what can direct marketing do for branding and … · closer customer–brand bond through ......

ABSTRACT

This paper adds to knowledge about di-rect marketing by focusing on what directmarketing does for brand building or for‘bonding’ with customers. This issue isimportant because direct mail alone ac-counted for as much as £1,665m or 11.6per cent of total advertising expenditure in1998 in the UK. This is more than thetotal outdoor, radio and cinema advertis-ing spend. The paper explores the issuesfrom a direct marketing (DM) agency andDM brand experts’ perspective. It examinesto what extent there has been a shiftduring the past ten years from using directmail as a tactical sales tool, to a longer-term, strategic brand-building tool. Fourroles for DM in brand building emerge.Underexploited roles for DM in tailor-ing ‘brand relevance’ to selected consumersand in acknowledging or developing the‘brand experience’ of existing customers arereported.

INTRODUCTIONThis paper first seeks to appreciate theextent to which practitioners con-sider direct marketing (DM) helpsto build brands and to strengthen

any brand–consumer relationship. Thesecond part of the paper proposes amodel for brand building throughdirect marketing. This topic is im-portant because increased advertisingexpenditure is now apportioned todirect marketing, yet the implicationsfor brand management of increas-ingly direct communications with theconsumer, have not been widely dis-cussed. An indicator of the growth indirect marketing is that direct mailexpenditure, including production andpostage, increased from £930m in1990 to £1,665m in 1998.1 Hartleyand Picton note that DM share ofbudget has increased. ‘In a recentsurvey of 229 companies conductedby the Direct Mail Information Serv-ices (Reed, 1998a), more than halfsaid that an increasing share of theirmarketing budget was taken by directmail’.2 Direct marketing’s perceivedattraction for marketers lies in itsaccountability and it has been sug-gested, that ‘direct marketing is abetter use of funds than above-the-lineadvertising’.3 This paper attempts toposition direct marketing in relationto long-term brand building and it

Fiona Debling isresearch assistantin marketing atBristol BusinessSchool where sheteaches consumerbehaviour.

Leslie deChernatony isthe Professor ofBrand Marketingand Director ofthe Centre forResearch intoBrandManagement atthe BirminghamUniversityBusiness School.

Sue Middletonhas been researchconsultant andmarketing lecturerat Bristol BusinessSchool and hasrecently specialisedin directmarketingresearch.

128 Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing Vol. 9, 2, 128–147 � Henry Stewart Publications 0967-3237 (2000)

Journa l of Target ing , Measurement and Ana lys i s for Market ing

What can direct marketing do forbranding and bonding?

RECEIVED: 22 MAY, 2000Fiona Debling,* Leslie de Chernatony and Sue Middleton*Marketing Department, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England,Frenchay Campus, Coldbarbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY.Tel: (0117) 9656261 x 3439; e-mail: [email protected]

maintain that most marketers believethat brand building takes place as aconsequence of sales, so that the mainobjective of communications is selling.They argue: ‘creative briefing docu-ments should. . . [be asking, for ex-ample]: ‘‘Other than wanting you tobuy [product/service], what was themain idea of the commercial you justsaw?’’ ’5

Brand building and customerbonding in direct marketingThis section will first review successfactors for brand building, when directmarketing is seen as an extension ofadvertising. Secondly, the section willsummarise literature on developing acloser customer–brand bond throughdirect marketing.

DM as brand-building toolContrasting with the view that brandidentity must be rooted in busi-ness strategy,6,7 DM practitioner litera-ture indicates that direct marketing’sraison d’etre is seen as chiefly be-havioural, but that there may bean attitudinal spin-off ‘because directmarketing drives response, influencingbehaviour is its fundamental reason forbeing. Influencing attitudes is a usefulby-product of this process.’8

According to Joachimsthaler andAaker,9 although brand managers inEurope have found that traditionalmass media have become costly andinefficient because of fragmentationand rising costs, few are using directmarketing as a primary brand-buildingtool:

debates whether greater considerationcould be given to brand developmentbefore, during and after direct market-ing campaigns.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A holistic brand definitionThe stress in this study is on whatdirect marketing can offer to sup-port long-term brand building, sincecompetitive advantage, and hence cus-tomer loyalty, are inferred as outcomesof effective branding, from de Cher-natony and McDonald’s4 definition ofa successful brand:

‘A successful brand is an identifiableproduct, service, person or place,augmented in such a way that thebuyer or user perceives relevant,unique added values which matchtheir needs most closely. Further-more, its success results from beingable to sustain these added values inthe face of competition’.

