Tag: direct mail

ForestEthics Launches 'Do Not Mail' Campaign to Stop Junk Mail

Posted by | Mar 11, 2008 | |

Five years after the national Do Not Call Registry became the most popular consumer rights bill in history, conservation group ForestEthics launched its campaign for a Do Not Mail Registry today to give Americans the choice to stop wasteful, annoying and environmentally destructive junk mail that also fosters identity theft.

ForestEthics is urging Americans to sign a petition at http://www.donotmail.org/ demanding a national registry that will finally offer citizens control over the unsolicited coupons, credit cards, catalogs and advertisements that fill their mailboxes on a daily basis.

“The Do Not Call Registry of 2003 addressed a nuisance — telemarketers’ calls at dinnertime,” said Todd Paglia, Executive Director of ForestEthics. “Do Not Mail also addresses a nuisance, but junk mail has the added consequence of serious environmental effects that must be confronted if we are to stop climate change and reckless deforestation.”

The production of the 100 billion pieces of junk mail that Americans annually receive requires more than 100 million trees, while producing as much global warming emissions as 3.7 million cars. Moreover, this deforestation is occurring in forests that play vital roles in the fight against climate change: the Canadian Boreal and Indonesian Tropical Forest. If left intact, these trees and soils act as a defense against global warming. The Canadian Boreal Forest forms part of the greater Boreal Forest, which alone stores more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem on earth. Yet, it is still logged at a rate of 2 acres a minute, 24 hours a day, to produce junk mail and other paper products.

Junk mail distributed in the United States currently accounts for 30% of all the mail delivered in the world, though 44% of it goes to landfills unopened.

Read More

Canada Post Hosts 'LIFT,' 5th Annual Direct Summit for Retailers

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

Canada Post announced today the conference dates for the Direct Summit, a conference dedicated to the advancement of the Multi-Channel Retail Industry in Canada. Summit delegates will meet April 21-23 at the Pantages Hotel and Spa in Toronto.

“The main theme for this year’s conference centers on the customer experience and increasing the lift in consumer response through direct marketing,” said Laurene Cihosky, SVP of Direct Marketing for Canada Post. “Retailers at the Summit have a tremendous opportunity to network and talk about what works.”

The Direct Summit will include speakers from Google Inc., LL Bean, JC Williams Group and Future Shop, winner of the Retail Council of Canada’s 2007 Multi-Channel Retailer of the Year award. More than 130 retailers attended the Summit last year.

The keynote speaker is Jeanne Bliss, managing partner at CustomerBliss and author of Chief Customer Officer; Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action. For 25 years, Jeanne Bliss reported to the Presidents of direct retailer Lands’ End, Allstate, Mazda, Microsoft and Coldwell Banker Corporation as their Chief Customer Officer. Bliss is considered a leader in changing the culture and DNA of companies and making them more effective.

The Direct Summit is unique because of the peer-to-peer interaction. Senior delegates will learn strategies their peers are employing to capitalize on Canada’s strong dollar, and identify co-marketing partnerships to attract and convert new market segments. Add to that, a “Catalogue Critique Clinic” which will provide expert advice from executives at St. Joseph Content/Pi Media, who will review a number of current North American catalogues, identifying what works in each and what can be improved.

According to eMarketer, the Canadian direct retail industry will have increased by 45 percent by the end of 2007. Senior Analyst, Jeffrey Grau, will present eMarketer’s new forecast about online retail sales in Canada and will discuss which factors will drive market growth in 2008 and beyond. Jeff will also draw from a rich set of survey data from eMarketer’s latest report on Canada’s growing “etailing” industry and U.S. multi-channel retailing trends to present lessons for Canadian online retail marketers.

Read More

Dump the junk mail (Canada)

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

Albertans opt out of receiving unaddressed ad mail at a rate of more than twice the national average, according to Canada Post. Canada-wide, only six per cent of households ask the postal service not to deliver unaddressed ad mail. Fourteen per cent, or 206,000 Alberta households, ask Canada Post to stop.

Grassroots efforts in the province may have boosted our spurning of junk mail. One such effort is the Dump the Junk campaign, launched by the Clean Calgary Association about a year ago. Since the campaign’s start, the non-profit environmental organization has sold more than 5,000 “no junk mail” stickers at USD 2 a pop. These stickers help stop unaddressed ad mail. The campaign also provides information on how to stop addressed ad mail by removing yourself from marketing contact lists.

Lindsay Luhnau, who helped launch the Dump the Junk campaign, says if enough people exercise their consumer choice, there will be a net reduction in the volume of ad mail produced and, ultimately, fewer trees will be cut down.

John Caines, a spokesperson for Canada Post, says the postal service’s advanced databases allow marketers to see how many people have opted out of receiving ad mail, which not only helps the environment, but also saves companies money by preventing them from printing more flyers than needed.

Read More

USPS/HBO Ads Send a Message — by Mail

Posted by | Mar 7, 2008 | |

HBO is joining forces for the first time with the Postal Service, for a multimillion-dollar, multimedia campaign that is all about the write stuff.

The campaign, now under way, is promoting “John Adams,” a seven-part mini-series that is scheduled to begin on the cable network on March 16.

The television, print, online, retail and promotional campaign is intended to invoke the pleasures of sitting right down and writing yourself — or anyone — a letter.

The campaign will even help you do that, by offering free cards, with postage paid, that you can send to whomever you choose.

The campaign, by the Civic Entertainment Group in New York, seeks to demonstrate what it calls the “Power of the letter,” which is also the U.R.L. for a special Postal Service Web site that is a central element of the campaign (poweroftheletter.com).

The Web site is the work of AKQA, which was recently named digital agency of the year by the trade publication Adweek.

A section of a Web site from HBO that is devoted to the miniseries (johnadams08.com) also directs visitors to the letter-power site.

The campaign also appears on the main Postal Service Web site (usps.com) as well as on placards and posters in post offices around the country.

Even the cancellation marks on envelopes and the sales receipts given by postal employees to customers are carrying the address of the special Web site along with a quotation from Adams: “Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.”

Read More

Last post for junk mail? Steep fall in letters you love to hate

Posted by | Mar 6, 2008 | |

The modern curse of junk mail may be lifting, as figures revealed direct marketing has slumped to its lowest level this century.

According to the Royal Mail, there are now 800,000 fewer items being delivered annually than at the industry peak in 2003. However, the industry watchdog warned that while this might be welcomed by householders, it could be bad news for the postal service.

Figures from the Royal Mail still showed 4.65 billion items of direct mail dropping through doors last year – down 7.4 per cent year on year.

Trisha Dow, director of Postwatch Scotland, said the drop was “worrying” as it would cost the postal service – but the figure could be an aberration due to industrial action by Royal Mail workers last year. Postal workers went on strike over pay and conditions, leading to a major backlog of mail.

Ms Dow said: “We would say it’s worrying because it’s an element of the mail that helps balance the books. If that drops substantially – and we know there seems to be a growth in electronic marketing – then it’s difficult to say we would be glad of that.

“It’s not great news if it’s anything other than a blip. I would be interested to see if it’s a pattern.”

According to the advertising industry, the figures mean firms are getting better at targeting direct mail so that householders only get the type of offers in which they are interested. New methods of getting the message out – such as texts and e-mails – are also taking away some of the direct-mail business.

Read More

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

P&P Poll

Loading

Have you noticed a decrease of non-EU inbound parcel volumes since the implementation of the new €3 charge?

Thank you for voting
You have already voted on this poll!
Please select an option!


View ResultsHide Results

Post & Parcel Magazine


Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.

Subscribe to the Magazine

 

Pin It on Pinterest