Direct Mail

This column is in response to the thousands of letters you readers no doubt intended to write asking: "Dave, what ever happened to Rev. Al, the direct- mail Christian? Also, who won the competition for Dog Hero of the Year?" I have followed up on these two important stories, and hereby present a full report: REV. AL Rev. Al, as some of you may recall, is "America's Minister by Mail," which means that once you get on his computerized mailing list, he bombards you with personalized letters stating that the Lord is just dying to give you many financial blessings, but only if you send in some proof of your faith in the Lord in the form of checks made out to Rev. Al, who has several convenient monthly payment plans.

You may already have won $2 million! Or $10 million, delivered personally by Ed McMahon. "Guaranteed. " You may already have won a fabulous trip to Europe. Or a new car. Or thousands of other great prizes. Most of all, you've probably won a mailbox full of subscription offers. You and everyone else with a mailbox. Indeed, the direct-mail season is upon us. As surely as Christmas follows Thanksgiving, Publishers Clearinghouse follows Christmas. So, too, do Reader's Digest and Newsweek, Time and Sports Illustrated, U.S. News & World Report and Cosmopolitan.

With a speed that seemed to rival a freight train's, the massive 10-color presses at Scanforms Inc. spun out 2.1 million Reader's Digest Sweepstakes entry forms during a two-day operation this month. Rolls of paper weighing a quarter-ton and measuring more than four feet in diameter shot through the web presses at 700 feet per minute. (One press can print 1,400 feet per minute.) At the end of the presses, huge printed rolls lay stacked on the floor, waiting to be lifted onto a truck for delivery to another printer.

Charming Shoppes, the Bensalem women's apparel retailer that operates Fashion Bug and Fashion Bug Plus, yesterday announced that it had selected Earle Palmer Brown to handle advertising, strategic planning, market research and, perhaps, public relations. The Philadelphia advertising agency bested four other finalists for the lucrative account. Among them were Baltimore heavy hitter W.B. Doner & Co. and New York's snappy and irreverent DeVito/Verdi, known here for its bus advertisements for Daffy's, the discount clothing store on Walnut Street.

Scanforms Inc. took a gamble on a sweepstakes offer 21 years ago. But not as a contestant. The Bristol Township company bet its future on a market that's now paying off in spades: direct-mail sweepstakes. Last week, the company's 10-color processors were spinning out 1.2 million copies of a Bantam Doubleday sweepstakes offer. Today, contests are Scanforms' trump card. It prints those personalized forms that show up in mailboxes nationwide, proclaiming instant winners in $10 million contests, though the fine print quickly dashes those dreams.

Whether it's newspapers, magazines, or direct mail, printing has been a difficult business to be in over the last few years. So it caught my attention Tuesday when Quad/Graphics Inc. , one of the nation's biggest printers, announced that it would be making "multimillion- dollar" investments in two plants, including one in Westampton. The publicly traded Quad/Graphics said it would be adding mail processing and equipment to create "commingling centers" at Westampton and a plant in Effingham, Ill., to cut the postage costs for direct-mail clients.

Keep your eye on your mailbox. Faced with slow markets, keen competition and high selling costs, builders are hyping their new home developments with postcards, brochures, newsletters, fliers and coupons. Such direct-mail packages won't replace conventional advertising in local newspapers or magazines. Instead, builders will use these mailbox missives as low-cost enhancements to print-media programs. The recipients of such postal promotions include a growing list of people deemed likely prospects by home builders.

Twenty-five bucks gets you into Robert Dole's Eisenhower Trust. Pat Robertson wants you to pledge a special gift - or just your prayers if you're broke. And if you'll just take the time to write a check and fill out the presidential survey that George Bush sent you, you can join the Victory '88 team. Yes, just when you thought it was safe to go out to your mailbox, the flow of direct mail for the 1988 presidential campaigns is already beginning. At last count, for instance, direct-mail specialist Walt Lukens had tried out 42 different ways for Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole to say, "Send money quick.

Arthur Klein, 73, a passionate lifelong Philadelphian who led the restoration of Congress Hall, edited the Jewish Times and directed his family's Rittenhouse Foundation, died of kidney failure Thursday at Pennsylvania Hospital. One of two children of prominent socialites/philanthropists Esther and Philip Klein, Mr. Klein lived on Rittenhouse Square. After graduating from Central High School in 1951, he earned a bachelor's in 1955 from Haverford College and a master's in education in 1958 from the University of Pennsylvania.