Brand buildingA basic framework for brand buildingin general is outlined briefly here,followed by a summary of literaturerelating brand building more specifi-cally to direct marketing. Agres andDubitsky recommend the analysis ofbrand building in terms of the strengthor weakness of four ‘pillars’ ie i)differentiation; ii) relevance; iii) es-teem; and iv) knowledge, based onYoung and Rubicam’s BrandAsset�Valuator project. Agres and Dubitsky

� Henry Stewart Publications 0967-3237 (2000) Vol. 9, 2, 128–147 Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing 129

Debl ing , de Chernatony and Middleton

‘most agencies’ talents, incentivesand inclinations still lead themto rely on mass-advertising astheir primary brand-building device.Agencies rarely suggest that a clientlead brand-building with alternativemedia’.

Joachimsthaler and Aaker, however,describe the case of Nestle’s CasaBuitoni Club in the UK whereexperiences of the brand (important tothe ‘knowledge’ brand-building pillarmentioned earlier) were created for theconsumer, rather than just rationalinformation, thereby introducing anemotional bond through DM.

Similarly, Goldfish credit card isquoted as an award-winning exampleof where brand building was notviewed as the sole preserve of above-the-line marketing.

‘Many above-the-line agencies con-tinue to view integration as theliteral migration of imagery andtypography across media. WhereGoldfish really scores, however, is inrecognising the true value of amulti-media approach — with abrand, values and voice clearly andconsistently communicated througha multitude of ideas across a varietyof media.’10

DM’s role in strengthening bonds withcustomers‘In the past, brand building has beenconducted almost exclusively above-the-line but now, when it comes to thedevelopment of brand loyalty, many

are looking to direct marketing’ statesFletcher.11 But she is also quick toraise doubts about direct marketing’sabilities to strengthen the brand–con-sumer bond. Like Reed12 on directresponse television (DRTV), she ques-tions whether DM can really buildbrands ‘because it does not offer anyreal insight into the emotional bondconsumers make with brands.’

She goes on to state that mostdatabases collect only transactional andbehavioural details, mainly to identifyheavy users and the most valuable top20 per cent of customers, as advo-cated by the differential marketingapproach.13–15 In response to thiscriticism, the agency Ogilvy One,suggests that direct marketers couldadd four or five questions to customerquestionnaires to identify whether theindividual has a strong emotional linkto the brand, thereby highlightingwhich customers are ‘an emotionalrisk’.16 Pearson advocates customerquestionnaires in DM but with a morepositive objective, viz. ‘to determinehow willing customers are to form adeeper relationship with company orbrand’.17 Gardiner and Quinton,18 ina business-to-business case, refer toMcCorkell19 in underlining the impor-tance of interaction with the cus-tomer and quote Kashani20 whenstating: ‘Building the brand by listen-ing to customers’ feedback from di-rect marketing should underpin theloyalty approach’. Questionnaires arealso recommended to show continuedinterest in customers, under ‘brandingobjectives for mail’, at two of the


What can direct market ing do for branding and bonding?

empirical research, or theory sincePearson,28 that focused specifically ondirect marketing and its relationshipwith brand building and customerbonding. The aims of this paper aretherefore threefold:

– to determine what factors, if any,might be encouraging a morestrategic, brand-building role fordirect marketing

– to ascertain from direct marketingpractitioners whether direct market-ing is, or should be, a brand-buildingtool

– to examine what role, or roles, di-rect marketing practitioners perceivedirect marketing to play in support-ing branding or in building con-sumer commitment to a brand.

METHODOLOGYQualitative data were felt to be moreappropriate than quantitative in thisstudy as more complex questions canbe asked than in a questionnaire, withthe benefits of probing for deeperinsights. Hussey and Hussey also main-tain that ‘An interview may permit ahigher degree of confidence in thereplies than questionnaire responses’.29

Lee suggests depth of interview canovercome the problem of intervieweesgiving what they perceive to be a‘correct’ answer.30 In order to minimisesuch interviewer bias, for instance anurge to overstate the case for brandstrategy, interviewees were invited todiscuss examples of DM campaigns andresearch.

six relationship stages in Stone andGamble.21

Meanwhile, Tapp notes that ‘Di-rect marketing has not traditionallybeen used in order to build symbolicvalues . . .one customer value where di-rect marketers do make a difference isstatus. Companies such as AmericanExpress, BMW and Hilton Hotels usedirect marketing as a way of build-ing and maintaining a feeling of ex-clusivity and privilege to both recruitand keep customers.’22 This very dis-creteness of direct mail can be viewedas a drawback because it has ‘rela-tively little to contribute in terms ofgenerating the shared meaning neces-sary for brand acceptance’.23 In orderfor direct marketing to add to the‘knowledge’ pillar of brand strength,de Chernatony and McDonald recog-nised that ‘In some instances this mayinvolve targeting promotional activityto the user’s peer group to ensure theyrecognise the symbolic messages beingportrayed by the brand’.24

As a result of Rapp and Collins’ ideaof a ‘loving company’25 carelinesabound, from Nestle’s dietician toNintendo’s helpline for children.26

