~ by Merry Law, president of WorldVu LLC

With a title like WorldVu's Guide to Worldwide Postal- code and Address Formats, we have lost the sale before the envelope is opened if it is badly addressed. Since each country sets its own standards for the addressing of mail, we face many different formats. There are potentially more than 200 formats. Fortunately, it is not that bad but there are more than 30 different address templates with some slight variations for particular countries. Correct addressing can be a chore but some basic information helps.

Based on the standards published by the postal authorities, the most common format used in almost 60 countries is the simplest, with no postal code and no province. The next is the one most common in continental Europe, with a postal code to the left of the locality and no province. These are followed in order of frequency by addresses with the postal code to the right of the locality with no province (around 20 countries), the postal code to the right of the locality and province (the U.S. and Canadian format), and the postal code below the locality (the Royal Mail's preferred format).

Direct marketers are all too familiar with the quest for high response rates, right? Well, we reached out to our GZ News readers and IDMF '07 Conference attendees to respond to Global-Z's "Direct Marketing Trends Survey" with only 20 respondents. While this relatively low number of respondents may not be what Forrester would hang their hat on we wanted to be sure to follow up with you, as promised, to relay the results of our survey. The trends as represented in the aggregated responses may well prove to be reflective of a larger cross-section of direct marketers. Time will tell.

Of the survey respondents the greatest number (45%) self-classified as "Direct Marketing Product/Service Provider". The priorities respondents feel most closely match their company's direct marketing strategies was lead by increasing market share, followed by increase revenues from strategically-important customers, then branding/imaging. Trailing the list of priorities was process & operational improvements, with applying emerging technologies pretty evenly spread across respondents' prioritization with a quarter of the respondents each giving it a priority of 2 through 5 (5 being the lowest priority).

~ by Marty Shaw, Global-Z Business Development & eMarketing

On a recent flight from Vermont to Las Vegas for The National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM) Conference I had the opportunity to listen to an audiobook I had heard a lot of positive things about over the years; Seth Godin's Unleashing the Ideavirus. The basic premise of Godin's book is the comparison and contrast between what he refers to as "old-fashioned interruption marketing" vs. maximizing the spreading of information from person- to-person, and how one can take full advantage of this "ideavirus". What Godin outlines in his "manifesto" is quite interesting while arguably basic. What was most interesting was the soon-to-be- experienced unleashing of an ideavirus-live and in person, hours after arriving in Las Vegas-an idea virus from which every business may benefit.

As a graduate of SUNY Agricultural and Technical College in Cobleskill , NY , Dona Pessolano began her customer service experience in the Horticulture industry. Over the years she has broadened her knowledge to include various manufacturing sectors before arriving at Global-Z International as an account manager in October 2007.

Dona says "It's a great opportunity to explore one more facet of customer service, to meet new challenges and assist clients with their needs. I appreciate the cooperation and dedication everyone at Global-Z provides in both a personal and professional manner."