General Marketing

Customers prefer to receive offers for credit cards through direct mail rather than the internet, a survey conducted in America has found.

The Cardbeat report, a monthly study conducted by Auriemma Consulting Group, found that 60 per cent of customers said they would apply for a credit card through a pre-approved direct mail offer.

About 42 per cent of Americans signed up for credit cards after receiving a pre-approved offer in the post, which was a higher response than those to the internet and television.

However, the report compared results with attitudes to direct mail in the UK and found that people across the pond were less likely to obtain a card without researching their options first.

Kelly Shermack of Cardbeat said: "Credit card penetration in the UK is not as high as it is in the US because British consumers may be more proactive in researching and obtaining card offers."

 

Printed direct marketing remains important despite innovations in electronic appliances and the internet, urges a top Direct Marketing Association (DMA) director.

Speaking to Print Week, Robert Keitch, director of media channel development at the DMA, said electrical innovations would not eat away at mail shots and postal services.

"What I'm tired of hearing is people saying that because there has been an electronic innovation, they translate it as the death of print," he said.

"It's another bellwether call that says: 'start thinking about innovation, about cost-effectiveness'.

"I have seen some tremendous examples of where traditional and new channels have been integrated to great effect. But we're going to have to change our thinking – and change is painful."

In a recent survey published by the Industry Measure, print was found to be of growing importance for design and production agencies, with 45 per cent of respondents saying direct mail using variable data publishing technologies would become more important for their clients.

The survey's concluding comments stated that, overall, few agencies felt that any media were becoming less important.

"It's true that interest [and spending] in online advertising and marketing is growing by leaps and bounds, but enormous growth rates are easy when you're starting from a low base," it said.

"In contrast, print spending has always been very high, so it's difficult to sustain dramatic growth levels."

 

Two organisations have been forced to sign agreements that they will suspend their telephone direct marketing activities, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has announced.

Satellite Direct UK and Satcover, both of Hove, East Sussex were found to be in breach of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations after it was discovered they were making unsolicited marketing calls to individuals using an automated calling system.

Members of the public were received telephone calls used for direct marketing purposes despite registering their exemption from such actions with the Telephone Preference Service.

Head of regulatory action at the ICO Mick Gorrill said the same action would be taken against any other companies who flouted the agreement.

"It is unacceptable for organisations to make unsolicited marketing calls to individuals who have said that they do not wish to be contacted in this way," he said.

"If these organisations fail to comply with the terms set out in the formal undertakings, we will not hesitate to take further action."

Satellite Direct UK and Satcover both face a court hearing if they break the latest agreement with the ICO, while breaking a court order could lead to a jail sentence.

 

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has halted its direct marketing drive after a recruitment letter was received by a deceased soldier's mother, the BBC reports.

The mistake was made last month when a letter addressed to lance corporal Dennis Brady, was opened by his mother in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

Lance corporal Brady was killed in 2006 by mortar rounds in northern Basra while serving with first Battalion the Light Infantry. He was 37 when he died.

The MoD has written a letter of regret and apologised "unreservedly" to Mrs Brady for the letter which requested that her son asking enlist in the Army full-time.

An MoD spokesman said: "We regret to confirm that a letter addressed to a deceased soldier was received by his mother as a result of a recent mailshot.

"An urgent review of processes is under way. All outbound calling and mailshots have been ceased with immediate effect until the problem is rectified."

 

The Digital Marketing Group (DMG) has announced plans to expand with the purchase of two extra businesses.

DMG, which specialises in digital and database marketing, made the deal worth up to £12.1 million as part of their 'buy and build' strategy of acquiring companies that have activities in online marketing, offline direct marketing and database marketing.

Graphico, a Newbury-based creative digital agency with a reported turnover of £4.1 million, was acquired for a sum in the region of £8.6 million.

The second purchase was Bristol-based company Hyperlaunch, which focuses particularly on marketing entertainment, youth and lifestyle brands.

DMG will pay up to £3.5 million for this acquisition, 60 per cent in cash and 40 per cent in new shares.

Commenting on becoming part of DMG, Mark Bennett, managing director of Graphico said: "We are very excited to be joining Digital Marketing Group and are relishing the opportunity of working with the existing members of the group to deliver best of breed digital direct marketing."

 

Junk mail could be banned under new environmental legislation in Wales if the environment minister gets her way, Wales on Sunday reports.

