the personal touch
DESCRIPTION
Nick Mercer of Direct Marketing and Data agency MercerBell dicusses "Why Direct Marketing needs to get back to basics to stay fresh in a digital world"TRANSCRIPT
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The Personal TouchWhy Direct Mail needs to get back to basics
to stay fresh in a digital world.
Nick Mercer, Managing Director – MercerBell @nickmercerSimon Bloomfield, National Creative Director – Hyro @dekkard42
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(Or why there’s nothing personal about a poke.)
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1. What’s in our letterboxes?
2. With mail budgets shifting online, what are the mistakes we are making?
3. The Personal Touch in action – case studies from the past and present.
4. Keeping the mail channel fresh.
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Stand up, please.
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“The problem is that consumers’s shift towards digital media has been
equalled, if not surpassed by a shift in volume of online advertising. Add to
this the now well-documented phenomenon of consumers creating and sharing their own content online
and the outcome is a digital landscape that has become even more saturated
with brand communications.”
Mobashara Nazir, MRM Worldwide in Campaign Magazine’s ‘Digital Essays’
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So, what’s in our mailboxes?
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Approximately 1/3 (or around 25) of the Cannes Direct Lion winners in
2006 either were mailpacks or included a significant element of
Direct Mail.
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1 Gold; 1 Silver; 2 Bronze(3 for charities; 1 for a postal service)
In 2010, there were 4.
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So with mail budgets shifting online, what are the mistakes we are making?
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1. There’s an over reliance on data in absence of a real consumer insight.
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2. We’re forgetting that technology is just a tool, not an idea.
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3. We’re too focused on personalisation, and forgetting about humanisation.
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4. We’re losing the art of persuasion.
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The Personal Touch in action – Direct Mail case studies
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL LETTERBBDO, Martin Conroy
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“It’s the ‘Hamlet,’ the ‘Iliad,’ the ‘Divine Comedy’ of direct-mail letters. It’s had a
longer life, to my knowledge, than any other direct mail in history.”
James R. Rosenfield, describing Conroy’s letter in the copywriter’s obituary published in the New York Times.
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QUITE FRANKLY, AMERICAN EXPRESSOGILVY & MATHER DIRECT, New York
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FALLING LETTERSKOLLE REBBE, Hamburg
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CHILD SOLDIERSJUNG von MATT, Hamburg
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INVASIONMRM WORLDWIDE Sao Paulo
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MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CARDSCRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY Europe
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How to keep your direct mail fresh.
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1. Use consumer insights to decideon your channel choices.
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2. Play to the strengths of mail.
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3. Measure the value return rather than simply the cost.
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4. Brevity is not the soul of wit – it’s a sign of laziness.
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5. Make your direct mail more personal.
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6. Test and learn. Every time.
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A final word(Or a final few)
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“Mail is unique. It’s the only medium that can be personal and exploit all the virtues of 3D-ness. A direct mail pack
can be a sensory feast. A delight to hold and unfold, read and see, even hear and
smell. Even in the Facebook age, a letter is still one of the most warmly
welcomed of communications."
Simon Kershaw, Executive Creative Director, TDA (UK)
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