It's great to see that after a year's struggle the new Marketing Association will finally be launched by chartered marketers on 5 March 2007 at Montecasino in Johannesburg. Chartered marketer, Enrico du Plessis, was somewhat a lone voice in the political wilderness of the bitter failure of the old Marketing Federation of South Africa, working tirelessly at largely his own cost to bring chartered marketers together in one industry body to represent the interests of marketers in the broader industry. He certainly gets our vote for tenacity and persistence with a huge dollop of passion for marketing! Things are on the up generally for marketers as the newly-formed Direct Marketing Association (which also rose from the ashes of the MFSA) bares its teeth over some of the horrendous practices being flouted out there in dubious direct marketing practices. DMA CEO Brian Mdluli says the DMA is representing the interests of both the industry and consumers to create an atmosphere in the current economic environment in which direct marketing can grow, lobbying against adverse legislation, but also partnering the Government on consumer protection so that the industry can flourish. We wish them well. Enjoy! Louise Marsland, editor: editor@bizcommunity.com