Direct mail marketing - yesterday and today
 Allan McEachern, president of Mailstream USA, will provide a look at direct mail marketing and how this industry has changed over the past twenty-five years at the November SPRC/PRSA breakfast meeting on Friday, Nov. 4. According to McEachern, the excitement is back in direct mail and PR professionals should not overlook this communication method when seeking to gain exposure for their clients. Due to recent advances in print technology and data collection, direct mail is an excellent solution for reaching out to target audiences on issues and campaigns.
McEachern will examine recent trends in 'personalized' mail and explain how we can combine images and text to drive response and awareness using the mail. In addition, the presentation will touch on how direct mail competes with the web in reaching out, as well as other critical success factors for managing a direct mail campaign, cost considerations, and recent success stories.
McEachern has been involved in direct mail for more than 25 years, beginning his career with Ambassador Programs, the largest direct marketer in Eastern Washington. After a twenty-year career at Ambassador, he left the organization in December 2002 to lead Mailstream on a full-time basis.Today, Mailstream provides a wide variety of direct mail marketing solutions.
Join us on Friday, Nov. 4, 7:30 a.m., in Cataldo Hall on the Gonzaga University campus for this interesting and information topic.
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Do you know Belle Moskowitz?
By Janelle Jovick-Leonard, SPRC president
 Belle Moskowitz is hardly a household name, especially when people become engaged in conversations about the top 100 leaders in America during the 20th century. Yet this relatively unknown woman was in fact a leader in politics, public relations, and advanced societal perceptions of women in the workforce. She ran in the same social circles as Eleanor Roosevelt and Francis Perkins, yet her leadership contributions are frequently overlooked. Unless you are familiar with a history of New York politics, particularly the political career of Alfred Smith (Governor of New York in 1918, 1922, 1924), or remember Alfred Smith, who ran unsuccessfully for President against Hoover in 1928, Belle Moskowitz probably remains a mystery.
This month’s column offers an extremely condensed biography of the early years of Belle Moskowitz, which provides the foundation for her future public relations career. This two-column series concludes next month with Moskowitz’s contributions to the field of public relations.
Born on October 5, 1877 in Harlem, NY to old Jewish immigrants, Belle Linder was a bright and articulate child, brought up in an atmosphere grounded in strong Jewish values. After completing her elementary education in public schools, her parents decided to enroll her in Horace Mann, a private school in New York. An education, let alone a private education, was rare, and therefore a privilege for a woman in this time period. In 1894 Belle graduated and enrolled as a non-matriculated student at a teachers college.
By 1900 Belle transitioned to work at the Educational Alliance, a New York Jewish settlement that offered a variety of programs for immigrants to help them assimilate into American culture. Her three-and-a-half years at the Alliance taught her the importance of educating women and the impact education had on other women as well as children in each household. She stopped working in 1903 to marry Charles Henry Israeles, a New York architect.
While expecting their first child, Charles’s business entered a slump and Belle eagerly proposed that she go back to work. She began writing and performing editorial work for Charities, a Hebrew social work journal, which propelled her to become involved in more social issues. In 1905 she championed a committee with the Council of Jewish Women and successfully established a home where pregnant girls could live while they learned skills to help them learn how to earn a living. By 1908 Belle moved on to Dance Hall Reform, a prominent social issue at the time, and a topic she remained involved in through the 1920’s.
In 1911, after 8 years of marriage, Charles Israles passed away after a short illness, leaving Belle to care for three children. She went to work for the Playground and Recreation Association of America in 1912 and became a grievance clerk for the Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association in 1913 where she became an “industrial diplomat”. She sympathized with the 84 percent female workforce, but also defended employer rights in an attempt to bring both sides together. This method was unique for the time and the Dress and Waist Manufacturers’ Association was uncertain about the technique. She was fired after six months, but re-hired as Chief Clerk in 1914 to relieve the back-log of cases. By 1916 she was dismissed again despite her record of clearing 13,000 grievance cases.
Stay tuned for next month’s column. If you can’t handle the suspense, all of the information above can be referenced in: Israles Perry, Elisabeth (1987). Belle Moskowitz Feminine politics & the exercise of power in the age of Alfred E. Smith: New York Oxford University Press.
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