Direct Message: Fortune 500 companies didn’t discover direct response marketing; they finally acknowledged what smaller competitors always knew about proving value. Fortune 500 companies, long devoted to brand-building campaigns with unmeasurable outcomes, began investing in direct response television. Nancy Duitch, founder of Vertical Branding, observed at the time that major corporations had finally “discovered” direct response. Direct marketing had grown into a $300 billion global industry, with roughly one in four television advertisements incorporating direct response elements and roughly one in four television advertisements incorporating direct response elements. The DRTV market itself grew to approximately $8 billion by 2024, but the boundaries between direct response, brand response, and performance marketing became increasingly blurred.