New Organization to Represent the Catalog Industry
ACMA. If you Google the acronym this week, you’ll find sites from Italy and Australia, organizations related to composites, case management, Chinese medical associations . . . but if you’re a cataloger, keep an eye open in the next couple of weeks for the brand-new American Catalog Mailers Association, which filed a statement of intent on April 24, 2007. The organization’s mission statement reads in part: “Advocate for the collective interest of catalog mailers in regulatory public, and administrative matters. . . . Participate in rulemaking or commercial proceedings of significance where a single collective voice magnifies effectiveness.â€
Citing the current USPS regulation case as an example of precisely the sort of situation that the ACMA means to help members resolve to their greatest benefit as an industry, a letter from the officers (Executive Director Hamilton Davison, Chairman Neil Sexton, and Membership VP Ralph Drybrough) makes the point that the new organization is not interested in competing with such groups as the DMA, NEMOA, or PostCom, but rather in focusing on catalog-specific issues.
ACMA membership, which has an initial annual dues assessment of $5,000, will include not only catalog mailers but printers, designers, list managers, Website developers—“and others who derive their livelihood from a vibrant catalog marketing industryâ€â€” and multichannel direct marketers “have a substantial portion of their activities directed to the production and mailing of catalogs.†Charter members of the American Catalog Mailers Association include American Girl, Gardeners Supply, Lillian Vernon, Market Force, Northern Safety Co., J. Schmid & Assoc., Inc., Pet Edge, Taylor, and Vcom, over 30 members in all in this initial phase. Besides Davison, Sexton, and Drybrough, named above, the initial board of directors includes Don Libey, Michael Muoio, Mark Taxel, and Don Treis.
The American Catalog Mailers Association Web site is currently under construction, but it is scheduled to be up and running by mid-May (you can bookmark it at http://www.catalogmailers.org). Right now, in order to contact the organization directly the number to call is (800) 509-9514; the organization’s offices are at:
American Catalog Mailers Association, Inc.
2001 K Street NW
Suite 206
Washington, DC 20006
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