Brands Test Postagram's Social-Direct Mail Blend

Hyatt hotels and Coppertone are two well-known brands testing a Facebook-enhanced platform called Postagram that prints personalized postcards. Through mid-August, the hotelier encouraged guests to personalize up to two complimentary postcards via a Facebook app that's available on Postagram and Hyatt House social pages. In five steps, lodgers could add a photo and a 180-character message to the postcard before entering the name and address of a friend and putting postal service delivery in motion. The Hyatt brand promoted the test of the blend of digital and old school direct mail via social media channels and printed materials in the rooms of the Chicago-based chain. Meanwhile, Coppertone also employed the Postagram platform, including a mobile app available on iPhones, to push branded postcards. Adweek quotes Matt Brezina, CEO of Sincerely, which owns the 2-year-old Postagram: "Most direct mail is boring stuff," declares Brezina. "What we are doing is different because it's personalized. What's more, it's personalized by someone the recipient actually knows. It's not just from some company." Brezina's San Francisco-based Sincerely operation markets a handful of gifting-oriented mobile/web applications and claims 2.7 million mobile users for apps like Popbooth, Ink, Sesame and Ship API. For the Adweek story, go to http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/hyatt-hotels-combines-facebook-snail-mail-150791

Mobile Text Donors Want to Give Even More

Most donors who give via text message would like to make larger gifts using their mobile phones, according to a new mobile donor survey reported in The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Of the more than 20,000 text-message donors in a survey sponsored by the mGive Foundation, charitable arm of a mobile fundraising firm, 85% said they would be willing to give $25 to $50 via text. Mobile contributions are currently limited to $10 each. The generosity of the mobile-giving crowd can be tapped to a greater extent by other methods as well, the survey shows. For example, the survey found that people who make donations via text message also give using other methods at the same time, with online giving top-ranked as the preferred donation method, followed by special events and then text messages. Roughly 85% said that making a small gift via text message would not make them less likely to make a larger donation through another method, such as online or direct mail. For more details from the survey, see the article at http://philanthropy.com/article/Donors-Who-Give-by-Text-Want/140521/

Catalogs, Direct Mail Attract More E-commerce Fans

E-commerce companies are embracing the marketing power of print catalogs and traditional direct mail in growing numbers these days, according to a recent post on The Huffington Post's business blog. The article by marketing agency execs reports that small, mid-size and premium digital brands are turning to high-impact direct-mail pieces--from full-size catalogs to postcards--as effective acquisition and retention tools. For example, a print catalog can deliver a potent one-two punch strategy via a high-response mail contact followed by cost-effective online order fulfillment, the post argues, which is why the brand roster of direct-mail converts now includes e-commerce heavy hitters like Amazon, eBay, Shutterfly, Zappos, Art.com, JustFab, Snapfish, One King's Lane, Modcloth and Minted. Building incremental sales with direct mail can be challenging in a multi-channel marketing and sales environment, forcing better analytics and systems for database targeting, response tracking and ROI allocation. But, for those e-commerce fans who aren't convinced it's worth the effort, the post shares the attractive math of a typical catalog test campaign in terms of ROI and costs. Check it out at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/why-ecommerce-companies-a_b_3983952.html

B2B and B2C Merchants Still Count on Print Catalogs

Print catalogs are still an important marketing tool in the direct-to-customer sector, according to results from Multichannel Merchant's Outlook 2013 survey. In fact, more than half of respondents said their companies market products directly to consumers and businesses through a print catalog. Even more interesting, nearly half of those merchants said they planned to increase print catalog circulation in 2013. Besides relying on catalogs to drive sales, business-to-business and business-to-consumer merchants also reported using catalogs as a prospecting tool and a web traffic driver. For a copy of the survey report, go to http://multichannelmerchant.com/mcm-outlook/mcm-outlook-2013-catalogs-still-have-staying-power-01072013/#_

Pinterest Pins Outlive Twitter, Facebook Posts

A pin on Pinterest has a useful marketing life that’s thousands of times longer than that of a tweet or Facebook post, according to a new study by Piqora. The marketing response tail of a pin can last beyond 30 days, while Facebook posts can become obsolete in hours and the value of a Twitter tweet may expire in minutes. That's good news for a brand like Sephora, which says its Pinterest followers spend 15 times more than its Facebook fans. More marketers are figuring out how to put Pinterest to work for them as well. Piqora also found that Pinterest virality, the rate of "repinning," increased 42% from the fourth quarter of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013, which Piquora sees as an indicator that marketers are getting smarter in their pin usage. See the article at http://venturebeat.com/2013/06/17/why-the-half-life-of-a-pinterest-pin-is-thousands-of-times-longer-than-a-tweet-or-facebook-post/

New Mobile Captcha Ad Network Delivers for Unilever

An 87% lift in purchase intent was Unilever's result from testing a newly expanded "type-in" mobile ad network for its Wish-Bone Italian salad dressing, reported the company, citing a total of 757 consumers surveyed by comScore. Wish-Bone's marketing team was the first to test Solve Media's expanded "type-in" mobile ad network that not only includes mobile Web publishers but also mobile apps. The type-in system works like a traditional captcha but replaces the randomly generated letters and numbers typically seen on digital devices with paid brand advertising. Wish-Bone ran full-screen interstitial ads involving a simple captcha call-to-action, such as "please enter: Sassy." After the mobile consumers typed in the message, they could see the publisher's content, and Unilever was charged a fee. The promos were placed with mostly female-focused news/content providers, including AOL properties, Bauer titles, Meredith sites, Internet Brands' online publications,Vertical Scope networks, and music service Songza. With Songza, Unilever offered 24 hours of ad-free music for engaging with the ad. For more detail, see the Adweek story: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/unilever-mobile-effort-garners-87-purchase-intent-lift-150514

Remarketing Expands Impact of YouTube Video Ads

If you run a video ad campaign on YouTube, don't miss the opportunity to create a remarketing campaign! It can generate added exposure and engagement with your target audience. YouTube’s TrueView advertising program offers video remarketing tools, also known as remessaging or retargeting, that enable advertisers to build a prospect list and bring viewers back to a video marketing message. With remarketing, the advertiser has the opportunity to show text or display ads to promote a video based on the audience member's past interactions with the video. For a presentation on how to leverage your YouTube ad reach, see the Target Marketing magazine blog post by Gary Hennerberg at http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/blog/video-advertising-remarketing-direct-marketers