Door drops don't deserve this media attack

by Ian Maynard, Brand Republic 04-Sep-06, 07:00

You can tell it's the end of August and a notoriously slow news week when the story of a suspended postie leads to a mass media onslaught and the front page of one national newspaper proclaims: "How to beat junk mail - just fill out the coupon inside", writes Ian Maynard, media director of WWAV Rapp Collins Media.

The furore has revolved around postman Roger Annies who allegedly upset his employers by telling residents in Barry, South Wales that they could opt out of receiving unaddressed mail delivered by Royal Mail. That's not something Royal Mail has ever been keen to promote - even many in the direct marketing world were oblivious to the service.

Annies' treatment has led to a wave of media consternation about the apparent rising tide of unaddressed mail with the Daily Mail proclaiming there was "a nationwide revolt against junk mail" as people flocked to opt out.

Poor old Royal Mail. It was at pains to point out that it only delivers about 20% of unaddressed mail and it is the only distributor to actually offer an opt-out service. But once again everyone connected with the DM industry was caught on the back foot and seemingly on the defensive rather than on the attack.

The reality is that we have nothing to be apologetic or defensive about. Unaddressed mail and direct mail are effective, efficient advertising routes to market for many companies and deserve to be treated in exactly the same way as press advertising, TV commercials or outdoor. Research from the DMA shows that 35% of recipients have responded to door-to-door leaflets in the last 12 months.

Quite simply, companies don't spend millions on mail of whatever form just for the sake of it. It works - people respond to it. £27bn worth of goods and services were bought as a result of direct mail promotions last year. And let's not forget what direct channels do for charities. Think of all the money raised that helps prevent child abuse, funds research into cures for cancer and even helps protect the environment.

And how many consumers out there realise that unaddressed and personally addressed mail subsidises normal social mail dramatically? Royal Mail loses 5p on every item of first class post and 8p on every item of second class. Think what price we would pay for postage if Royal Mail didn't have the revenue from business mail. Quite simply we wouldn't have a universal service with a fixed price for a letter irrespective of which part of the UK it's going to.

There are a plethora of other stats and hard evidence to prove what a valuable form of communication mail is and how effective it can be. It's really a compelling story. The big questions is: We're in the communications business so why can't we get the message across?

Answers on a postcard please...

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