Royal Mail launches ad campaign to promote direct mail
Royal Mail has launched a major marketing push to drive the use of the mail for advertising. The UK’s universal service provider said the “MAILMEN” campaign will include press, digital, direct marketing and outdoor advertising spots, targeting marketing decision-makers, creative agencies, media planning and creative agencies of the top 3,000 advertisers.
The campaign, developed by London-based agency Publicis Chemistry, seeks to draw attention to the results of an 18-month research project that highlighted the role of the mail in the modern lifestyle and how consumers engage with the mail.
Key findings from the project, called “The Private Life of Mail”, will be sent through the mail to around 14,000 marketers and agencies to state the case for mail as an “essential” part of any marketing campaign, Royal Mail said.
Jonathan Harman, managing director of the Royal Mail’s direct mail services arm, MarketReach, said the study showed that brands were communicating with consumers in more diverse ways than ever.
“Over the last 18 months, we have conducted a series of research projects to understand exactly what that means for consumers and what it means for advertisers. It is an unprecedented look at what happens to mail when it enters the home which is why we have called it, The Private Life of Mail,” he said.
“Re-appraisal”
Royal Mail awarded Publicis Chemistry its strategic direct marketing and integrated direct mail account in July 2013. The deal covered the whole of the Royal Mail Group, with the intention to initially focus on promoting the MarketReach service, which was launched in July 2012.
Last year the agency produced a campaign to highlight the value of integrating physical mail with digital technologies to improve the response to advertising.
The agency’s MailMen campaign is being endorsed by five “influential” marketing/advertising industry heavyweights — Saatchi & Saachi worldwide chief executive Robert Senior, MediaCom chief executive Karen Blackett, Poke founder Nik Roope, M&C Saatchi executive creative director Elspeth Lynn and The Sun’s sales and marketing director, David Robinson.
Mike Welsh, the chief executive at Publicis Chemistry, said: “Mail has fallen out of fashion but the digital revolution has created a new and vital role for the medium. 18 months of research have proved that consumers engage and value mail more than ever – and this has given us a fantastic story to provoke a re-appraisal.”
