A heartfelt duet of “Please Mr. Postman” (The Marvelettes version, not that crap by rapper Lil Wayne) was an apropos opening to the Direct Marketing Club (DMCNY) of New York’s 27th annual Silver Apple Awards.
Without Mr. (or Ms.) Postal Worker – the mail delivery game’s no longer just a boy’s club – where would direct marketing be? Sure, the industry evolved to include digital channels as the Internet, email and mobile grew to become essential marketing media, but at the heart of direct marketing is direct mail.
This will never change, regardless of how the industry shifts in the future. Similarly, the definition of a “great influencer” will not change – and it is those rare individuals in direct marketing “with the vision, the drive and the desire to make our field a better place,” as DMCNY president Pegg Nadler put it, that these awards are intended to recognize.
This year, five individuals crossed the stage at the Hudson Theatre in New York’s Times Square to become Silver Apple honorees. This year’s winners are:
- Tom Mastrocola, director of subscription acquisition at the American Express Publishing Corporation.;
- Gerald Messer, president and CEO of Data Services;
- Joseph Gomez, VP of new business development at fmi direct;
- Adrea Rubin, CEO of Adrea Rubin Marketing; and
- David Williams, chairman and CEO of Merkle.
Ralph Stevens, president of Ralph Stevens & Associates, received the night’s highest honor: the Golden Apple, and Japs-Olsen Company, one of the largest commercial print and direct mail production companies in the U.S. was named the 2011 corporate honoree.
In his introductory remarks, DMCNY past president James Prendergast quoted another past president, Mal Dunn, in his explanation of what it takes to be worthy of a Silver Apple: “While they have lent their minds and strengths to the substantial growth of direct marketing, they have also given us something of themselves. This has meant the retention of friendships and warmth in our daily activities normally shunted aside in times of dramatic change.”
Congratulations to this year’s honorees.
