Tag: Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

With Junk Mail Bill Stalled, New Report Details Effects

Posted by | Aug 7, 2008 | |

A bill to stop the delivery of unwanted mail has stalled for now in New York State, a development welcomed by the U.S. Postal Service, which has opposed the legislation since its introduction in 2007.

Meanwhile, an environmental nonprofit organization, ForestEthics, published a report yesterday detailing the detrimental environmental impact of junk mail and a petition signed by about 60,000 people who support a “do not mail” registry. The report also cites a 2007 Zogby poll that found that 89 pct of Americans support the idea of a registry.

Since 2007, 19 states have introduced legislation that would create a “do not mail” registry similar to the “do not call” list that prevents telemarketers from calling people who prefer not to receive such calls. The “do not mail” legislation, however, was not discussed on the floor in most of the states in which the bills were introduced this year. The “do not call” bill became law nationwide in 2003.

State Senator Carl Kruger, a Democrat of Brooklyn, said the bill he introduced in 2007 has been tabled, but that he will continue to pursue the legislation.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, Joanne Veto, said the bill has not yet passed in any state because people realize the economic impact of what she called the “USD billion” mailing industry.

Only a fraction of mail ends up in landfills, she said, and the postal service lets recipients choose, to a certain extent, the mail they want to receive.

Unsolicited mail is different from unwanted phone calls, Ms. Veto said. “Mail doesn’t interrupt your dinner,” she said.

The largest postal union, which represents about 300,000 workers, also opposes the registry.

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Marketers must invest in multichannel approach

Posted by | Jun 18, 2008 | |

Generating high levels of response, conversion or brand engagement is never easy in direct marketing. Unquestionably, it is vital to pick the right mix of channels. However, as channels have proliferated — mail, email, SMS, telemarketing— settling on the appropriate ones and giving them the optimum weighting is becoming more problematic.

“Consumers have preferences for different channels at different times of the day,” says Direct Marketing Association (DMA) director of media channel development, Robert Keitch. “No one channel is going to do it for you — end of story. The days of having a simplistic mix are gone.

It comes down to understanding who the customer is.”Consumer habits are evolving; for example, people now spend more time interacting with the web or their mobiles than sitting passively in front of the TV. Richard Higginbotham , head of marketing at marketing services provider CDMS, believes many marketers have as yet failed to exploit this shift.

“Once the customer has been identified, successful multi-channel implementation allows the marketer to actually contact the customer through the channel they prefer,” he says. “Ensuring customers are receiving communications through a medium to which they are responsive is key to producing customer satisfaction and improving ROI.”

There is plenty of evidence that a multichannel approach to direct marketing tends to deliver far better results than concentration on a single touchpoint. Research from Royal Mail, for instance, has found that integrating digital advertising with direct mail campaigns can increase customer spend by almost 25%, while 55% of ‘confident web users’ prefer to be contacted by a combination of direct mail and online .Anthony Miller, head of media development at Royal Mail, says this shows that consumers recognise the benefits of online, email and direct mail for different types of communications — and how well they work together.

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Environment minister raises concerns over DM industry (UK)

Posted by | Jan 7, 2008 | |

Environment minister Joan Ruddock has warned the direct marketing industry that it needs to improve its environmental record if it is to avoid legislation such as a mandatory opt-in for direct mail.

Ruddock set out the government’s views of DM’s environmental record in an exclusive interview in the January 2008 issue of Marketing Direct magazine. While she appreciated that “a lot of technical work has gone on” to make DM materials more environmentally friendly, she reminded the industry that opt-in for direct mail is “always on the table” if it doesn’t meet the recycling targets agreed with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs back in 2003.

She said direct marketers needed to ensure they are “on course” to achieve the second recycling target agreed timed for 2009.

The government would not impose opt-in “lightly… but we could not stand by if the industry made no further response”.

Having met with the Direct Marketing Association late last year, she said she was confident that direct marketers would respond. “We have established a relationship [with the DMA], but we want you to do more. We’re not singling out this industry — every industry and business across the land is being asked to do more for climate change.”

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Door drops under threat from environmental issues

Posted by | Oct 19, 2007 | |

The Direct Marketing Association has warned that the door drop industry could face strict measures in response to Government and public concerns over the medium’s impact on the environment.

Speaking at a doordrop media conference organised by postal operator TNT Post, Alex Walsh, head of postal affairs and industry development at the DMA, said environmental issues were posing a significant threat to the direct marketing industry.

He added that while legislation would be too complex to set up for the doordrop industry, a door sticker initiative, in use in the Netherlands since the 1990s, could soon be a reality in the UK. The door sticker, which is also in use in France, Germany, Norway and Belgium, allows consumers to opt out of unaddressed mail completely including free newspapers, or to opt out of undressed mail but opt-in to free newspapers only.

Walsh said that serial offenders who continue to deliver unaddressed mail to those who have opted out by using the door sticker, face fines. ‘No junk mail’ stickers exist in the UK, but there is no legal penalty for those who ignore them.

A spokesperson from TNT Post in Holland said that 13 per cent of households in Holland have chosen to opt-out by using the door sticker.

Walsh also hinted at other possible measures that could be imposed on the industry, such as an eco-tax, which exists in France. Suppliers of unsolicited mail are given the choice of supporting local authority recycling schemes or paying for advertising that encourages the public to recycle.

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DMA leads alliance to set environmental standard

Posted by | Oct 17, 2007 | |

Taking a leading role in shaping the industry and reducing its environmental impact, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has developed an alliance of like-minded member companies to partner with BSI British Standards to create the first standard for environmental performance in the field of direct marketing.

The Publicly Available Specification (PAS) is expected to form a benchmark for the UK and potentially across other industries and will enable users to make a verifiable environmental claim. It will provide a vital business and future-proofing tool to add substantial value and credibility to businesses. The alliance, comprising Royal Mail; Acxiom, one of the UK’s largest data companies; ISBA, the voice of British advertisers; and the TPS, the consumer telephone suppression file, has proved fundamental in gaining the necessary support and funding for the scheme.

The standard will be independently facilitated by BSI and is expected to take nine to 12 months to develop. The development process will build consensus around a way forward that is pragmatic and achievable, underpinned by good practice. BSI will carry out research and consult with key stakeholders from government and industry such as Defra, WRAP and the Environment Agency, as well as other relevant trade associations and key consumer groups.

All areas of direct marketing will be covered by the standard from email marketing to direct mail to field marketing. The consultation process will provide insight into how the environment relates to each business sector where initially the connection may not be obvious.

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