The Direct Marketing Association has relaunched its website. It's all part of the biggest overhaul of its brand identity in its lifetime, according to Marketing Week columnist Russell Parsons. Apparently, the lobby group was in a bit of an identity crisis. Its new executive director, Chris Combemale, has now ridded the DMA of its stuffy image. It will no longer be seen as a quasi-governmental legal and compliance department. The DMA has entered the digital age. It's old logo – a chainsaw blade with the letters DMA – has been replaced by a speech bubble with the text 'We are the DMA'. The DMA is now open, friendly, and welcoming.

Which is good. Perhaps the DMA will now start communicating with ordinary folk (those things they call 'consumers'). On 10 June I asked them two perfectly sensible questions about article 13.23 of its Code of Practice; they've still not been answered. It's not the first time this has happened. So yes, I'm all for the DMA being open, friendly and welcoming.

Worryingly, the DMA's new website is a collection of Twitter feeds and 'Error 404s' – the dreaded 'Page not found' error. A page with information about the DMA's opt-out schemes for unsolicited marketing has gone. The page with information about the Your Choice Preference Scheme has gone; the DMA no longer advertises the existence of its opt-out scheme for unaddressed mail at all. The page with DMA members has been moved (and is not being redirected). The DMA's code of practice appears to be no longer publicly available.

Open, friendly, and welcoming?