Royal Mail promotes DM's brand role

by Ben Bold, Marketing 12-Feb-04

Royal Mail is preparing a £1.4m integrated campaign to encourage marketers to increase their use of direct mail as a brand-building medium.

The work debuts next week and will include press ads, direct mail, wraparounds and online activity. The initiative had been planned to follow a consumer TV campaign last October, but was delayed following strikes.

The campaign is the result of research carried out by Royal Mail which claimed that direct mail could be the most 'emotive' media.

Although direct mail's primary use is to increase response and generate sales, the medium can be used to fulfil a brand-building role, as evidenced by recent CRM work from car marque Lexus.

Royal Mail's campaign will tell businesses that 'Successful brands get personal' with their existing and prospective customers by using direct mail. The concept reinforces the message that direct mail can emotionally engage consumers. The creative apes the style of 'lonely hearts' ads to position the medium as one that can build relationships between businesses and consumers. It has been created by Proximity London, with media through Carat

Tim Rivett, Royal Mail's head of media solutions, said he hoped the initiative would change marketers' perceptions of direct mail. "Despite tremendous growth, mail is not always first on the marketing agenda for brands, especially, for example, in the FMCG sector," he said.