1:1 THE WAY TO GO IN TOUGH TIMES
1:1 communications the way forward for Kiwi marketers in tough times, new study shows
Research shows overwhelming majority of New Zealand marketers plan to maintain or increase mail and email spends in 2009
New Zealand businesses may be facing tough times but marketers won’t be cutting their 1:1 communications spend, the results of a new Nielsen and New Zealand Post direct marketing study show.
New Zealand Post commissioned Nielsen Media Research to conduct a qualitative and quantitative survey of New Zealand’s top marketers. The study covers the Addressed Direct Mail, Email, SMS/Mobile, Unaddressed Mail and Telemarketing channels. Researchers canvassed marketers’ opinions and experiences of direct and digital marketing and new media, including where they will be placing their spend in 2009.
The results show that New Zealand marketers overwhelmingly intend to maintain or increase their spend on email and mail over the next 12 months. However, new media such as blogs/vlogs, social networking, podcasting, in-game advertising and virtual-world advertising are not yet on the radar for most respondents.
For Customer Retention, 55% of participants say they plan to increase their Addressed Direct Mail spend, with 32% planning to maintain. 57% plan to increase their spend on Email, with 30% planning to maintain. When it comes to Customer Acquisition, 45% of participants say they plan to increase their Email spend, with 40% planning to maintain. For Addressed Direct Mail, 32% plan to increase their spend and 48% plan to maintain.
Respondents were also asked to rate each channel on overall effectiveness. For Customer Acquisition, respondents rate Addressed Direct Mail as being the most effective, closely followed by Telemarketing (though this was a much smaller sample size due to less participants using the channel), and Email. For Customer Retention, Telemarketing is ranked most effective, followed by Addressed Direct Mail, and Email.
Sonya Crosby, National Manager for the Mail Marketing Service of New Zealand Post, says the research shows that New Zealand marketers are well aware of the importance of 1:1 communications to their business in a challenging environment: “Rather than speculating, we thought to ask top marketers responsible for advertising budgets where they will spend their money in 2009. It’s clear from their responses that effectiveness is driving media choice and that both email and mail have equal billing as an integrated media opportunity, rather than being siloed or substituted,” says Crosby.
The research comes on the back of a separate New Zealand Post report that shows significant growth in the direct mail channel in 2008, with the addressed direct mail revenue figure estimated to be $56.1m, up from $35m in 2007.
Says Crosby: “The direct marketing channel is increasingly being recognised as an effective means of communicating with consumers and is becoming a critical cornerstone of the marketing mix, especially with the current economic downturn. This is unlikely to change as marketers realise the benefits of fact driven communications.”
14 Comments
How embarrassing… this is why people think direct is boring. Will anyone honestly read this shit?
I agree. Boring nerds words.
I totally agree. I’m a junk mail geek through and through. But boy do we DMers screw ourselves when we go to a “Creative Circle” blog and start spouting boring numbers in irrelevant “press releases” like that.
The summary of that turgid number crunching is: people can’t afford to make flashy ads this year, so they’ll probably do more junk mail. I hope Neilson didn’t charge too much for that nifty little insight. it’s not exactly rocket science.
The exciting stuff right now is about how most half-decent DM agencies are using all kinds of channels to do targeted Direct Response campaigns that not only sell shit to people but also give them a decent brand experience along the way.
In fact there’s no fundamental difference between what junk mail people do and what brand people do. We all have the same goal of getting someone’s attention long enough to make them like you in the hope that they’ll buy something. And yes, you can do that in an envelope.
Problem is, when Post bangs on like this to anyone who’ll listen, it doesn’t exactly inspire you to do anything with a stamp on it.
Get with the programme NZ Post. You’re a monopoly. Stop preaching to the converted about the obvious.
“…there’s no fundamental difference between what junk mail people do and what brand people do.”
Couldn’t disagree more, sorry 4:09.
Brand people try to elicit an emotional response – e.g. “Gee, I love those guys” – so that punters feel warmer toward the brand and more likely to enter into a relationship with it.
Junk mail people try to elicit an immediate action – e.g. “Fuck, I better buy that now”.
Neither is inferior to the other.
Actually the relationship is quite symbiotic. If I love the brand, I’m more likely to read their junk mail. And if I then buy from the junk mail … um, well … that’s more money for the next brand campaign, right?
Lets face it direct and retail are very boring. Ok you can do the odd thing you might say is creative. But that is rare.
What was the last cool thing you got sent where you thought WOW?
You are right 12:22, no body ever learns anything by reading. Let’s stick with moving pictures and big flashing lights.
“…there’s no fundamental difference between what junk mail people do and what brand people do.”
I thought that might start something. But symbiosis is exactly my point 5:54pm. While I agree that the primary brand job is to be fluffy and the primary direct job is to be a more.. well.. direct… I still maintain that there is no ‘fundamental’ difference between the two ”.
Don’t panic I’m not a wannabe brand person justifying my life making statement stuffers. I’ve been in DM for years, and always will be. I love it. But my point was that brand is at the absolute core of everything we do. (Apart from the total crap. Look close enough and there’s actually solid crap at the core of that.) But in DM it’s just as important to “elicit an emotional response” as it is to close the sale. In fact, you’ll rarely achieve the latter without the former. And that’s why I reckon there’s no fundamental difference between the two.
Having said that. There are very different skill sets out there, and like you say, they’re all really important. For example, there’s no-one who sets the standard of what a brand should look, feel and act like better than a ‘brand person’. Maybe that’s why they’re brand people. But my point is they’re not the only people who understand ‘brand’.
My theory (well it’s not mine, it came from a client) is that while there is a “line” it doesn’t run horizontally. There is no above or below the line. The theory is that the line actually runs right through the heart of every communication whether its a million dollar telly ad or a flyer in store or a till wobbler or the tight T-shirt that the hot promo chick is wearing. That line (according to this theory) is the brand.
Waddayareckon 5.54pm?
PS – I’m Michael, by the way, pleased to meet you. And apologies for wittering on for four plus paragraphs – it’s what us junk mail people do!
Excuse my ignorance but can someone tell me what a mog is?
Thanks Michael for raising the bar of this blog and inviting some actual discussion (as opposed to the norm: you’re a loser, no YOU’RE a loser, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah).
7:19: “…direct and retail are very boring.”
And brand isn’t? I think you’ll find 7/10 brand ads currently on air don’t rate that highly on the hugely exciting scale either. In fact, there are a number of retail ads out there at the moment that are anything but boring – Whitcoulls and Mitre 10 ‘sandpit’ for example.
Microsoft Virus, Oktober Golden Poo and Telecom “They Won’t Know You’re Gone” aren’t that boring.
What this is effectively saying is that direct marketing people will still have jobs when coloured crayon creatives are all on the dole
I didn’t subscribe to this post, it’s not addressed to me, and even if it was I wouldn’t read it. Straight in the bin.
2.20
I guess you’re referring to the Mitre 10 and Whitcoulls brand ads. How is ‘sandpit’ a retail ad?