In the era of TikTok advertising, influencer campaigns, and artificial intelligence, traditional marketing media can often be looked down upon. But WARC Creative’s recent report says there’s still a prominent place for print media in marketing strategies.
This episode of Print Matters – A Canon Podcast sees co-host Jacky Hobson speak to WARC Creative’s Head of Content, Amy Rodgers, about the wealth of opportunities direct mail can bring – and why printers should consider keeping direct mail at the front of marketers’ minds.
This instalment focuses on being knowledgeable, one of the Make It Mantras from the Canon Ascent Programme – a business development initiative designed to support Canon’s Pro Print customers now and for the future. Get started on our website: https://www.canon-europe.com/business/services/canon-ascent-programme/
In the era of TikTok advertising, influencer campaigns, and artificial intelligence, traditional marketing media can often be looked down upon. But WARC Creative’s recent report says there’s still a prominent place for print media in marketing strategies.
This episode of Print Matters – A Canon Podcast sees co-host Jacky Hobson speak to WARC Creative’s Head of Content, Amy Rodgers, about the wealth of opportunities direct mail can bring – and why printers should consider keeping direct mail at the front of marketers’ minds.
This instalment focuses on being knowledgeable, one of the Make It Mantras from the Canon Ascent Programme – a business development initiative designed to support Canon’s Pro Print customers now and for the future. Get started on our website: https://www.canon-europe.com/business/services/canon-ascent-programme/
Jacky Hobson:
Hello, I'm Jacky Hobson, and thanks for joining us today for the latest in our Print Matters series of podcasts created as part of Canon's ascent programme. These podcasts feature a selection of guests all with perspective and insight we think will be valuable to our listeners across the print and creative industries. And joining me for this one is Amy Rodgers from WARC. Hi, Amy.
Amy Rodgers:
Hi, Jacky.
Jacky Hobson:
Amy, thanks for finding the time to be with us. So as you know, I'm keen for us to get chatting specifically about direct mail and its effectiveness. But before we get to that, could you give us the scoop on WARC and what it is you do there, please.
Amy Rodgers:
So WARC is a publisher of marketing effectiveness content, we try to give our clients confidence in marketing decisions. So that's through research case studies, best practice and data. And companies like advertisers, agencies, media owners and academics come to us to learn about marketing effectiveness, and to find evidence and inspiration to help them to do their jobs. And my role at WARC is Head of Content for WARC Creative. That's the home of all of our creative effectiveness focused content. So I look after our kind of content research and benchmarking to help our clients maximise the impact of their creative work. Now at WARC, we often partner with other organisations to provide thought leadership or research into a specific subject area. Normally, where that partner has subject matter expertise that we feel is a key topic area for our audience. Now, sometimes this content is commissioned by WARC. Other times it's produced through our advisory function. And that's where we help clients to solve their business problems or conduct research or produce thoughtless sheet leadership that results in kind of actionable insights.
Jacky Hobson:
Cool. Thanks, Amy. All sounds really interesting. And there was actually a particular piece of WARC's research that caught my eye, the 2021 white paper 'driving effectiveness of direct mail', insights around print, generally, and certainly direct mail or real value and interest to our listeners. So can you tell us a little bit about the report.
Amy Rodgers:
So this report came about as part of our advisory function I mentioned just now. So Royal Mail market reach came to us wanting to develop a fresh look at what direct mail can offer in today's world. Now, this was interesting to watch, because we spend a lot of time talking about the most effective channels, or the most effective combination of channels to reach specific audiences, and how long term effectiveness doesn't necessarily come from just focusing on quick win performance channels, which yes, might have an immediate impact and be immediately measurable. But actually, what we've found is that creativity across a number of media channels, including traditional ones, like direct mail, is much more likely to lead to effectiveness in the long term. So the basis for this report is an analysis of case studies from the WARC case study database. All of the case studies on the WARC site have been awarded out or entered into shows that award marketing effectiveness, like the IPAs, like the FES like our own award shows, so we call them successful campaigns. For this report, we look at campaigns where direct mail has been used to drive ROI and sustained growth. And we can compare the effectiveness metrics from those campaigns to the average case study on our site so that we can isolate the impact of mail. This analysis is combined with stats from WARC's global data, with research from other sources, like industry body JICmail and from market reach themselves. And then we also showcase some of the case studies in the data set to give inspiration across different sectors. And I think we'll talk about some of those case studies a bit later. We publish the report at the end of 2021. And it's just really interesting look at how brands can can win by adding direct mail into their campaign mix.
