Testing Functionality

Analytics Council Upcoming Events

Virtual Seminars:

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. (ET) l Online Course

Title: Optimal Allocation of Promotion Budgets: Smarter Decision with Market Potential Models Tuesday,

May 27, 2008 2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. (ET) l Online

Course Title: How to Use Individual, Household, ZIP Code and Block Group Models to Maximize Prospect Response

One Day Seminar

Thursday, March 27, 2008 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. (ET)

Course Title: Logistic Regression, Model Building and Classification Location: To come

For more information, please visit, http://www.the-dma.org/councils/analyticscouncil/

Optimal Allocation of Promotion Budgets: Smarter Decisions with Market Potential Models

ANALYTICS COUNCIL VIRTUAL SEMINAR

Tuesday -- February 26, 2008 -- 2:00-3:00 PM (ET) – Online

Retailers and multi-channel marketers that sell through retail stores (catalog stores, newspapers, magazines, etc) must decide which markets and stores to select for promotions. Many marketing executives think that areas with the largest gap between current and potential penetration are the easiest in which to increase share, so allocate larger shares of the promotion budget to them.

However, potential penetration is usually estimated using experience and judgment alone. Statistical models of market penetration can objectively calculate the potential of each market using consumer demographics, economic activity and the extent of competition in each market

• Which consumer characteristic (income, age) influences potential most?
• Do professional and managerial jobs affect demand?
• Can a model measure the effect of competition?
• Do direct mail and telemarketing cannibalize or help retail?
• Are MSA models accurate than ZIP Code?
• How to decide which markets are under performing their potential?

BENEFITS

Improve your ROI for promotion outlay and increase response rates, subscription penetration and share of market.

What you will learn:

• Learn how markets can be prioritized by calculating their potential.
• Recognize when to use market potential models for allocating promotion budgets to areas.
• Appreciate different roles that ZIP Code and MSA market potential How to identify under-performing markets and neighborhoods.
• How to flag markets above their potential – what to do about it.

Registration Rates:

Analytics Council Member: FREE

DMA Member: $149.00

Non-Member: $299.00

Check information at http://www.the-dma.org/councils/analyticscouncil/

Analytics Challenge Virtual Seminar-Nov. 29, 2007

The winners of the Analytics Challenge at DMA07 will present at ther 29, 2007 from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM (Easter Time). Brad Rukstale of CAC group will coordinate and moderate this virtual seminar. Fifteen (15)  people have registered already for the event. Remember, this is free for the Analytics Council members only. DMA Members and Non-members are paying a fee to attend.

We hope that you avail this Analytic Councils benefit. For more information, please visit this link,

http://www.the-dma.org/councilevents/analyticsvs/

New Updated DMA Analytics Council Events and Newsletters Information

Fall 2007 DMA Analytics Newsletters

The articles will now be posted directly onto the DMA website. Please take a moment to review the latest articles:

1) Six Steps to Moving Beyond Email Campaign Reporting by Thane Stallings

2) An Alternative Approach to Developing Robust Acquisition Models with Low Response Rates” by Hualin Wang, Kaixia Zhang, and Tim Sweeney

To access the newsletters, visit http://www.the-dma.org/councils/analyticscouncil/

Registration Information for DMA Analytics Council Virtual Seminar

Course Title: Analytics Challenge: Top Analysts Pit Their Models and Compete To Each Other and YOU WIN

Dates and Time

Thursday, November 29, 2007

2:00 P.M. l   3:15 P.M. (Eastern Time)

If you were unable to attend the "Head to Head" Analytics Challenge at this year's DMA07 in Chicago, or, maybe you did attend, but are craving to learn more? In either case, here's your chance to capture the unique approach of this year's winners! Learn the essentials on building successful models and how these models compared against one another. There will be ample room for Q&A between the attendees and the speakers at the closing of the session.

After attending this virtual seminar, you will master:

1. “Best Practices” in all steps of the Analytics Process

2. How to evaluate the effectiveness of a model

3. Different methods of analysis that lead to better results

Registration Rates

DMA Analytics Council Member: FREE

DMA Member: $149

Non-Member: $199

Register Now

For more information, http://www.the-dma.org/councilevents/analyticsvs/

National

Center

for Database Marketing Annual Conference

December 10-12, 2007

Mandalay

Bay

Resort & Casino

Las Vegas

,

Nevada

The DMA Analytics Council is sponsoring fifteen analytics session for the NCDM 2007 Annual Conference to be held in

Las Vegas

, December 10-12, 2007.

For more information, visit, http://ncdm07.com/ncdmab/

Download updated_analytics_council_events_and_newsletters_information.doc

Virtual Seminar, Analytics Challenge, DMA07, Nov. 29, 2007, 2:00 P.M. Eastern Time

Due to overwhelming attendance at the DMA07, Analytics Challenge in Chicago this year, the DMA Analytics Council is holding a Virtual Seminar on this particular sessions on November 29, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) for 75 minutes providing extra time for Questions and Answers.

