Insurance Related Issues

'Media is vital to direct marketing mix'

Media Week 18th-25th March - Andrew McCormick

The decline of traditional direct marketing is posing media agencies and their clients a number if critical questions about how they should best secure the highest number of responses to campaigns. Should direct operations be merged with digital? The question of whether agencies decide that direct demands a distinct unit or whether it should be merged into their other media operations can be rendered obsolete, depending on clients' approaches, according to David Kyffin, managing director of direct and digital at WPP's trading arm GroupM. Big Direct spenders in WPP's fold include MediaCom clients RBS and Sky, who take different approaches to direct marketing. RBS sees it as inextricably linked to its activity across all media and has consolidated spend within Mediacom as a result.
Making direct response a theme throughout media plans is essential, however, as the days of people picking up a leaflet and calling a number to request a loan or credit card appear numbered. Spencer Stratford, media director at Mike Colling & Company, says: "Mass cold direct mail is increasingly under threat. Markets such as car insurance are dying a death as a result, as buying addresses in bulk doesn't make economic sense."
The internet is largely responsible for the change. While purchases have often been made on the price promised by clients through direct marketing promotions, the rise of price comparison sites means potential customers often consider the best value offers, with the company that owns the best brand winning out.
Mike Colling & Company has a pedigree in direct marketing, but has had to change to offer clients a range of media options, exemplified by its work in reversing declining subscriptions for Which? The agency redirected Which?'s media spend from 95% direct marketing to 95% on a mix of TV, radio and press inserts. All of the ads contain a call to action, but are more creative and brand-enhancing than mail on the doorstep.
Direct marketing has moved a long way from being seen as a provider of junk mail and media agencies have had to bring in knowledge and skills from all other disciplines to cater for the differing approaches of clients in this new environment.