Editor’s Letter
Ron Glen

We’ve run the gauntlet of a publication redesign and emerged with a new name and radically different appearance. Here’s what we did, how we did it and why with special thanks to the members of the CMA councils who gave us great guidance.

Yes, it’s us, even though it may not look like us. Direct Marketing News has re-branded as Direct Marketing in what began late last year as a major redesign project and ended up as a virtual complete overhaul.

Appropriately for a monthly publication, the name change reflects a de-emphasis on the news in favour of feature stories, columns, special focuses and supplements. That’s not to say we’re skimping on the news. There will still be at least one full page devoted to news each month with other important news threaded throughout the publication. It’s just that news stories won’t be the first thing you see on the cover anymore. As well, some people may stop confusing us with DM News, the fine U.S. publication.

We’ve also gone green in more ways than one. The yellow banners that always flanked the DMN cover nameplate will be replaced with what will commonly be a green colour in the banner below the nameplate and in the name Direct Marketing itself.

Fittingly for a modern publication with an environmental conscience, Direct Marketing is now printed on 100 percent recycled paper.

Most publications go through a redesign about every five years or so to create a fresh, new look. We admittedly were overdue. In my tenure as editor, which dates back to 1995, we had undertaken some piecemeal changes, but nothing approaching a major facelift.

Once we committed to the project, we decided to do it right from the ground up. This meant getting feedback from a representative cross-section of our readers to see what they liked, didn’t like, and what they wanted changed or not changed.

We were fortunate enough to get an audience with members of nearly all the Canadian Marketing Association councils earlier this year. Their impressions, insights and advice were invaluable and formed much of the basis of the changes we’ve made here.

In these meetings, we invariably received accolades for both the quantity and quality of editorial content. The comments on readability and presentation were not nearly as glowing.

For one thing, DMN as a tabloid newspaper was an awkward size to open and read comfortably. So we diminished the dimensions somewhat to allow for a much more comfortable and user-friendly read.

Time-constrained readers told us they scanned publications to see what interested them. It led us to introduce “Fast Forward” on the cover that shows the major articles inside and where to find them.
Readers also told us they would invest the time reading long articles if they were certain from the outset it would be worth their while. So for long columns and features, we are applying “Article Highlight” decks to summarize what is detailed in the stories.

What you will find in Direct Marketing is more white space, graphics and illustrations that include original photos.

We are introducing this commentary page which will appear regularly on page 3 and include this editor’s letter and “directives” below. The latter is a platform for opinions, trends, observations or even rants on various aspects on the DM industry by a different guest columnist every month.
What you’ll also see regularly on this page to your right are indexes for both the editorial and advertisers in every issue. The advertisers’ index is new and includes companies in the Resource Directory.

There are other alterations. ‘On The Fly, which is cut down in size and contains short news items, becomes ‘FieldNotes.’ ‘Reader Forum’ now bears the name ‘Reader Poll’

But there are lots that you let us know you loved that haven’t changed. They include Billy Sharma’s highly-popular ‘Direct & Personal’ column and ‘In The Mail’ along with your other favourite columns draped in a new logo and look.

Publication redesigns are not for the faint of heart. But now that we have run this gauntlet and emerged only slightly bloody and bruised, we are delighted to present the finished product to you. It’s still your publication and we welcome your thoughts and impressions on the new Direct Marketing.