Mail Bonding

Let them have their National Football League sponsorships, their virtual worlds, advergames and campaigns on Twitter. When it comes to the number-one popular choice for promotional tactics, marketers once again have chosen the U.S. mails.

As it was last year, direct mail was named as one of the top-three promotional tools of choice more often by respondents to Promo’s 2008 Marketer Trends Survey than any other. It was chosen by 30.4% of the survey population, ahead of both live events and Internet marketing, both of which received votes of 26.8%. Almost one-quarter of respondents said they outsource their direct mail tasks.

According to the DMA’s Power of Direct Marketing 2007-2008 report, spending on non-catalog direct mail is set to reach $36.4 billion globally in 2008, up 5.6% from the $34.5 billion spent in the channel last year. That makes direct mail the second highest item in the marketing budget, behind only telemarketing, on which $47 billion will be spent this year. By 2012, the DMA forecasts, non-catalog direct mail spending will reach $44.5 billion for a compound annual growth rate 2007-2012 of 5.2%.

The study found that direct mail produces a lower return on investment (ROI) than other media: in 2008, $15.60 for every dollar spent, according to the DMA. That comes in below this year’s anticipated ROI of $45.65 for commercial e-mail and $20.19 for non-e-mail Internet marketing.

Overall, 82% of the companies surveyed by the DMA for its June Integrated Marketing Media Mix report said they conduct integrated campaigns. Of the campaigns studied, 79.1% used e-mail, but 75.4% integrated direct mail into their mix.

“Even as marketers are bringing more digital media into their integrated campaigns, traditional media remain a core component of the marketing mix,” DMA research manager Yoram Wormser said at the report’s publication.

A June 2008 campaign by pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca integrated direct mail with digital media to educate physicians about its migraine relief medication Zomig. The company worked with agency Digitas Health and vendor Kyp Systems to produce a dimensional paper mailer that included a Web thumb drive that health care professionals could plug into a USB drive. The Zomig “power Key” directed them to a protected Web site where they could learn more about the medication, access other treatment resources and order product samples.

The campaign began producing results almost immediately as physicians started logging into the Zomig Health Care Professional site within five days of the launch.

“The paper mailing gives information people can use quickly,” says Kyp Systems CEO Lou Vastardis. “But the Web key technology connects recipients to a Web destination that lets them become instantly immersed in a richer information experience.”

Sometimes the value-add direct mail brings to an integrated campaign is user convenience. Agency Neo Marketing created a promotion to encourage car owners to come in to the Montrose Auto Group of Alliance, OH, for a price quote on their current rides. The campaign sent direct mail out to lists of auto owners in the region who drove cars of the make and age Montrose was interested in purchasing — and who might then be good prospects for a new car.

The mail pieces contained a unique reservation ID and directed recipients to a Web site, www.BuyBackYourVehicle.com, to schedule an appointment for a car inspection and a possible offer to buy. Entering the ID at the Web site auto-filled a form with the owners’ publicly available information.