A ban on the sale of voter’s personal could be on the cards as 98 percent of local government officials vote against the practice.

Since 2002 anyone registering to vote in England has been able to opt out of appearing on the lists made available for unsolicited mail-outs, and to date about 40 per cent of people have taken this option. The DMA said the lists are mainly used to verify retails rather than to compile lists.

WH Smith is dropping its Clubcard loyalty scheme in favour of a Privilege Card, which it claims can provide customers with more offers via email.

The Clubcard will be phased out gradually, although customers will still be able to redeem their points up until the end of February 2009.

The retailer said that through the Privilege Card, customers will enjoy extra benefits and email offers, including an introductory email with £20 worth of vouchers, at least £10 worth of vouchers each month and exclusive discounts.

The majority of direct marketing agencies do not effectively copyright their work during the pitch process, leaving their ideas open to being plagiarised, according to new research by the DMA.

The research, due to be released later this year, reveals that a staggering two-thirds of winning agencies have been shown losers’ work post-pitch. While 83% of agencies believe they own the copyright to their pitch work, just 50% make this clear in writing. In addition, some agencies feel that they unnecessarily and all too easily negotiate away many of their rights.

In a bid to promote its own marketing products and services, Royal Mail is launching a direct mail drive which it hopes will engage customers by appealing to all of the five senses. They hope that by moving away from the traditional leaflet and letter format to a media pack including a CD, customers will take a “seed” idea and “grow” it into their own, customised marketing solution.

A letter in New Media Age suggests a novel way of encouraging increasingly reticent customers to part with their personal data.

Why not, argues Rudy Tambala, head of internet and innovation at Ministry of Sound, set up a dating agency in every business? You get your portfolio of detailed consumer profiles, the people who apply get a chance for love. What could be better?