Pearson also encourages financial com-panies to shift from ‘hard sell’ tointeractive communications, such asoffering advice or information oninteractive disks and soliciting con-sumer feedback at all stages.27

AIMSAs a consequence of the literaturereview the authors felt there was little



Fifteen semi-structured depth in-terviews, each lasting at least onehour, took place between January andMay 1998. Interviewees were selectedprimarily for their expertise in brandbuilding in direct marketing and,secondly, for their expertise withfinancial services direct marketing. Fiveout of nine judges of a brand-buildingcategory in the 1997 DMA/RoyalMail Direct Marketing Award wererecruited for interview. The remaininginterviewees were creative directors orplanners in direct marketing agenciesmeeting the following requirements:

– one of the top 20 on a directmarketing agency league table fromMarketing31 which were ranked byturnover

– from a direct marketing agencyholding at least one or morefinancial services accounts.

While three DMA judges interviewedwere senior client-marketers with di-rect marketing experience, includingdatabase and planning, two judgeswere also creative directors within thetop 30 DM agency league table.32 Halfof the top 20 DM agencies (or 12 ofthe top 30 DM agencies), weretherefore represented. Interviews weremostly located in London but werealso conducted in Bath, Surrey andManchester.

Interviews were recorded fortranscription and analysis at a later date.Two interviewers were used in orderto complete interviewing within thegiven timescales. An interview guide

was followed to ensure that researchobjectives were met and that the sameissues were covered by bothinterviewers:

– direct marketing’s role in developingthe brand

– how can direct marketing be used tobuild brand loyalty

– what improvements, if any, could bemade

– how important is customer interac-tion to developing brand loyalty?

Analysis included the three key phasesof description (content analysis ofthe responses); analysis; ‘noting andexploring themes and patterns andregularities’;33,34 and interpretation.

The consumer financial servicessector was chosen as a context firstbecause it remains the largest categoryof consumer direct mail — ‘in-surance, credit cards and banks ac-counting for a third of the mostrecently sent items’.35 Secondly, severalstudies find weak branding, and con-sumers who do not recognise manybrands, within financial services.36–38

Meanwhile, ‘Over the past few years,the financial services industry has seenincreased levels of switching supplieracross almost all product areas’.39

FINDINGS

Direct marketing vs Direct mailIt was the intention of the study thatdirect mail would be discussed as aseparate marketing communications



ing programme to talk to peoplesometimes when you’re not sellingthem something, which is a veryhard bullet for a lot of clients to bite,because they can’t see any paybackin that activity when viewed inisolation.’ (DM agency)

One of the three ‘heretical’ DM in-terviewees mentioned a major HighStreet retailer who is experimentingwith warm messages to customers.

Factors encouraging a morestrategic role for DMA number of factors were described byinterviewees as underlying a potentialshift towards a more strategic, brandrole for direct marketing. These fac-tors can be summarised to includeeconomic pressures, DM market forcesand technological advances which, incombination, shift measurement ofthe effectiveness of DM from pureresponse rates to include conversionrates and retention.

Economic pressuresHigh media cost ‘running at 12%year-on-year increase’ (brand-buildingjudge and chairman of DM agency),was flagged up as one reason forleveraging brand through other media.‘One of the driving forces is the sheercost of above-the-line media, whichare prohibitive for many brands.’ (DMarm of marcoms group)

‘The less brand TV you see be-cause of [high] cost and [lack of]availability and because of [increas-

medium. Interviewees were consistent,however, in insisting that direct mailshould not be treated in isolation andpreferred to talk about ‘direct market-ing’ and ‘marketing campaigns’ as awhole, rather than using the term‘direct mail’.

Direct marketing was defined by anumber of interviewees as ‘behaviouralcommunications’ (DM group), that is,communications that lead to a responseor action of some kind:

‘What we do is behaviour-driv-ing communications’. (DM arm ofa marketing communication (mar-coms) group)

Some agencies see perceptions beingchanged, almost by default, as a by-product of direct marketing.

‘The difference between it [DM]and awareness advertising is that itchanges customer behaviour as op-posed to changing customer percep-tion. It may change perception aswell but I think it should changebehaviour and you should be able tomeasure and judge that very, veryfinely.’ (DM agency)

Only three out of the 15 intervieweesheld a contrasting view that, on someoccasions, direct mail could be usedpurely for the purpose of shifting at-titudes, or in Pearson’s ‘customer ac-tivating’ sense:

‘You should use your direct market-



ingly fragmented] viewing habits,the more all the other elements ofthe marketing mix become impor-tant.’ (DM agency)

Heightened competition, arisingaround the time of the 1991 recession,meant clients learnt that three-tieredheadlines such as:

‘ ‘‘Free quote, free pen, free call’’might increase response, but thecampaign was dead in six monthswith poor conversion rates and poorcustomer loyalty’. (DM agency)

‘The [1991] recession, I think, haschanged a lot of clients’ minds andwhat used to be ‘‘below-the-line’’.’(DM group)

DM market forcesAccount planning was said to havemoved from certain advertising agenciesinto leading direct marketing agencies,such as Evans Hunt Scott, in the late1980s. Mailshots were no longer viewedin isolation from other media andcommunications. DM agencies began tocarry out research among non-respon-dents to their direct mail campaigns.