For those who did not have the opportunity to attend DMA07, please don't miss this Virtual Seminar.  This session is being lead by Brad Rukstales, President of CAC Group and former Vice Chair of the Analytics Council OpCom Committee. Brad will be the moderator will be joined by the three winners of the DMA07 Analytics Competition: Kaixia Zhang, Alliance Data, Aaron G. Davis, Datalab, USA and Lei Lu, Expedia, Inc.

FREE TO ALL ANALYTICS COUNCIL MEMBERS. DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY

For more information about  this Virtual Seminar, please contact:

Anchie Vicencio, Council Manager, The-DMA.Org, Email: fvicencio@the-dma.org or call at (212) 768-7277 ext.1431.

Welcome to Challenge 2007

The DMA Analytics Challenge is back for DMA 2007 in October in Chicago after an incredibly successful debut in San Francisco last year.  An exciting new topic and more winners being recognized should make this year an even bigger success. 

You can post your questions here, and discuss the challenge with other participants.

Please visit http://www.the-dma.org/councils/analyticscouncil/challenge.doc for more information or contact challenge@cac-group.com. 

Introducing - "Tough Nuts" Program

Calling all business and analytic professionals!

Have you been working on a challenging business or analytical problem and said "Someone must have gone through this before, where do I find them?". Perhaps like me, your first choice might have been Google (come on, admit it!), but after wading through first 2-3 pages, just given up and are still left with the problem that is now looking even larger.

Or you are someone who has just gone through a lot to find an answer and altruistically thinking "gee, this should not have been so hard, maybe there's someone that could benefit from knowing about this". Great, let us hear about it, and someone will thank you (anonymously or in person), and now you are a more satisfied, happy soul having shared the "light'.

In either case, who better to share this with than practicing fellow Analytics pros and business managers? As the Analytics Council interested in serving you, that's the purpose we are creating this program. Pose your question on this blog, and depending on your situation get a response that you can share with others, or have a direct conversation with someone who you think can help you. Sounds good? Here are a few simple tips to make this work for you:

- Ideally, focus on one issue, and whether you are asking for help or giving help.

- Be as specific as possible about your situation, including some background or context. It does not have to be overly lengthy - just enough to get the reader's interest.

- Provide contact info and best way to reach you, if necessary. Also provide acknowledgements for some problem you have solved if the person you want to recognize is Ok with it.

The more we put into this, the more we'd all benefit. Over time, we plan to collate, group and archive the responses into something like an "Practical Analytics Knowledge Bank". We've heard some interest expressed about this concept, discussed this around the OpComm and realized that this could be offered as a key benefit to our members. So we are excited to launch this in the new Blog - what better forum than this for our community?

So if you have a problem or want to share a solution, get started today. Let me know any questions or thoughts, and we look forward to seeing this grow into a valuable reference for our members!

Thank you,

Parth Srinivasa, Analytics OpComm

partsti@cdw.com

More money on the corporate side?

Often candidates come to me and insist that making a change from the vendor side to the corporate side will dramatically improve their income.  It may improve their benefits, but the compensation for advanced analytics experts is much better on the vendor side IF they are excellent communicators.  The opportunity to do business development...not direct sales...but building business based on what your analytical expertise can show provides real, accountable returns for your company.  Its hard to draw that straight line on the corporate side.  Here's what I think today's compensation categories are:

Vice President/Director  $120,000 to $250,000  Size of staff and business development responsibilities are the critical criteria at this level.  The larger the group managed the higher the compensation.  To reach the top compensation level requires significant business development responibility.

Manager  $100,000 to $140,000  Senior Statisticians have the best opportunity to become managers by seeking promotion at their current company.  Once a statistician has managed at least two staff members for a year they can fairly easily find external managment opportunities at a better compensation level.  This hierarchy level is where we see the greatest jump in compensation from an outside move.  Keep your employees!  Reward your best statisticians with a promotion, and your best managers with a raise.

Senior Statistician  $70,000 to $110,000  Gifted business analysts with excellent communication skills can command base salaries up to $110,000.  It is difficult to go above that level without managerial or business development responsibility.  An employee at the top of this range cannot change companies for an increase in salary without those two critical credentials.

Senior Analyst/Analyst  $45,000 to $85,000  This level is the candidate most in demand.  Armed with a Master's degree and two years of work experience can mean dramatic increases in compensation and multiple offers.

Entry Level - Masters  $50,000 to $65,000  Those graduating from analytically based MS or PhD programs with excellent communication skills and no visa issues are recieving multiple offers.  The escalation in MS entry salaries has returned after a hiatus during the 2001-2003 recession.  Often these entry-level candidates are making as much or more than those with two years experience.

Jacque Paige, Recruiter, Smith Hanley Associates, LLC, jpaige@smithhanley.com

Particle Swarm Optimization

Has any one out there used Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to build data models?  If any one has the experience of using PSO in modeling for direct marketing, I would be interested in talking to this person.  I am looking for someone to write an article in our journal, "Direct Marketing Analytics Journal", to introduce PSO to the modelers among our readers.

Thanks.

Ziyong Cai, Ph.D.

Journal Chair, Direct Marketing Analytics Journal