Blog: NCDM

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Does Brand Marketing still matter?

Feb 8 2010

At a keynote panel at the National Center of Database Marketing (NCDM), I made a comment that customer marketing was eclipsing brand marketing as the core of marketing's mission in many companies.  That sparked a lively discussion among the panelists.  As is to be expected among panelists at a database marketing conference, there was general agreement that this was the case.  But is it, really?  Does brand marketing still matter?  Of course, it does!

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Is technology the gating factor for marketing?

Jan 14 2010

Last month, I was on a keynote panel at the National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM).  The topic of the panel was "Evolving from Database Marketing to Customer Intelligence" and the discussion largely centered around the evolution of marketing into a bi-directional communication mechanism with customers across multiple channels and the challenges that brings.  An audience member asked the question, "Is technology the gating factor that prevents or slows marketers from embracing these changes?"   The panel differed on their responses.   Some felt, yes, technology was indeed an impediment to doing this well.     I and at least one other panelist disagreed.   

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Requiem for the NCDM?

Dec 15 2009

I attended the recent NDCM (National Center for Database Marketing conference) in Las Vegas last week, after a gap of many years, the triggering event being the fact that I was on a keynote panel being moderated by David Frankland of Forrester Research.  Attending the event after this multi-year hiatus and, particularly,  on the tenth year anniversary of a keynote address I had given there after I had started Quaero in 1999, I was struck by the changes in the conference over the years.    It is, to state the obvious for those who have been attending for many years, much smaller than it used to be.   I would guess a fourth or even a fifth of the size that it was ten years ago.  When you consider the fact that there used to be two NCDMs a year at that time versus just one this year, that is quite a precipitous fall.  Given the revolutionary changes in marketing over the past ten years, one would have expected quite the opposite.    The NCDM has always been focused on the technology aspects of direct marketing and technology has been the driver behind many of the changes in marketing in recent years.   

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