‘You could tell how perceptions ofthe brand had shifted dramatically inthe right direction, even where theydidn’t buy the car.’ (DM agency)

The entry of big brands into DM,and especially automotive brands suchas Audi, VW and LandRover, arethought to have contributed to greater

creativity in the treatment of brandwithin direct marketing.

‘I think the thing that changeddirect marketing creatively in theeighties was that automotive com-panies discovered direct marketing.’(DM agency)

‘Now the big brands from allcategories, from fmcg, manufactur-ing, financial, they all see directmarketing as a core part of theirmarketing . . . and they realise it has asignificant impact on the brand.’(DM agency)

‘That started on Brand ResponseTV and I now think we are startingto see that in press and all sorts ofthings as well.’ (DM agency)

Technological advances

‘It’s very difficult to point to anybrand or service that has notbeen established by a consistentheavyweight terrestrial television in-vestment. But it will change in thenext three to five years with theadvent of set-top boxes . . .That’swhen the real media fragmentationwill start.’ (brand-building judge andchairman of DM agency)

Finally, a few interviewees mentionedexciting developments in databasemarketing:

‘I can tell you without beingindiscreet, there are fantastic, un-



categorically that direct mail would notbe the best choice of medium forbuilding a new brand from scratch.Moreover:

‘I think if you are going to reposi-tion a brand or switch it round toperhaps a different segment of themarket, that switch has to havebeen started above-the-line’. (DMagency)

Reasons for direct mail not being seenas an ideal medium for launching anew brand, or for brand repositioning,varied from being able to achievegreater emotion, impact, humour andthree-dimensionality through televi-sion, to direct mail’s perceived un-popularity, especially among consumerswithin the financial services sector:

‘The medium influences the take-out of the message. If people havea low perceived-value of a medium,it’s more of an uphill struggle tomake it a broadly positive ex-perience’. (DM agency)

Additionally, one interviewee echoedthe literature40 by stating that:

‘Direct mail is not so potent increating that aura that this is aproduct that is universally acceptedto be cool, stylish and fashionable’.(DM agency)

‘On-brand’ work increases responseNine of the 15 interviewees said theybelieve direct marketing is becoming

believable, technologically drivencommunications coming up theback strait that will make ‘‘Friendsand Family’’ [British Telecom cam-paign] look like kindergarten, be-cause they’ve got the technologyand they’ve put the infrastruc-ture together, it’s mind-blowing thedepth they can get into in termsof one-to-one communication andtracking.’ (brand-building judge andchairman of DM agency)

Others were anxious as to how closea relationship customers might wantwith brands in some sectors. There wasa general feeling of unease about usingdata to their full extent and the impactthis might have on consumers’ fearsabout invasion of their privacy.

Debating DM’s brand-building role

DM is not the first media choice forlaunching a new brandA minority of interviewees felt it mightbe possible, over a period of time, tolaunch a new brand through directmarketing.

‘Well, I don’t think you can do that[build a new brand] necessarily justthrough direct mail. . .but we’ve gota project on the go at the momentthat I can’t tell you about, but weare going to launch a new carwithout any, what you would call‘‘above-the-line’’ advertising.’ (DMgroup)

Most participants in the research stated



more strategic and some added that‘on-brand’ work in direct marketingincreases response in addition to rein-forcing brand values. Moreover, someagencies with this view could quoteexamples of clients measuring shifts inconsumer brand attitudes, in additionto counting responses.

‘Basically you will be measuring . . .what it influenced in terms of anyperception of what [store] is doing.Did it influence your feeling ofloyalty to the brand? That’s a regularprocess we go through. Quite apartfrom measuring response.’ (DMagency)

Most interviewees saw brand buildingin direct marketing as supporting abroader media mix.

There was a strong degree of scep-ticism on the part of six intervieweesas to how far direct marketing hasaltered from tactical sales promotiontowards strategic brand development.

