Archive for the ‘Catalog Choice’ Category

Catalog Choice Joins 1% For The Planet as Nonprofit Partner

Monday, October 5th, 2009
1%_logo.png
We are pleased to announce that Catalog Choice has joined 1% For The Planet as a nonprofit partner.  The organization, launched in 2002 by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Blue Ribbon Flies Owner Craig Mathews, inspires the business community to contribute to environmental groups worldwide.  These two successful businessmen and passionate outdoor lovers recognized the powerful influence of connecting businesses and nonprofits through philanthropy.  Working with an alliance of 1,200 business members and 1,800 nonprofit partners, 1% For The Planet offers a simple way for companies to mitigate the true cost of doing business by making a simple pledge to the planet; what Yvon Chouinard calls an “Earth tax.”  Member companies, including CaliBamboo, Clif BarSterling Vinyards, and Canada’s Mountain Equipment Co-op, donate 1% of their annual net sales to environmetnal groups.  Singer/songwriter/surfer Jack Johnson even pledged 1% of sales from his CD In between Dreams.  We think that’s good business.
We applaud all companies that donate to environmental organizations and encourage our Catalog Choice participate members to join other businesses making a difference through 1% For The Planet.

iCatalogs as Ad Units

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Your company’s catalog at the Doctor’s office – that is great advertising for any marketer.  On the web, it is not so easy to show off your great assortment of products on the wide array of web sites your customers visit every day.  That was then.  But now, with the iCatalog you can put your entire product inventory in an easy to navigate 300 x 250 widget and run it as an advertisement on any website where your prospects and customers might visit.  We have taken rich media ads to a new level.

Take a look at this video and see how the UncommonGoods iCatalog becomes a natural part of the Naturalpath.com website.  Want to learn more about going paperless with iCatalogs?  Drop us a note at merchantservice@catalogchoice.org. Put the video in full screen mode to get the best view.

Ad Unit example from Catalog Choice on Vimeo.

It’s a Fine Day for Consumer Choice

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Today is an important day for consumer choice.  October marks the beginning of the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) enforcement of a new labeling provision.  This guideline states that a DMA marketer must provide existing and prospective customers and donors with notice of how to eliminate or modify direct mail solicitations from their organization.  That means that catalogs, credit card offers, and nonprofit fund raising appeals all need to state how you as the consumer can opt-out or reduce frequency of the mailing.  The notice needs to appear in every marketing offer and it must be “easy to read, find, understand, and act upon.”  This provision is part of DMA’s Commitment to Consumer Choice (CCC) that was announced two years ago, about the same time that Catalog Choice appeared on the scene.  The CCC program and notice policy apply to DMA members, but all mailers are encouraged to comply.

We all know how convenient and effective labeling rules can be.  Whether it’s a printed warning on a cigarette packet about smoking’s health hazards, the listing of trans fat on a food label, or a recycling logo on packaging, labels inform our choices and empower our actions.  We are hoping that you’ll see more Catalog Choice logos printed on catalogs and that marketers will make mail preference choices more visible and convenient on their websites.

And here’s where you can help.  Look at the catalogs you receive this month and through the holidays.  Can you easily find the notice for how to modify or eliminate the mailing?  Is it easy to read and understand?  Let us know which companies are doing a good job and which ones need improvement.  We’ll pass on the results of your findings to mailers and the DMA.   Thanks for your help!

Paper or Plastic – Never forget your bags again.

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Here’s another simple, yet elegant, solution for eco-living from Gaiam, one of our participating merchants. The ChicoBag Reusable Shopping Bags are so compact and strong, that you’ll always have your bags when you need them.

ChicoBags Reusable Shopping Bags – set of 3   Item #04-9393
$24.00

ChicoBags Reusable Shopping Bags - set of 3 - Kitchen - Household - Eco Home & Outdoor - Gaiam

Though we have the best intentions, we often forget to bring our reusable shopping bags with us when we’re out. If that sounds familiar, you’ll love these! They compactly fold into their own tiny sewn-in pouch (about the size of a cell phone) to stay – on call – in purses, packs or pockets or on keychains. Featherweight nylon fabric means you’ll never know they’re there yet each holds an impressive 20 lbs. China.

Looking for other cool products from Gaiam? Their iCatalog is packed with their entire product selection.  Shop right from here or click Get & Share and put it on your desktop or personal homepage.

Stepping up the commitment to consumer choice

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Catalog Choice was created because we believed that consumers deserved choice over what comes in the mailbox.  We are pleased that the DMA followed our lead and created the Commitment to Consumer Choice (CCC).  You can read all about it at DMACCC.org.  Simply stated, the new policy is:

The CCC requires that you notify consumers of the opportunity to modify or eliminate future mail solicitations.

The DMA’s CCC launched shortly after Catalog Choice in late 2007.  It originally gave marketers 12 months to comply.  They increased the phase in period to 24 months – October 2009.

There are four specific elements of the CCC that everyone should be aware of:

  1. A marketer should proivde existing and prospective customers and donors with notice of an opportunity to eliminate or modify direct mail solicitations from their organization. It effects consumer and nonprofit mailers.  The notice should:
    Appear in every marketing offer and be easy to read, find, understand, act upon.
  2. Upon request by a consumer, a marketer should disclose the source from which it obtained personally identifiable data about that consumer.
  3. Use the DMA’s Mail Preference Service file on a monthly basis.
  4. A marketer should establish internal policies and practices in support of the CCC.  Specifically, a senior level executive should be responsible for making sure that your organization implements its policies and practices, and reviews and updates them as necessary.

