San Francisco-based direct marketing company Intellipost Corp. said that Lester Wunderman, often considered the “father of direct marketing” and founder of Wunderman Cato Johnson, has joined its board of directors.
Also joining the board are Tom Newkirk, chairman of Experian Direct Technology Solutions & Marketing Solutions; and Larry Phillips, managing director of Primedia Ventures, the venture arm of media and publishing giant Primedia Inc.
Intellipost offers direct marketers a complete, integrated solution to online direct marketing needs. The company’s BonusMail service Rewards consumers for reading and responding to personalized, targeted advertisements by email, and the company’s MyPoints service enables Web merchants to offer visitors incentives to respond to their online offerings.
Intellipost acquired MyPoints, along with other Internet e-commerce properties, from the $1.6 billion information services giant Experian in November of last year.
“The goal of direct response marketing is the response, but in the offline world the campaign and the consumer’s response have always been two separate acts–receiving the message and responding by phone, mail or other means,” said Wunderman. “The Internet is such a powerful direct marketing vehicle because it removes that obstacle, allowing consumers to respond without leaving their computers.”
Upon joining either MyPoints or BonusMail, consumers fill out an extensive, voluntary questionnaire, allowing the company to deliver relevant offers to members and response rates of up to 25 percent to direct marketers.
Intellipost has more than 1.9 million members registered in its online direct marketing programs and operates loyalty rewards programs on behalf of such clients as GTE, NextCard Internet VISA and Prodigy Services Corp.