Direct Media is a leading, diversified direct marketing services company. Since 1969, we have provided the appropriate media mix to support all of the direct marketing needs of our clients. Today, these services include list, insert and email brokerage, and management, Internet-based lead generation and marketing research. DMI is also renowned in the list industry as an expert provider of database services in the United States and worldwide.

Direct Media’s mission is clear and unwavering: we help our clients effectively and profitably grow their businesses. We acquire new customers for our clients at the lowest possible cost and we maximize the value and revenue potential of their most important asset, their customer file. We provide superlative service, comprehensive marketing intelligence and innovative marketing solutions to both new and well-established direct marketers. We’ve earned the distinction as the leader in our industry, as evidenced by a review of our historical highlights over the past 39 years.

Founded by current chairman Dave Florence, and led by the industry’s most experienced executive and sales staff, Direct Media provides expertise in both the business-to-business and consumer arenas. Our areas of specialty domestically and globally include catalogs, magazines, books, financial services, memberships, seminars and fundraising.

Historical Highlights: 40 Years of Innovation and Leadership

• 1969 Direct Media founded by Dave Florence with nine business-to-business clients
• 1973 The consumer marketing group is established and DMI becomes the first list company with both a consumer and business-to-business presence
• 1975 Direct Media sponsored its First Annual Mailer Co-op. 12 clients get together to share ideas and discuss mutual concerns and opportunities.
• 1979 Developed the Direct Media Databank, a list-marketing tool that provided an alternative to merge/purge for targeted business mailers.
• 1981 Direct Media is the first list company to establish an alternative media/package insert division.
• 1983 First list manager to use multi-tier list pricing, a strategy mutually beneficial to mailers and list owners and now employed by the majority of list owners.
• 1987 First to overlay current response lists with the demographic and lifestyle data.
• 1988 First U.S. list company to establish both a Canadian and International presence.
• 1989 Created the first list specific, cooperative mailer database (the DME), the structural foundation of virtually every private and cooperative database built today.
• 1993 Developed Smartbase, a transactional database for consumer catalogs, with perfected modeling applications that allowed participants to access modeled names quickly and efficiently.
• 1995 Introduced Cataloglink.com – becoming the first company to introduce traditional direct marketers to Internet-based advertising.
• 1996 Largely driven by our appreciation of the importance of data, Direct Media acquired by long-time vendor and partner, Acxiom Corp.
• 1999 Creation of modeling and analytical services unit, becoming the only list company to offer such in-house
• 2000 ‘Buying itself back’ from Acxiom, Direct Media returns to private company status, while maintaining strong alliance with parent company.
• 2002 We issue our ‘Pledge of Financial Integrity’, challenging all list firms to establish and abide by guidelines that protect list owner funds.
• 2003 With Dave Florence remaining Chairman, Larry May appointed Chief Executive Officer.
• 2004 Sponsored 30th Annual Mailer Co-op, now a 2-day symposium attended by 500 direct marketers every year. The co-op remains a forum for clients to share ideas and discuss challenges.