The value of mail: what planners and marketers need to know

Editor's Notes

• #49: Hello I’m Jamie Cregan – Research and Planning Director at MC&C Today I want to talk about mail in the media mix – and suggest how the latest RM research helps us rethink the rules for mail And I’m going to suggest the three great places to start doing this are when we consider The value of time and place The value of great creative The value of integration When it comes to mail
• #50: But before we begin, we need to consider the media mix
• #51: In some ways the changes in media can feel like they’re the equivalent of jumping from buddy holly
• #52: To Orbital – from guitar to electro – in a disorientating way if your not careful
• #53: But in the last few years RM have taken us on a journey – whereby they’ve helped remind marketers of some core principles That to understand the media mix you have to understand the value a media channel offer consumers And we’ve seen some brilliant insights in regards mail in this respect And then as marketers we have to understand the commercial value we get in return from a media channel as a result And again we’ve seen strong evidence that mail in the media mix helps grow business
• #54: SO this emphasis on value to consumers and business - is something we as an agency intrinsically buy into Only by understanding how to create Value for both advertisers and consumers in this new world can we create growth
• #55: And our starting point is to understand that often the most valuable journeys start and finish offline
• #56: Because we know that it is in the offline world people are most likely start a relationship with you
• #57: And It is offline they are most likely to purchase you
• #58: But one of the strengths of the digital revolution is that it has transformed what we think a medium can be It is a technology not just a medium A network that enables business to create, to reach consumers, and to sell to them But perhaps most revolutionary it allows us to listen - to learn who, how, when and what to communicate with people and what’s the right level of investment
• #59: By recognising this we can recognise the opportunity that has presented itself To begin to rethink the rules of mail execution – building from the core principles RM’s research has reminded us of
• #60: And applying them in a data rich world – against our three ingredients
• #61: So firstly looking at the value of time and place
• #62: Put simply time matters As a planner I know it is a constant in consumer’s life’s – we have 168 hours in a week with which we have to communicate with consumers 168 hours with which they organise their lives. As a result it also helps me to understand consumers better I know for instance that today consumers sleep less on average than 100 years ago – from an average of 8 hours a night to under 7 I know that today estimates suggest consumers are hit by more than 3,500 commercial messages per day And so I know that consumers have less time than ever before – that reaching them and communicating with them is perhaps harder now than it once was And when seen in this context – media stacking (two screening) is a natural attempt by consumers to reclaim precious time Knowing this helps me know how best to communicate with them
• #63: But I also know so does place 77% of time researching products online is in the home and only 20% of this is done alone
• #64: Brining time and place together - helps explain the majority of habitual forms of behaviour we see within consumers
• #65: Mail gives us brilliant access to time and place And we can do this through a number of routes – based on when your message is most timely And the latest research RM shows – personal relevance creates value for consumers
• #66: A recent example of this happened for me upon moving into my new flat….
• #67: And it is an area we increasingly experimenting with as an agency
• #68: IN this media mix – mail becomes a silver bullet powered by digital data
• #69: Secondly, the value of great creative
• #70: As we’ve seen with creative such as John Lewis classic Christmas adverts Great creative can define a brand and dominate a channel
• #71: And great creative has been shown to link directly to commercial advantage – here evidenced from the work of Binet and Field and the impact of fame on share of voice efficiency
• #72: But what we need to recognise is that it’s the same for mail Here’s an example from one of our clients – where the media cost was unchanged but we invested in higher quality production The result across the board show greater commercial return Mail shouldn’t be an exercise in racing to the bottom on cost
• #73: Finally, we need to recognise the value of integration
• #74: At present put bluntly its not good enough Like this picture clearly there are attempts but we’re not quite there
• #75: What the RM research shows is that even statements and bills can be highly valued by consumers There is huge potential here for businesses to better integrate messaging and overall comms to use these moments more effectively
• #76: And we know that this integration can work across channels When timed right mail activates campaign messages This means when used with broadcast media (in this case TV), mail can deliver both short and long-term Short-term in terms of engagement and emotion Long-term in terms of memory encoding TV therefore has a priming effect on the mail message
• #77: An example of this can be seen with our work with the Salvation Army The Salvation Army used mail as the linchpin of their cold recruitment activity They have successfully grown their cold mailing volume since 2007 and maintained revenue growth
• #78: They’ve been able to do this by getting mail and TV to work together By adding TV what they have been able to do is to increase the volume of their mailings (warm and cold) to increase income This is because TV has primed response to mail – increasing the RR% and enabling a greater volume of mailings
• #79: So bringing this back home – rethinking the rules of mail in the media mix
• #80: The opportunity for marketers is simple We have a great medium Which can now do new and great things By embracing the digital world we can Realise the value of time and place Harness the value of integration And create great creative
• #84: TGI Consumer research panel which provides insight by advertiser product into life stages, events, demographics, product and service consumption, attitudes and values and media preferences   Touchpoints Consumer focused, multi media planning tool providing a detailed view into consumer behaviour around cross media  usage   MediaTel Info Tool for media agencies: Aggregator of media data including marketplace trends, consumer behaviours, revenue and forecasts   Nielsen and Ebiquity Advertising spend, volumes, creatives by product and client across media. (digital info weak)   Data and Insight regarding advertising communications which helps advertisers & agencies understand who is advertising, where they’re advertising, what they’re saying and how much they’re spending   Mintel Data, Market Research and intelligence on the consumer landscape by market sector-  to help advertisers & agencies understand market size, consumer behaviours and opinions, future growth and innovation