Field Reports
Lazkani Earns DRMA Member of the Year Honor
By Thomas Haire ( thaire@questex.com)
2012
Response Magazine and the Direct Response Marketing Alliance (DRMA) salute Nancy Lazkani, long-time leader of Van Nuys, Calif.-based Icon Media Direct, as the 2012 DRMA Member of the
Year. Lazkani’s victory in an industry vote became official during a brief ceremony in front of more
than 300 industry insiders at the DRMA Winter Bash in New York on December 11.
“Nancy’s dedication to the direct response business, along with her com- mitment to the growth and success of this business and the DRMA, earned the lion’s share of votes among our members and make her incredibly deserving of this Member of the Year honor,” says John Yarrington, publisher of Response and co-founder of the DRMA. “With more than 800 votes casted by our members, it’s clear that the competition was strong, and while Nancy has earned this award, the rest of our nominees earned their recognition as well.” Recently, Response sat down with Lazkani to get her thoughts on being named the DRMA’s Second Annual Member of the Year.
Q: What does it mean to you and your
company to be named
the DRMA Member of
the Year?
A: The recognition
by industry peers
is an honor beyond
belief. Not only do I
absolutely love
what I do, but I
Lazkani’s Icon Media
Direct has counted many DR
successes, like OxiClean and Kaboom,
among its clients.
am also very proud of how the industry has
grown in the past 27 years. I am humbled
by the recognition. It means more to me
than a trophy that sits on a shelf. It is proof
that if you do an honest job for all the right
reasons, people will recognize it. It means
that I have made my company proud, and
it is a representation of their contributions, hard work and dedication as well. It
means to my clients that the industry has
recognized us as a well-respected leader.
It means I must carry on the obligation
to keep learning, growing and expand-
ing our company’s expertise into the next
generation of marketing. It means
that when I start to feel tired, I
need to keep going because people
are watching, and I have to set an
example. It means that all the hard
work and effort is worth it through
good times and bad. So, thank you to
both friends and strangers who cast
their vote in support of this honor.
Q: Why do you think your efforts and
contributions to the DR business helped
earn you this accolade?
A: My efforts are not just on my own behalf
and that of my company, but also a desire
to carry the torch for the direct response
industry as a whole. Twenty-seven years
ago, “direct response” were words that the
advertising industry did not recognize as a
legitimate business. It’s been a long and
hard journey to get to where we are today.
My efforts have always been centered on
doing whatever it takes to make my clients
successful. When you work with the mindset
that whatever you do has an accountability
and a measurement of success or failure,
it’s what you do with those efforts and
experiences that make the difference. When
you have a team of experts who work hard
to cultivate a community of companies
that market products, it keeps the economy
going. Media and marketing are only a
small portion of the industry’s contribution.
When we do all the right things for all the
right reasons, it touches and helps other
companies in the space to be successful.
When we create successful media campaigns for our clients, we sell products, and
someone has to make a phone call through
a telemarketing service or go online to order
a product through a Web landing page, use
a credit card to make a purchase, use a
fulfillment company to put the product in
a box and then ultimately use a shipping
company to deliver the product. We need
lawyers to protect our clients’ assets; we
need trade associations to help keep the
collaboration of industry experts together to
lobby for all I just spoke about. So by being
on the side of the fence that helps our great
marketers — who are both entrepreneurs
and corporate giants — we touch the lives
of many. And if our efforts are smart and
unselfish, we help to win the war in a down
economy. I think about what my company’s
efforts have contributed every time I walk