Jacky Hobson:
Okay, thanks. So while we're talking of winning with mail, I noticed that the report opens with some really good news. Something I know PSPs will certainly welcome. That's the according to the latest WARC expenditure report spend on the channel, direct mail that is, it is set to grow. Is that right?
Amy Rodgers:
Well, when we produced this report, it was just as we were coming out of the COVID pandemic. So we were seeing lots of changing consumer behaviours, things like disrupted working patterns. Ecommerce was surging. Lots of direct consumer businesses were thriving, and disruption like that is the perfect time really for a reappraisal of the medium mix. And that was one of the reasons that we felt like it was a good time to address how direct mail can play a role in that mix. So we did this report. But it was also a time when forecasted spend on media was really changeable. When the report was published, there was a 3.6% forecasted increase in direct mail spend. And actually, by the second quarter of this year, there was a 3.8% year on year increase in that spend. So the actual spend versus forecasted. That growth is actually forecast to slow a little in 2023. And I think that's a reflection of life slowly returning to pre pandemic normality, whether normality is a word that we can use now, but having said that, the predicted kind of return to the office isn't happening quickly in a lot of sectors. So I think the opportunity remains there for brands to see returns from direct mail, people continuing to spend a lot more time in their homes. We've got a lot of content on WARC about attention as a metric for marketing effectiveness. And this is because demands on consumer attention in society today are huge. Marketing, as an industry has to continually innovate to capture that attention. Direct Mail itself doesn't immediately appear to meet that kind of innovation brief. But we see in this report that actually the physical nature of mail is quite unique. Mail sticks around in people's homes, consumers interact with it multiple times. So when used with creativity, and I think that creativity point is key, it can have a real impact.
Jacky Hobson:
So while growth is slowing, there's there still is growth, right?
Amy Rodgers:
Yeah, sure.
Jacky Hobson:
And Amy, you mentioned the need for both creativity and innovation, you're not the first to mention that. And as printers, we definitely know it's something we perhaps need to work on, or at least be better at shouting about. Absolutely, I've had the opportunity to read the report in detail. It's really interesting and very detailed. So before we go, we will let listeners know how they can get ahold of and study their own copy. But for now, Amy, perhaps you could give us a flavour of some of the campaigns, the case studies you mentioned that were reviewed and featured, and perhaps the key takeaways.
Amy Rodgers:
So we look at the underlying data behind the case studies that I spoke about. So those case studies were from between 2016 and 2020. There were 135 that used direct mail as the lead media in the campaign, and then a further 83 that use direct mail as part of the media mix. So quite a large base. And we looked at features like the metrics that were measured in those campaigns, their objectives, their creative strategies, on aggregate across that that full sample. And as I said before, these are all award winning, or award entered campaigns so you can describe them as as successful and effective. Then we'll take a closer look at campaigns from brands like Sky Direct Line, IKEA, Ella's Kitchen, to illustrate the findings of those kinds of results on aggregate. Looking at the data, we found that mail can drive clear growth, it can capture attention for longer than digital channels like I was talking about earlier. And it can deliver on both brand and performance. So we found things like cases using direct mail as lead media were more likely than average to drive, notable revenue and ROI. Sales growth was actually the most common objective of campaigns leading with direct mail. But interestingly, the second most common objective was brand building, almost the same number of cases had this as their campaign objective. I think that shows the role of direct mail as a media and both performance and brand building. So yeah, throughout the report, we have findings like this and then we focus down on on specific case studies that kind of illustrate the findings.
Jacky Hobson:
You mentioned some very big and reputable names in there. Brands with plenty of marketing budget, but who would expect to be really savvy with that marketing budget to so they're clearly clued up on what a worthwhile investment direct mail is for them. I think one of my favourite campaigns illustrated was the Sky one the delivery attempt piece, just because as well as being effective, and obviously with a great ROI. It was just so simple.
Amy Rodgers:
Yes, me to Sky do some really awesome direct mail work. And that delivery attempt one that we feature in the report, it really demonstrates another one of the key takeaways that was around how direct mail can be highly personalised and targeted. So it captures that attention for longer than digital channels. Again, it's that attention piece that I talked about earlier. Sky ramped up. It's direct mail spending during COVID managed to reach almost 40% share of doormat which is huge. And we actually spoke to Sky as creative lead in a webinar after this report. was published about their direct mail strategy and it's really interesting. Listen, if anyone is interested, it's on our it's on our website. So internally at Sky, they have a wind back team. They work solely on winning back laps customers. And this campaign used a personalised missed parcel card, like the ones you get from Royal Mail when you miss a delivery, showing what that customer is missing. Now, their subscriptions lapsed. And then it had a simple phone number CTA and they had an ROI of six to one on this campaign. So 33% increase in customers returning to Sky so some really good results.