‘Often large brands just use it asa tactic to gain sample in yourtrial, but not as an overall strategyfor awareness, for brand building.’(brand-building judge)

Some interviewees felt that brandbuilding was important in their agency,but that other DM agencies have asuperficial understanding of brand:

‘A DM agency generally hasresponse, not brand, as its heartbeat.All agencies say ‘‘we are very

strategic’’, all agencies talk aboutbrand. Maybe one of the crucialthings is how many of them havebeen employed as brand consultantsand actually defined their clients’brand?’ (integrated agency)

‘I think to date a lot of lip servicehas been paid to it. But nothing hasactually happened . . . so dependingon senior management’s view; youcan’t commit a company which istrying to keep shareholders happy.’(brand-building judge)

Among the sceptics, however, was afeeling that direct marketing should domore for brand, but that response aloneis often all that is measured:

‘What we should be trying to do issay, ‘‘should we also measure how itadds to the brand experience or thewhole brand values?’’ That’s whatwe should be doing.’ (DM arm ofmarcoms group)

One agency stated that increasing mediafragmentation means that tracking in-dividual transactions from a campaignand tracing the perceptual effects ofdirect marketing can be complex andthat the latter is being neglected:

‘When clients can measure thetransactional value or percentageresponse of a communication,which they can do more easily withdirect mail than with advertising,there is a huge danger that theyneglect the hidden value of



‘You need some cover when yourdirect marketing hits the doormat,so that at least people are familiar tosome extent with who you are.’(DM agency)

Two interviewees went further, ex-plaining that their research has shownthat ‘on-brand’ direct mail, that recog-nises what is happening with the ad-vertising, can gain higher responsesthan ‘off-brand’ mailings:

‘I’ve never believed there is a con-flict. And what you do find, infact, is that if you produce workthat is off-brand, it doesn’t work aswell; it doesn’t actually pull as muchresponse.’ (DM agency)

Brand ambassador roleDM, according to most interviewees,bears some responsibility, as a brandambassador, for differentiating thebrand from the competition, and forreinforcing or elaborating brand values.An example given was:

‘The Royal Society for the Protec-tion of Birds ensure that anydirect marketing communication,notwithstanding the immediatecommercial objectives of thecampaign, also reinforces threeparticular brand values they believethey represent’. (brand-buildingjudge)

‘Direct mail is ideal for transactionsand at the same time making thatbrand come alive or refreshing the

communication, the long-term ef-fects, attitude. It’s harder to put theemotional values on a spreadsheet.’(DM agency)

Four roles for DM in branddevelopmentFour brand development roles for di-rect marketing could be discerned:sales assistant; brand ambassador; brandhostess; and a ‘listener’, interactive, orpartnership role called the brand re-searcher role. A short description ofeach role follows.

Sales assistant roleEven strong advocates of branddevelopment through direct marketingare united in agreeing that:

‘Quite clearly a major component ofdirect marketing is direct selling’.(DM agency)

Consistent branding in mailings is saidto help trigger sales, just as brandpackaging on the supermarket shelftriggers purchase.

‘One of the functions of brands is tohelp to trigger the purchase as wellas to help you to charge a premiumprice.’ (DM agency)

Consumer recognition of the brandingis seen as an essential part of the sellingprocess via direct mail:

‘A basic element of branding issimply familiarity’. (brand-buildingjudge)



view of the brand, making it morerelevant.’ (DM agency)

One interviewee recommended aseparate programme to reinforce orupgrade what people think they havejust bought into:

‘Basically what I’m saying is you’veonly done half the job if you’ve goteverybody in but you haven’t thenconsolidated.’ (DM agency)

Brand values need to be distinct anddifferentiated from competitors so thatthe brand image can be tailored to fitthe targets:

‘Any brand and its associated valuesdoes not exist in isolation. . . .Thereneeds to be an opportunity forcreating brand distinction. Thereneeds to be some idea why you arebetter than everybody else.’ (brand-building judge)

One of the major drawbacks of financialservices branding, as perceived by thoseinterviewed, is that they forget thattheir brand values are being compared,by consumers, with the competition.

Some interviewees, however, com-mented on a deeper-rooted marketingproblem found across all sectors: thelack of distinct brand identities for DMagencies to communicate:

‘Yes, bringing brand values to life.And that in itself can be a bit of ajob, because most company’s brandvalues are a list of great statements:

accessibility, intelligence, innova-tions. The same old words come upagain. It’s only a few brands likeVirgin or Orange, Tango or Heinzthat have something distinctive.’(DM agency)

Brand hostess roleThe DM brand hostess role is a dualrole.

First, it provides an enjoyable ex-perience appropriate to the brand. In-terviewees felt that in direct mail,especially in financial services, wheremailers can be covered in APR rates,brands need to try harder to be enter-taining, giving the customer

‘at least . . . a pleasant experience’.(brand-building judge/DM agency)

As if working in a hotel, they need toshow some recognition of who theircustomers are, acknowledging cus-tomers’ preferences, not approachingthem 50 times with the same question.

