RIP John Jay Daly

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by Andrew in Connections

It was John Jay Daly who invented the opt-out. The system he came up with in 1970 was one which allowed households to send a postcard with the details on to a single central address and, as a result, opt-out of all direct mail.

It’s the same model that we recognise for do-not-call lists and the opt-out concept that twisted and expanded to produce the “unsubscribe” links that should be on the bottom of direct marketing emails.

Daly was deputy chairman at the US Direct Marketing Association at the time and the American Congress was debating legislation which would have made opt-in.

You might be thinking that life would be better without direct mail but at the time some members of the Direct Marketing Association thought Daly solution would kill the business. His famous compromise solution may not have pleased everyone but it seems to have helped solved the bulk of the problem.

Tags: direct mail, ethics