Jacky Hobson:
Wow, a 40% share of doorstep. That's a pretty significant figure. We know how behaviours changed during the pandemic. This campaign shows just how direct mail stepped up to capture consumers attention while they were stuck in their own homes. Of course, tempting back lapsed customers, particularly in the telco space because some of churn is known to be huge as vital course. But what about new customers were there also compelling examples where direct mail made a significant impact on new sales, sales, growth, sales uplift,?
Amy Rodgers:
There's a great one in there from Jaguar Land Rover that's worth looking at. They really innovated with mail. So they sent personalised mail packs that had a button inside, that button used radio transmission technology that was connected to Land Rover's CRM. So when the customer pressed the button, a test drive request was sent automatically to their local Land Rover dealership with all the details on that customer via that CRM connection. And book them in for a test drive. It had amazing results. 44% of people that received the packs, press the button, and 5% of them actually went on to buy and Evoque. So yeah, I thought that one was really cool, and demonstrates one of our main findings that direct mail delivers a significant impact on the bottom line. But it can also amplify other channels used in the mix to drive things like brand awareness, consideration and engagement.
Jacky Hobson:
The key metric in there's got to be the 5% that went on to buy. But I love that 44% just couldn't resist pushing the button. Great results, and that all important creativity and innovation we mentioned earlier. I bet JL was thrilled.
Amy Rodgers:
Yeah, for sure.
Jacky Hobson:
Amy, thanks for sharing both of those with us. I know there's lots of others, too. And we could probably talk all day about them. But can we jump to the takeaways from the report? What are the key messages about direct mail that someone listening today could take away from the research, both for marketers that are considering maybe adding mail to the marketing mix? But also what about PSPs? What what should they be telling them marketing customers?
Amy Rodgers:
I think firstly, I'd say don't dismiss more traditional channels just because they've existed for a long time. They're established for a reason. Yeah, I know, it's not a viral Tiktok video, but for the right audience channels like direct mail really work. I think secondly, direct mail has a reputation for not really being very measurable. We address this in the final chapter of the report. And we use expertise from JICmail, who are an industry body for direct mail. And we give some step by step guidance for accurate measurement. And we kind of show that it just needs the proper setup. And it's actually really measurable. So I'd recommend having a look at that chapter if you're wondering how you would kind of sell in direct mail at board level. And then finally, I think the report promotes regularly appraising that media mix that you're using currently to reach your customers. The impact of of societal trends on consumer attitudes and behaviours. It's been really evident over the past few years, you know, we've had COVID, an unprecedented period for the world. We've had social movements, we're heading into a recession, all these things mean that what worked last month might not work next month. So marketers need to continually evolve how they're capturing attention. And you know, that might just be via the doormat.
Jacky Hobson:
So as printers, we've got to keep knocking on the door and keeping direct mail at the front of the marketers minds.
Amy Rodgers:
Yeah, for sure.
Jacky Hobson:
Thanks, Amy. This is exactly the kind of evidence we need to arm ourselves with concrete hard facts around just how powerful the offline channels are, how powerful print is, and how effectively it supports online tactics. But we're nearly out of time. Before we go though, where's the best place for anyone who wants to download the research in full? Where should they find it?
Amy Rodgers:
WARC subscribers can download the report from our website. You can also listen to the webinar with Sky that I mentioned earlier there. And it's also available from the resource section of the market reach website.
Jacky Hobson:
Okay, and if listeners want to know more about WARC, they should check out www.warc.com I guess.
Amy Rodgers:
There's plenty of content on there in front of the pay wall, but you can also request a demo and contact our advisory team there too.
Jacky Hobson:
Perfect. Thanks so much for taking the time out today to be with us.
Amy Rodgers:
Thanks so much for having me. It's been great to chat.
Jacky Hobson:
Thanks to Amy and a big thank you to to our listeners. We do hope you found value in what you've heard and that you'll check out the other podcasts in the series. Plus, the Canon ascent programme has a wealth of other content, articles, tools and top tips specifically designed for printers to help support their future business development. If you're interested in finding out more, click the link on the podcast page, search Canon ascent programme or speak to your account manager. See you next time.