What will life be like for consumers and marketers in the next 10 years? It’s fun to predict the future — and accurate or not, the exercise helps us prepare for potential challenges and opportunities that we might soon be facing.

We did a little crystal ball gazing, and the ideas just started to flow.  This list of predictions below is far from complete.  We invite you to comment and share your own predictions!

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Did we catch your attention?  What we want to discuss here is how you feel about the use of “cyber vernacular” in business communications.

The term Ebonics refers to African-American vernacular English as it differs from standard American English.  A debate has risen as to the appropriateness of such vernacular in various forms of public communication, from the classroom to marketing messages, and so on.

A similar debate is simmering in the digital communications world.  Is there a place for digispeak in professional communications?
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Does the classic 40-40-20 Rule for direct marketing, crafted in the heyday of direct mail, still hold up in today’s for digital marketing communications?  We’re introducing this discussion topic to get your thoughts.

The 40-40-20 Rule is attributed to the distinguished direct marketer Ed Meyer, also known as “the father of direct marketing education”, and its origin dates back more than 40 years.  Simply put, the Rule states that success in direct marketing is determined:

40% by targeting the right audience

40% by an enticing product and offer

20% by the creative presentation of your message
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