When Russian book publisher Serguei Ivantchouk heads home to Moscow shortly, he'll take along some very American ideas. Direct mail is one. Book clubs are another. And sipping cafe latte in a retail book emporium is a third. Ivantchouk is one of 13 Russian entrepreneurs who arrived in Philadelphia Oct. 15 for a five-week business exchange program funded by the U.S. Information Agency. Its purpose is to give the Russian visitors, all fluent in English, an opportunity to see comparable U.S. businesses in action.

Whether it's newspapers, magazines, or direct mail, printing has been a difficult business to be in over the last few years. So it caught my attention Tuesday when Quad/Graphics Inc. , one of the nation's biggest printers, announced that it would be making "multimillion- dollar" investments in two plants, including one in Westampton. The publicly traded Quad/Graphics said it would be adding mail processing and equipment to create "commingling centers" at Westampton and a plant in Effingham, Ill., to cut the postage costs for direct-mail clients.

This story has been modified.   When it began, Facebook was the world's greatest free high school yearbook. Now, for some, it's gone pay-to-play. A Facebook policy announced in late April called Promoted Posts invites owners of some Facebook pages (those with more than 400 "likes," expressions of interest from other users) to pay for expanded "reach" to their audience. Hobbyists, enthusiasts, musicians, and other individuals run these pages, as do sports teams, political campaigns, nonprofits, and businesses (including The Inquirer)

Rick Santorum met Thursday with conservative leaders in Virginia to brainstorm possible paths forward in the Republican presidential race, as Mitt Romney cruised across Pennsylvania with a presumptive nominee's focus on the general election. For Santorum, the April 24 primary here looms as a make-or-break moment after he lost three states Tuesday to Romney. Two new polls showed Santorum at risk of losing the popular vote in the state he represented in Congress for 16 years. During a 15-minute morning stop in Harrisburg to tour his new campaign headquarters, Romney did not mention Santorum and barely acknowledged a primary.

Rick Santorum met Thursday with conservative leaders in Virginia to brainstorm possible paths forward in the Republican presidential race, as Mitt Romney cruised across Pennsylvania with a presumptive nominee's focus on the general election. For Santorum, the April 24 primary here looms as a make-or-break moment after he lost three states Tuesday to Romney. Two new polls showed Santorum at risk of losing the popular vote in the state he represented in Congress for 16 years. During a 15-minute morning stop in Harrisburg to tour his new campaign headquarters, Romney did not mention Santorum and barely acknowledged a primary.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - As the Republican presidential race moves to South Carolina, Mitt Romney's new best friends just might be Christian conservatives and tea party activists. They haven't necessarily swallowed their suspicions of the Mormon former governor of Massachusetts, who says he has changed his once-moderate stripes. It's just that, so far, the right remains divided among several alternatives - meaning Romney has a chance to glide to victory in next Saturday's primary. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry are competing hard for support from conservatives in the state, where evangelical voters are projected to be at least half the electorate.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - As the Republican presidential race moves to South Carolina, Mitt Romney's new best friends just might be Christian conservatives and tea party activists. They haven't necessarily swallowed their suspicions of the Mormon former governor of Massachusetts, who says he has changed his once-moderate stripes. It's just that, so far, the right remains divided among several alternatives - meaning Romney has a chance to glide to victory in next Saturday's primary. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry are competing hard for support from conservatives in the state, where evangelical voters are projected to be at least half the electorate.

The Philly Cheesestakers' meeting started with a roll call. But instead of names, it featured wins. Two Crate & Barrel gift cards. Four tickets to a Phillies game. Boxes of chocolates from Dove. A pair of underwear from Hanes' "Wedge Free Wednesday. " Melanie Liller - who six years ago founded this group devoted to entering sweepstakes - went last. Her wins? Six packs of Sun Chips, a $5 Starbucks gift certificate - and a $4,000 grand prize from Twizzlers that included a TV, Wii and a new sofa.

YOU KNOW those annoyingly loud ring tones of pop songs that blare while you're on the bus? Many are obtained by texting to a four-to-six digit number, what's called in the business a "short number. " These short numbers are what thousands of Americans used to vote for "American Idol," texting their vote to a special number. Those short numbers had a recent scary moment of being censored by one of the country's largest cell providers, Verizon. When NARAL-Pro Choice America tried to obtain its own "short code" for people to text so they could be kept up to date on an issue of importance to them, Verizon refused.

Arthur Klein, 73, a passionate lifelong Philadelphian who led the restoration of Congress Hall, edited the Jewish Times and directed his family's Rittenhouse Foundation, died of kidney failure Thursday at Pennsylvania Hospital. One of two children of prominent socialites/philanthropists Esther and Philip Klein, Mr. Klein lived on Rittenhouse Square. After graduating from Central High School in 1951, he earned a bachelor's in 1955 from Haverford College and a master's in education in 1958 from the University of Pennsylvania.