OpCom will continue to provide useful events, and is hard at work on planning International Day in June, luncheons every other month, all of which afford vitally important networking opportunities to all of us in the international direct marketing industry. I also think it is well safe to say that the DMA International Council OpCom is THE best single source for information for IDMers and is literally a free available advisory board that should be taken advantage of.
We welcome any input you have regarding the Council / OpCom. There has been a concerted effort to provide information and not allow the Council and events to be a haven for “sales” pitches and opportunities. I believe we have reached that objective as indicated by the significant rise in “mailers” on the Council roster.
Gary's email address is gdolderer@globalz.com, and his phone number is +1.802.445.1011 x202.