• by September 15, 2006

I read this article with great interest, being a direct response professional with 40 years in the industry. It seems to me, however, that Nielsen got it very wrong on its definition of direct response commercials, through what was excluded:

1. In addition to "selling goods," direct response commercial promotions also include "Free Information" offers, "Drive to Website" offers, "Free Catalog" offers, "Join AARP... AAA... US Army..."(and that's just the As), "Dealer Locator" and much more.

2.In addition to "800 numbers" and "mail" (a very small and shrinking part of the overall response), you would have to include online response generated. In recent years this accounts for more than an average 30 percent of overall responses across a multitude of offers.

3. "Products not available in stores" has not been the only positioning for years. Many marketers (too numerous to name) use DR to support the sale of products at retail.

4. Today there are many advertisers, from financial service and insurance companies to Internet retailers and pharmaceutical companies, that effectively use DR to achieve multiple objectives, including brand building and awareness.

Being in the business as long as I have, I've seen how direct response has evolved to meet the changing times and consumer habits, and I think that Nielsen should recognize there is a new DR.