News & Information

Institute will Focus on Direct Marketing

InfoCision founder funds UA training facility -- first of its kind in U.S. It opens Tuesday

By Mary Ethridge
Beacon Journal business writer

Direct marketing.

In the minds of many Americans, the term conjures images of dinnertime sales calls, pop-up ads and overstuffed mailboxes.

Dale Lewison, chairman of the marketing department at the University of Akron, knows the field has a somewhat unsavory reputation.

"We need to alter the perception of the industry," said Lewison.

And he's starting his campaign on the fifth floor of the former Polsky's department store in downtown Akron, which now houses several other UA operations.

The top-floor space, which had been used for storage, has been converted into UA's new Gary and Karen Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing, hailed as the first undergraduate institute of its kind in the country.

The institute, which opens officially on Tuesday as part of the College of Business Administration, could pass for a highbrow advertising agency, with its executive chairs, seminar rooms, sleek computers and earth-toned carpeting.

It was funded through a $1.5 million gift by Gary Taylor, founder and board chairman of InfoCision Management Corp. of Bath Township, one of the largest direct marketing companies in the nation.

Lewison's vision is to create a place where marketing students can be trained as well as educated.

"They'll be able to take their classroom knowledge and apply it," he said.

That experience will make them far more appealing to companies who want new employees to be ready to roll, he said.

"The University of Akron is a school where students come to help them get good jobs. This is a job-creating machine," Lewison said.

Direct marketing is a growing field, according to the Direct Marketing Association, a New York-based trade group.

The National Do Not Call Registry, which limited the scope of telemarketers beginning last year, affected the industry primarily by weeding out fringe players, Lewison said. The bigger, stronger companies such as InfoCision simply retooled.

Many direct marketing clients are exempt from the federal registry, which allows consumers to put themselves on a national list that prevents telemarketer calls. Among the exemptions are calls from -- or on behalf of -- political organizations, charities and companies with which the consumers have already done business.

Career options vary

Direct marketing remains a multifaceted, $2 trillion industry that employs 17 million people, according to the association. It requires number crunchers, creative spirits and managers.

Lewison said the field desperately needs a training ground that can nurture all of those types under one roof and teach students all aspects of the business -- from data analysis to script writing.

The students in the institute will include the 167 who are enrolled in the university's brand-new e-marketing major course of study. Those who are minoring in direct and database marketing will also take classes at the institute.

The students will handle projects from real clients and do everything from Web design to cold calling. The projects will be overseen by marketing experts from the academic and corporate worlds.

William Hauser, a sociologist who worked in research for Rubbermaid and Little Tikes, will serve as the institute's program manager. Projects will be graded on the bottom line.

"They'll have to make their margins. We'll tell them, `This is creative but you lost a bundle of money.' That won't fly," said Lewison.

Eventually, Lewison hopes to include a business incubator to nurture fledgling direct marketing companies within the institute.

The institute was conceived by Lewison. He approached Taylor, who quickly embraced it.

"I initially told the university that I was interested in setting up student scholarships," Taylor said. "When the College of Business Administration came back with the concept of an institute dedicated to direct marketing, it seemed to be a perfect idea."

Firm employs 2,800

Taylor, who started InfoCision in his home 22 years ago, received his bachelor's and master's degrees in business from UA in the 1970s.

InfoCisionis the eighth largest nongovernment employer in Summit County, according to the Greater Akron Chamber. It has 21 call centers in three states. About 1,400 of the company's 2,800 employees are in call centers in Bath Township and Green.

The telemarketing company specializes in nonprofit fund raising, consumer sales and business-to-business marketing. It also handles inbound teleservices, outbound teleservices and e-services, according to its Web site.

The university will hold a dedication ceremony at the institute on Tuesday. Tim Searcy, chief executive officer of the American Teleservices Association, will be the inaugural speaker in an annual lecture series sponsored by the institute.

Searcy's lecture will be at 1:30 p.m. in the Student Union Theater in the Polsky building.

For more information, call the marketing department at 330-972-7650.