© IDM Academy 2008

“Going Green”

The need to balance on/off-line communications

Steve Hanney

© IDM Academy 2008

Where are we?

• Is direct mail dead?

• Volumes down to 4.65 billion in 2007

• Drop of 7.4% on 2006

• “Go Paper free” incentives

• Search is huge – online bias

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Disadvantages offline

• Postal strikes

• Print & postage costs

• Scrapped campaigns

• Limited flexibility

• Increasing ID theft issues

• Poor “Value” perception ( cost of pack etc)

• Paper is not green!

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Disadvantages offline

• High suppression costs

• MPS awareness

• Shredded paper ban

• DEFRA

• DMA Recycling targets

• Households now measured / charged for recycling / rubbish volumes

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Benefits online

• Highly measurable campaigns

• Highly personalised campaigns

• “White-listing” advantages

• Looks greener?

• Low suppression costs

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Disadvantages online

• One-line subject matter opportunity

• Spam filters / undeliverable email

• Too easy to opt-out?

• Fear of viruses

• Fear of phishing / ID theft

• Easy for anyone to do

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Benefits offline

• Easier to “stand out”

• Creative scope

• Digital print potential

• “Pass – around” physical factor

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Examples

1. (Major European brand) - Wholesale shift to online.

2. (Global brand) – A step too far!

3. (Music brand) – Back to (Old ) school

4. (Automotive brand) – Integrated campaigns

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Customer control

• Can choose channels

• Can dictate the frequency of comms.

• Knows “worth” of their data

• Seen it all before

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Achieving the balance

• “Horses for courses” – mix of channels

• Assessment of resources

• Brand fit

• Offer choice….within reason

• Cost effective migration to online

• Integrate on & offline actions

• Timely, relevant, engaging

© IDM Academy 2008

“Do’s & Don’ts”

• Don’t neglect proven channels

• Don’t accept poor response rates!

• Don’t ignore DMA guidelines

• Do the data analysis

• Do use all suppression files

• Do use commercial judgement