‘Why shouldn’t we hate thesegrubby mailings? I think that adver-tising, design on TV, has reached acertain standard. These people [con-sumers] now know that companiesout there want to entertain themand want to have an intelligentdialogue with them.’ (brand-build-ing judge/DM agency)

The second part of its role is toacknowledge the customer, or perhapsoffer preferential or exclusive treat-ment (luxury brands). Key success



On the positive side, tailoring theimagery, using new digital print tech-niques, was found to give an uplift inresponse:

‘We produced four different laser-ings for one brand. It did work:it did uplift response. Tailoringthe imagery as well as the textworked, against not tailoring it’.(DM agency)

In terms of building loyalty or brandcommitment:

‘Brand awareness is not particularlyimportant, I don’t think. It’sbrand experience, interacting withthe brand [that counts]: . . .onthe ’phone. . .product statement . . . Itgoes well beyond advertising.’ (DMagency)

‘Much more meaningful to financialservices than saying ‘‘Do yourecognise this logo?’’ You should besaying: ‘‘what happens when peoplestart dealing with the brand?’’ Itenables financial services to build abrand through experience ratherthan through messages.’ (DMagency)

But one DM agency talked of short-term targets in financial services, as a

criteria for building brand loyalty, andindeed for increasing the rate ofcross-sales, through DM, were seen asrelevance and customer recognition.

‘There are all sorts of systemsto acknowledge a customer. . . likedropping in information withinthe letter that is relevant’. (DMagency)

‘That it recognises that they area loyal customer and demonstratesthat we, as a company, or the brand,knows who they are and their im-portance.’ (brand-building judge)

Confirming Tapp’s finding in theliterature review,41 direct mail

‘you are actually adding value for aselect and identifiable group of in-dividuals’ (DM agency)

Another example of ‘building theprivate face of brand’ (DM agency) wasthe limited first edition of the Ford Ka,which was launched through directmarketing in Sweden by offeringhigher specifications and features to anexclusive target group.

Fragmentation of postmodern con-sumers into multiple selves or roles42 isseen by one interviewee as makingsegmentation more difficult

‘because you have many morepockets of consumers. In the olddays it was all very simple becauseeverybody was ABC1, aged be-tween 18–55’. (DM agency)



result of fears of mergers, meaning thatclients

‘are not interested in a particularprogramme to try to nurture thecustomers that will take five years tocome to fruition’

because they have problems with theboard and shareholders.

Service expectations of brands,meanwhile, are perceived by thoseinterviewed to have increased as aresult of direct activity:

‘People’s experience of brand thesedays isn’t just what they see throughthe TV, like it was in the old daysof Persil. It’s now their experience ofbrand as they live it . . .use it . . . ringit up. . . speak to it . . . and they ex-pect this and that service and thatwill affect how brand is perceived. . . so you need to make sure thatyour direct marketing, your fulfil-ment and your phone operators areall working together because peopleare living the brand through directmarketing, rather than just acceptingit.’ (DM agency)

Practical and training implications formanaging the brand hostess directmarketing role at call-centres aredetailed in Stevens.43

DM’s interactive, researcher roleBy using DM interactively to find outfrom consumer ‘partners’, not onlyhow to improve the relevance of mail-ings but also how to add brand value,

the brand researcher role in DM cangive customers the emotional signalthat the brand is listening to them:

‘One of the things you can createthrough two-way communicationis a learning relationship. . . . actuallyprogressing individuals in the formof a stream. That is actually theroot means of achieving emotionalloyalty. The feeling that this com-pany has listened to me and hastailored its service accordingly as aresult. I am then loath to defect andstart the process all over again witha stranger’. (DM agency)

Treating data with caution andrespecting the level of intimacyrequired by the customer, which mightvary depending on product class andcategory, is clearly felt to be criticallyimportant by direct marketers.

‘I think there is a limit to how muchinteraction people want with abusiness . . . sending people question-naires; ‘‘Do you want this?’’ ‘‘Doyou want that?’’. I don’t think it’ssomething you can make central toyour strategy, but there can be timeswhen it’s appropriate, with carefulthought.’ (brand-building judge)

Interviewees’ views are summarisedinto the four roles mapped in Figure1. Figure 1 divides media choice intomass media versus two-way com-munications. The greater the brand’sreliance on two-way communica-tions, such as DM, the greater the



dimensions of the brand (and can beexecuted via mass media), the brandresearcher role is interactive and iscrucial to improving the brand’srelational dimensions, for whoseexperiential processes (ie consumerenjoyment) and functional aspects (egacknowledgment systems) the brandhostess role is responsible.

need to increase relevant differentia-tion in the sales assistant and brandambassador roles, by developing thebrand hostess and brand researcherroles. Figure 1 also divides the brandinto ‘functional’ versus ‘representa-tional and relational’ dimensions.While the brand ambassador rolecontributes mainly to representational



Brand Ambassador

- ‘DM also needs to bear allegianceto the values of the brand forwhich it is working’

- ‘Its job is to reinforce or torefresh the brand, but not at theexpense of response’

- ‘Should we also measure howDM adds to the brand experienceor to the whole brand values?’

