Royal Mail unveils direct marketing facility MarketReach

The government-owned postal service will provide both brands and agencies with a range of direct marketing services, including planning, production, data and creative services, to help fill a "gap" in skills at partner organisations.

Royal Mail said it was looking to "behave more like a media owner", and less like an industry advisory body such as the RAB or Thinkbox, by helping advertisers to integrate "real elements" into increasingly digitally-led campaigns

In partnership with technology companies Incentivated, favourthebrave.co.uk and Digital Space, MarketReach will advise on the use of tools such as SMS, digital watermarking and QR code activation.

The organisation has hired more than 20 agency and brand specialists towards the creation of a 100-strong internal team. It has also partnered with creative agency Clinic London, production firm St Ives, data specialists Callcredit, and agency EHS 4D Discovery, for additional capabilities.

Frank Schinella, managing director of Royal Mail’s media business, claimed the move would help the business to increase its share of the £16bn UK advertising market: "We want to help advertisers and agencies by providing the skills and expertise to make it even easier to add mail to their marketing activities."

He said: "We know that in a competitive environment, getting your message across to customers in a planned, targeted and impactful way is integral to business success. Mail is a great way to complement and integrate digital advertising, adding a real element to a campaign," said Schinella

Royal Mail will support the launch of MarketReach with a trade marketing campaign featuring the strapline, "We believe in the power of real."