The Direct Marketing Association on Monday announced an agreement to merge its Email Marketing Council (EMC) into the Email Experience Council (EEC), and also said it will team with Return Path's
Sender Score unit to launch an Email Reputation Registry for its 3,600 member companies.
While the DMA said its own Council has been around "since the inception of email marketing,"
previously as the Council for Responsible Email, the Email Experience Council was founded a year ago by a group of email service providers and ad agencies. "By joining forces with DMA, we'll be able
to deliver even more value, expertise and resources to our members," said Jeanniey Mullen, EEC founder and OgilvyOne Worldwide senior partner and executive director for global email marketing.
The combined Council, with more than 400 marketers, vendors and suppliers, will keep the EEC name. Mullen will co-chair, along with Michael Della Penna, chief marketing office for Epsilon, who was
formerly chair of the EMC. Stephanie Miller, vice president for strategic services at Return Path, was named vice chair of the combined group and will lead the integration process.
Return Path,
meanwhile, will help DMA members gain access to third-party data about their email programs through the new Email Reputation Registry, which is scheduled to launch as a pilot program this summer
before expanding to the entire DMA in the fall.
In addition to email authentication--and access to monitoring data, reports, and alerts for IP addresses and domains--the registry will provide DMA
members with access to other key email marketing metrics, including compliance with CAN-SPAM'S 10-day unsubscribe processing requirement and end-user spam complaints. It will also include a resource
center with free white papers on implementing email authentication protocols, as well as other best practices.
Matt Blumberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Return Path, is also chairman
of the DMA's Interactive Marketing Advisory Board.