Brand Hostess

- ‘Pleasant brand experience, notjust awareness, is what counts’

- ‘If you recognise who I am, youare more likely to sell me more’

- ‘Brand loyalty depends on howyou are treated as an individualand on sensitivity to your needs’

- ‘Direct marketing can be veryuseful in selecting discretegroups of people and givingthem preferential treatment’

Sales Assistant

- ‘There must be some brandpresence first, so that at leastpeople are familiar with whoyou are when your mail hitstheir doormat’

- ‘Off-brand mailings do not pullas much response’

- ‘Something can and should bedone for brand at the same timeas getting a response’

Brand Researcher

- ‘Although he or she might be aloyal customer, you shouldalways be looking to understandif there are further needs that youare not satisfying’

BUT:

- ‘There is a limit to the amount ofinteraction people want with abusiness’

mass media

twowaycomms

functional/ experiential

representational/ relational

Figure 1: Perceptual map of DM brand roles

DISCUSSION AND MANAGERIALIMPLICATIONS

DM should be a brand-buildingtoolThree strong drivers for a morestrategic use of DM were found as aresult of the paper’s first aim. Thesecond aim of this paper was to assesswhether direct marketing is, or shouldbe, a brand-building tool. As indicatedby the literature,44 there was littlesupport for using DM primarily as abrand-building tool, nor for usingdirect marketing to launch brands.

‘I think it’s a lot harder from astanding start; it would be a lotharder for direct response to build abrand than it would be for thebranded above-the-line advertisingin tandem with the direct campaignto do the job.’ (DM agency)

This research paper finds, however, thatmost, though not all, interviewees agreethat brand has a role to play in DM, ifonly to trigger sales if brand identity isclear, differentiated and consistent overtime; or simply to reinforce the brandpositioning and values established else-where in the marketing mix. Even theseroles imply that integrating brand withcustomer management is needed, as hasbeen indicated in Stone and Gamble;45

branding being too often seen as ‘abolt-on’, and even unimportant inDM, especially by senior management.Showing this to be shortsighted, DMagencies who have carried out brandresearch, by contrast, report uplifts in

response when mailings are ‘on-brand’and also a strong but hidden attitudinalimpact on brand perceptions in directmail recipients, whether they respondor not.

Awards for brand building in di-rect marketing, it was felt by some,should focus less on one individualcampaign to improve brand consis-tency and long-term thinking.

More work of a brand-strategic na-ture was discussed than anticipated fromthe literature, which tends to be criticalof brand building in DM.46,47 A fur-ther example from the financial servicessector of focus group DM brand re-search, was named during the inter-views to add to the literature’s examplesof First Direct48 and AA.49 Evidence ofcompanies, chiefly from sectors otherthan financial services, setting objectivesfor DM brand building (as advocatedby Agres and Dubitsky50 and carry-ing out focus group, ‘on-brand’ com-mittees and panel or tracking researchincluded companies from the followingsectors: telecommunications; fmcg; su-permarkets; automotive manufacturers;and High Street retailers. Continuedtracking of DM for brand issues, how-ever, was considered unusual because ofthe high perceived costs involved.

The different roles DM plays inbranding or brand buildingThe third aim of the paper was to shedlight on the role of branding infinancial services direct marketing.Four brand-building roles for directmarketing have emerged: sales assis-tant, brand ambassador, brand hostess



gets, as recommended by Agres andDubitsy.51 Figure 2 shows how theseroles can be aligned with three of thebrand-building pillars identified inAgres and Dubitsky, except for ‘es-teem’, and how, by incorporatingDM’s brand roles into strategic plan-

and brand researcher, as outlined inFigure 1. The proposed DM brandroles could be analysed to assess howfar a particular brand-building pil-lar could be strengthened via directmarketing. This could help in settingDM objectives, other than sales tar-



Figure 2: Four brand building roles for direct marketing

BRAND-BUILDING PILLARS

[4] BRAND KNOWLEDGE(includes brand experience)

[1] BRAND DIFFERENTIATION

[5] BRAND EQUITY

[2] BRAND RELEVANCE

[3] BRAND ESTEEMBrand familiarity is usuallyestablished by other media.

RESEARCHER

HOSTESS

SALESASSISTANT

AMBASSADOR

BRAND ROLES FOR DM

SOURCE OF FOUR BRAND BUILDING PILLARSItems 1 – 4 are numbered in the sequence of consumerperceptions found by Young and Rubicam’sBrandAsset Valuator project in Agres, S.J. andDubitsky, (1996) “Changing Needs for Brands” Journalof Advertising Research, Jan./Feb. pp:21 – 30.

ning, they could contribute to buildingbrand equity.

