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HONG KONG – December 9, 2013 – Today a renewed and revamped industry group called the Digital + Direct Marketing Association (D+D) debuted, bringing the Asia Digital Marketing Association (ADMA) and the Hong Kong Direct Marketing Association (HKDMA) together with other groups regionwide.
The D+D Board of Governors and committee members will drive a slate of activities to promote the effective use of digital and direct marketing across the Asia Pacific, D+D said in a press release. The combined organization includes many of the region’s senior leaders and companies from across the marketing ecosystem including marketers, publishers, agencies, research and technology solutions providers.
D+D’s dual mission is to maximise the value of marketers’ investment and to enhance the customer experience. Activities will span advocacy, education, and networking.
“Our strategy was to reboot, converge and accelerate,” said David Ketchum, Chairman of D+D and formerly Chairman of the ADMA. “Our industry is incredibly dynamic and constantly changing. We surveyed the Asia marketing community to see what type of organisation is needed, what roles it should fill, and what activities it should run. The result was a clear and focused mission, and the creation of a new industry meeting place with the merged HKDMA and ADMA forming the core. We’re getting lots of enthusiastic response from members and partner organisations from around the region.”
“The HKDMA has a strong 20 year track record of advancing the sophistication of marketing and promoting responsible practices for use of data and customer engagement,” said Eugene Raitt, Vice Chairman of D+D and former Chairman of the HKDMA. “The direct marketing opportunity and the importance of setting the highest standards for use of customer data remain critical for marketers. With an ever-increasing amount of customer activity taking place online, it made sense to join forces with the ADMA to advance our mission.”
D+D also has partnerships with a wide variety of other relevant industry groups such as the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore (DMAS), HK Social, the China Direct Marketing Association (CDMA), Web Wednesday and others.
D+D’s inaugural Board of Governors includes David Ketchum (Bite Communications), Dominic Powers (Epsilon), Eugene Raitt (China Insurance Marketing & Administration), Jeremy Carr (Turner), Lisa Watson (HP), King Leung (CLiX) and Martin Randall (Teamwork Communications). Kay Bayliss shall remain as Executive Director for the new body.
Members of the combined organisation include a range of brands and service providers such as: eCommerce (eBay Classifieds); FMCG (Colgate-Palmolive, PUMA Asia Pacific); agencies (Universal McCann, Wunderman, Bite); events (Branded); traditional direct marketers (Hongkong Post, Datatrade, Mailing Lists (Asia)); publishers (Dun & Bradstreet, FT.com, Haymarket Media, Reuters, SCMP, Turner/CNN, The Wall Street Journal); email service providers (Acxiom, emailvision, emarsys, Epsilon); insurance (China Insurance, Cigna, Metlife); law firms (Rajah & Tann); research (Multichannel Research); technology (HP); and many more.
D+D’s planned activities for 2014 include: monthly original editorial content; a compendium of statistics and trends for the region; proprietary research providing industry insights; regular senior level networking & sharing sessions; a calendar of informative industry events; and training to complement the education offerings.