Sustainability minister Jane Davidson said it wasn't enough to expect the receivers of junk mail to recycle it themselves and that tougher action was needed.

"We want Wales to be a green country and we need to drive forward that agenda. At the moment the responsibility for getting rid of junk mail sits with the person who receives it," she explained.

"We might want to turn that on its head and may consider a measure that will deal with this issue. Junk mail contributes nothing to the environment.

"We may like measures to restrict delivery. The powers we have asked for from the UK government would give us the authority to take forward these kinds of measures.

"We've got to get some strong messages over, she insisted.

The Environment Agency estimates that junk mail from households and businesses helps to create 4.6 million tonnes of landfill in Wales every year, however, junk mail is vital to the business of Royal Mail and direct marketers.

A Royal Mail spokesman said of junk mail: "Our future depends on it competing effectively in all parts of the market and that includes unaddressed mail."

The Direct Marketing Association claims that junk mail accounts for 814,000 jobs in the UK and that in 2005 alone it generated business worth £107 billion.

 

The relationship between the direct marketing industry and the government could worsen following Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle.

Former environment minister David Miliband caused grief within the sector in May when he announced plans to make junk mail opt-in only.

The news led to months of negations between the Direct Marketing Association and the minister, as well as his junior ministers such as Ben Bradshaw.

Since his promotion to the position of foreign secretary, however, direct marketers fear their hard work will have been a waste of time and new campaigns will need to be launched to convince the incoming environment minister not to terminate the mailing preference service.

Labour MP for Leeds Central Hilary Benn will now head up the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and may well bring in his own team.

His opinions on the matter are not yet clear, but when once asked on Radio 4's Any Questions? "Why are so many young people depressed?" Mr Benn replied: "Because there are awful things out there like advertising."

 

Royal Mail experienced its second strike in a week today following the announcement that many post offices would have their services transferred to WH Smiths.

Action was limited, however, as of the possible 85 "crown" or main post offices, only about 13 were closed.

Major disruption was avoided as smaller or "sub" post offices were unaffected by the dispute, although there could be some backlog of post which was not sorted while workers demonstrated between 06:00 BST and midday.

Communication Workers' Union (CWU) national officer Andy Furey said workers had been left with no choice.

"Members have been left with no alternative but to take strike action as management is steam-rolling ahead with closures of crown post offices across the UK," he said.

The changes will see crown post offices replaced by post office counters at nearby branches of WH Smith, which will leave some 1,500 Royal Mail employees without a job.

Today's strike is separate from that held by the CWU on Friday, which crippled postal deliveries across the country.

 

Email campaigns are blighted by inadequate landing pages, a new survey has found.

The study of 150 campaigns, conducted by marketing software firm Silverpop, found that about 35 per cent of landing pages featured a different design or overall look to the original email, while 45 per cent entirely failed to reiterate the promotional message.

Web users are likely to abandon a site that appears different to the look and tone of a promotional email, thus the problem can seriously affect online marketing's success, as Elaine O'Gorman from Silverpop commented.

"Email marketers spend a lot of time and energy creating targeted, relevant campaigns, but then fail to carry the ball across the goal line due to lacklustre landing pages," she said.

"Landing page optimisation can have a tremendous impact on email marketing success rate."

The survey also revealed that around 17 per cent of click-throughs simply directed consumers to the company's homepage and 35 per cent of landing pages surveyed did not include an opt-in feature.

 

Direct marketing requires a different approach when targeting children, Biz-Community publication warns.

While there are benefits to the mantra "Get them while they're young," marketers are responsible for ensuring they do not invade youths' privacy, who may not yet understand the relationship between retailer and consumer.

The article highlights the method of email marketing and text messages as successful methods of targeting the technology-savvy young, which can lead to long-term brand loyalty.

But even if the user has opted into such a service and wishes to receive information, they may not have received parental consent.

Many companies now offer interactive forums such as the option of joining a club or website to receive special offers or event notifications, but caution needs to be exercised in on-to-one marketing initiatives and direct marketing when, for example, children may not know they are paying for a service.

Direct mail from vendors can be used to keep children informed about brand changes and, as a more traditional method, this is more cost effective than SMS or email as companies are more likely to put some thought into the profitability of the target customer base.

Texts and emails, the article warns, can easily be disregarded and the marketer may not be aware if the recipient is even of a legal age to purchase the product.