Thursday, January 8, 2015

Most Direct Mailers Opt for Medium-Sized Pieces

Wondering about direct-mail creative trends for 2015? Don't be surprised if mailers stick with medium-sized creative pieces and still pump out a good share of No. 10 envelope packages. At least that's what you would expect based on a Who's Mailing What! study of mailing patterns through 2013. As recently reported by Direct Marketing IQ, direct mail pieces with medium envelope/package sizes have dominated offers received by Who’s Mailing What! since 2010, averaging 71% of mail offers each year. One-third of these medium-sized pieces used a No. 10 envelope, and Retail Traffic Builders were the top users of medium sizes for the years reviewed. In contrast, larger-sized mailings—ranging from 2.5"x20" to 11"x14"—were used for about 26% of the offers received each year, per WMW. Those larger-sized mailers were most used in the Catalog and Retail Traffic Builders (brochures) categories. Keeping it small (3"x9" or smaller No. 7-3/4 or No. 9 envelopes) appeals to a minority of direct mailers, with just 3% opting for smaller-sized mailing pieces. For more detail, go to http://www.directmarketingiq.com/article/medium-sized-direct-mail-pieces-dominate-whos-mailing-what-offers/1

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Embattled 2015 Ad Spending Still Seen Up by 5%

Welcome to 2015, marketers! Here's a bit of encouragement for those cautiously emerging from squeezed 2014 budgets: There's spending growth ahead, albeit tempered by continued financial pressures. The New York Times reports that senior ad agency executives are saying that, despite continued rough sailing for advertising budgets in 2015, they foresee steady growth in worldwide ad spending of 4.8% to 5% compared with 2014. The forecast came at the 42nd annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, with executives attributing improved spending to factors such as gains in digital ad sales, mobile ad spending, and improving economic conditions in markets like India and the United States. But ad executives certainly didn't paint a rosy scenario for those seeking marketing dollars from embattled corporate budgets. As Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the world's largest agency holding group in revenue, summed up to the NYT, "The biggest challenge we face as an industry is convincing clients to focus on the top line rather than reducing costs," and to get them to realize that ad spending is "an investment, not a cost." For more ad executive comments, read http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/business/media/madison-avenue-sees-rough-times-ahead-tempered-by-growth.html