Looking Back and Looking Forward with Interactive Marketing

Abstract

Theeditorialteamofthe JournalofInteractiveMarketing (JIM)has now changed with the addition of Charles Hofacker. He joinsEdward Malthouse, who has been with JIM since 2006, as co-editor. Such a change is a perfect occasion to thank VenkateshShankar who has completed his seven-year term as editor. UnderVenky, the journal has grown, prospered and staked anunchallenged claim to leadership in the area of direct andinteractive marketing. Here is a short list of accomplishmentsunderhisleadership:thenumberofsubmissionshasgrownsteadilyand has now more than doubled since 2003, allowing JIM to bemoreselective; JIMcitationsarenowauditedbyThomsonReutersandour2009ImpactFactoris2.600andthe5yearFactoris4.021;he managed the transition to our new publisher Elsevier; and therehave been special issues with articles from leading marketingscholars on multichannel marketing, online pricing, data mining,online advertising, along with two anniversary issues devoted tothe future of interactive marketing and another on multimedia,multichannel retailing.JIM has been fortunate to have an outstanding editorialreview board, which is periodically updated. We would like tothank outgoing members Shun Yin Lam, Andrew Ainslie,Miklos Sarvary, Ziv Carmon, Imran Currim and Dan Ariely fortheir valuable contributions to the success of the journal. Wewould also like to welcome new members Scott Neslin, StevenBellman, Adam Finn, Devon Johnson, George Milne and AnnSchlosser.The Scope of the JournalThis is our first issue as co-editors and this editorial discussesour vision for JIM. Venky and our other previous editors – RussWiner, John Deighton and Don Schultz – have established aunique position for JIM in the space of leading academicmarketing journals, and we do not intend to change it. Thiseditorial will simply clarify the scope of interactive marketing bylooking back at its history and then using this perspective toproject its direction into the future. The underlying story is thatthe scope of direct, and now interactive, marketing has beenexpanding to encompass many other areas of marketing. This isbecause marketing communication media and distributionchannelsarebecomingmoreinteractive,makingiteasiertotargetcontacts and track outcomes. Direct marketing frameworks andapproachesarewell-suitedformanaginginteractiverelationships.The Journal ofDirectMarketing (JDM) was founded in1987bytheDirectMarketingEducationalFoundation(DMEF)anditsfirst editor Don Schultz. An editorial in the first issue written bythe publisher, DMEF President Richard Montesi, states, “Theprimary purpose of this journal is to publish significant directmarketing manuscripts …” (Montesi 1987). Fig. 1 illustrates theway marketing worked at the time and the shaded parts showwhere JDM fit in. Most organizations set the marketing strategy,developedproductsandservices,settheprices,andpromotedanddistributed them through unidirectional media and distributionchannels. Some organizations used “direct marketing,” whichincludedtheoffer,mailinglists,directmediasuchascatalogsandtelemarketing, and customer databases. The Customer box,showing some key psychological customer variables, is partiallyshaded because JDM published articles discussing customerattitudes towards direct marketing and privacy. Finally, directmarketing has long emphasized the measurement of outcomessuch as response rates and lifetime value.In 1998, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundationchanged the name of the Journal of Direct Marketing to theJournal of Interactive Marketing. Then editor John Deightonstated,“Thelabeldirectmarketinghasbecometoorestrictivetodojusticetotheideasthatithasspawned.Inaveryrealsense,directmarketing has become too important and pervasive to be calleddirectmarketing,sinceintheinformationage,everymarketerhasthe potential (and perhaps the responsibility!) to be a databasemarketer”(DeightonandGlazer1998,p2).Interactivemarketingexpandedthescopeof“directmarketing”toinclude“thestrategicuse of information and information technology as corporateassets, network-based communication, customer and managerial