It is not proposed that more thanone of these brand-building rolesshould be incorporated into any singledirect mail piece, but it is proposedthat DM campaigns that neglect themmay risk:

– producing direct mail that is either‘off-brand’ and ignored; or ‘antibrand’, ie conflicting with thebrand values established elsewhere,producing incoherent communica-tions and probably dissonance in theconsumer

– underperformance in terms ofresponse rates, sales, strengtheningthe customer–brand bond to preventswitching, cross-sales and encourag-ing brand advocacy.

Interviewees confirmed the lack ofinvestment in customer information,other than financial data, posited byFletcher.52 This means that any poten-tial in the direct media for the brandhostess role tends to be underutilised.

Although many interviewees stressedthe importance of taking care withcustomers’ experience of brands,especially in services, few had the‘Dionysian’ spirit of experientialbranding found in Schmitt,53 anddemonstrated in an interesting, eye-catching way by the Casa BuitoniClub.54 This suggests that directmarketing, is still waking up to itscreative and emotional possibilities. Itcould proactively supply customerswith experiential,55 rather than merely

visual or verbal, branding.Pearson’s suggestions for ‘activat-

ing the customer’ such as provid-ing non-selling advice or literature,briefly outlined in the literature review,were not mentioned much as part ofthe direct marketing arsenal.56 DMagencies felt almost unanimously thatclients, especially those in financialservices with their merger fears, wouldnot invest in long-term brand-build-ing activity without a selling mo-tive. It is difficult to assess the scaleof more experimental brand-buildingwork, such as an example linked to thebuilding of a retail customer database;this type of information was restrictedbecause it was deemed commerciallysensitive. There was little mention ofprocessing customers through stages ofa brand loyalty ladder57–59 though it maybe that client’s loyalty-building activityis being carried out elsewhere orinhouse. Interviewees felt that clientorganisations are ‘not integrated’. Or-ganisational structure needs to be lessdivisive so that building loyalty is notsimply compartmentalised into ‘theloyalty scheme’. A more ‘horizontalownership’ of ‘the brand(s)’, ‘acquisi-tion’ and ‘retention’ is required forstrategic brand building now thatmultiple media and interactive distribu-tion channels are available to con-sumers.

Recommendations for furtherresearchThe authors found little in the way ofpublished case studies of brand build-ing through DM or multiple media.



medium for building a brand fromscratch.

Setting objectives for each of theDM brand roles, sales assistant, brandambassador, brand hostess and brandresearcher will result in using directmarketing to its full potential withregard to brand building.

Lack of senior management involve-ment in DM campaigns, the percep-tion of DM as a ‘junior partner inmarketing’ (brand-building judge) andthe lack of an integrated structure forbrand management, all contribute toleaving brand out in the cold. In manycases direct mail is still treated aslittle more than a semi-targeted, massmedium: a press advertisement foldedinto an envelope, underexploiting itsrole in improving customer ‘brand ex-perience’, especially for the servicebrand; and its potential for two-waydialogue and adding brand value.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The participants in this study arethanked for giving their time. Thisresearch was sponsored by the RoyalMail. Grateful acknowledgments arealso due to the UK’s DMA West fortheir coordination role in the re-search and funding; to Stella Warren,at Bristol Business School, for hertranscription of interview tape record-ings; and to the IDM informationcentre for their assistance.

REFERENCES

1 DMIS (1999) ‘Key Mail Statistics’, Di-rect Mail Information Service, London,UK.

Publishing such cases, as the IPAdoes for advertising, may encouragemarketers to use DM more effectivelyfor brand building.

A client marketer perspective andthe perspective of brand consultantsmight usefully be sought and comparedto achieve a triangulation of views onhow and to what extent direct market-ing does and should fulfil a creative anda ‘brand experience’ role within brandbuilding and maintenance.

A quarter of UK terrestrial televisionadvertisements carry direct responsenumbers60 and the advent of set-topboxes promises more interactive com-munications. This study set out to lookat branding chiefly in direct mail, butit might now be useful to examine theproposed four brand roles for DMfound here (Figure 1) in the context ofother new media.

CONCLUSIONSIn some DM agencies with an accountplanning heritage, brand building hasplayed a role in direct marketing forthe past five to ten years. The threemain drivers for the move from tacti-cal to more creative, brand-strategicdirect marketing are summarised aseconomics, DM market factors andtechnological progress.

If sufficient investment is made ininformation infrastructures to allow formeaningful dialogue with existing cus-tomers, direct marketing’s strategic rolein brand building could be more im-portant for retention than for acquisi-tion. Direct mail is not seen as the ideal



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38 Timewell, S. (1996) ‘Shopping forMoney’, The Banker, Vol. 146, August,p. 18.

39 Hoskin, F. and Beaver, J. (1997) ‘An



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