If your company does not have a spot on your website where you can refer consumers to in order to set their mail preference, you should consider Catalog Choice’s new hosted Contact Preference Center.  Learn more about our solution.  If you want to offer opt-down options rather than just opt-out, we can make that happen.  If you want to sending the consumer somewhere other than your privacy policy to set their mail preference, we have a solution for you.

iCatalog Search is here

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

If you have taken a look at the iCatalogs we recently launched, but could not find the product you were looking for as you traversed through the products, we have great news. Today, we upgraded all the iCatalogs with Search.  It is easy as could be.  Click the Search link in the iCatalog menu (at the bottom of the iCatalog) and enter your search term.

Catalog Choice - Control the catalogs you receive in the mail
We’ll show you all the products that contain your search term either in the product name or product description.
Catalog Widget | Product Zoom
Click the Details link next to any product you like and get a large view of the product just like you are on the retailer’s website.
Catalog Choice - Control the catalogs you receive in the mail
Want to share your discovery with your family or friends?  Click Share and we make it easy to email your discovery or post it to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Delicious.
With iCatalogs shopping now uses less paper and is more social.
Head on over to the iCatalog gallery and save your favorite iCatalogs now.

More Titles Join Catalog Choice

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Every month we are pleased to welcome new companies & catalog titles to our service.  From the coolest shopping for horse crazy kids to escorted tours for worldwide travelers, here are more terrific brands that are participating in Catalog Choice to honor your mail preferences.

Calyx Flowers

Crystal Classics

Go Ahead Tours

Home Decorator’s Collection

J. Jill

Otis S. Twilley Seed Co.

PajamaGram

Tracy Porter

Van’s Gifts

Vermont Teddy Bear

Wild Horsefeathers

One part of Going Green @ Home

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

This morning the Diane Rehm ran a segment on NPR about Going Green at Home.  At the 21:45 spot in the show they start talking about online shopping.  Wendy Gordon, editor, Simple Steps and Smarter Cities at Natural Resources Defense Council, describes how she went on a “carbon diet” in 2007.  One of the elements of her diet was to reduce the number of unwanted catalogs that she gets in the mail.

Following the segment, many people took her advice and started using Catalog Choice to reduce the number of unwanted catalogs they receive in the mail.

We are pleased to be one part of Going Green at Home. You can listen to the entire segement here.

The Voice from Catalog Choice Gets Personal

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Each week,  Unjunk Mail invites an expert to help educate consumers about the issue of unwanted mail.  This new website invites environmentalists, privacy pros, and direct marketing gurus to chime into the conversation.  Here’s what Catalog Choice managing director April Smith had to say this week…

I confess, I’m a catalog shopper.  As a busy working mother living in rural Vermont, I rely on catalogs for a significant portion of my personal and gift shopping.  By my bedside, in addition to a good book or two, there’s always a favorite catalog awaiting a quiet moment for my perusal:  White Flower Farm, Garnet Hill, Sundance, Athleta, Crate & Barrel.  Surfing the internet is no replacement:  Work done, my child asleep, and I have time to relax with a cup of tea and my favorite catalogs.  I’m transported. One girl’s “junk mail” is another girl’s treasure.

But, Buyer Beware.  For years, my mailbox was also stuffed with catalogs I didn’t want.  Who reads all that fine print buried in a mailer’s privacy policy?  “We do make our mailing list available to carefully screened companies whose products or services might interest you.” Before you could say “Sundance Big Sky Cowboy Hat,” I was literally knee-deep in catalogs, and they kept on coming.

It reminds me of the classic children’s story, “Why the Sea is Salt.” The boat captain asks the handmill to grind salt, and it does, abundantly.  Not knowing the magic words to make it stop, however, the mill keeps grinding and grinding, until heaps of salt grow higher with no end in sight.  I was swimming in a sea of catalogs.

As an environmental professional, all this waste was terribly troubling to me. I vowed to take action.  For years, my sole New Year’s resolution was to collect all my unwanted catalogs and call the companies directly.  I remember being on hold with one mailer for nine minutes.  I hung up and gave up.  Who has time for this inconvenience?

You can imagine my delight when I was offered a position with a new service called Catalog Choice.  It was my dream job.  Finally!  A free and easy way to give consumers a choice about what they want to received in the mail.

Catalog Choice benefits the consumer and the planet – and with the cost of postage and paper rising, the service seemed good for the mailer, too.  As the person responsible for signing up companies to participate in Catalog Choice, I heard repeatedly, “Of course we don’t want to mail catalogs to people who don’t want to receive them.”  Then why was it such a struggle to get some companies to honor consumer requests?

There is no short answer to this question.  We’ll be the first to say we made some mistakes early on.  As the new kid in town, we suffered the skepticism of an industry unsure of our motives.  While some mailers see the value of removing a name from their mailing list unconditionally, other marketers view Catalog Choice as tinkering with the tried-and-true recipe for success:  Tempt consumers enough with beautiful things and they will buy.

Despite our hurdles, in just two years we’ve delivered over 16 million mail preference requests on behalf of over 1.1 million households and continue to facilitate an important and growing conversation between the consumer and the mailer. Direct marketers see us as a voluntary solution to Do Not Mail legislation.  And the consumer no longer has to wade through a sea of mail to happily flip through the pages of her favorite catalogs.  Now, back to mine!

One of the 25 Ways to Green America

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Thanks to Green America (formerly Co-op America) for publishing information about Catalog Choice in their Spring 2009 Quarterly Magazine.  They feature our service as part of their featured list of 25 ways to green the world.  Co-op Amercia was founded 25 years ago on the belief that all of us in our economic roles – as consumers, investors, workers, and business owners – can work together through economic channels to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

Green America’s vision for the next 25 years is for us to join together to rapidly deploy their 25 strategies across the economy, so that the marketplace and our society completes the shift to green by the middle of the century.

You can read the entire article here, starting on page 8.  You will find Catalog Choice in item 17 – Be WoodWise.