People are always talking about their favourite TV ads, but how often do you hear them saying they saw a really good leaflet? Yet the evidence from the tank!/Direct Marketing Association People’s Choice Awards for the best direct mail and door drop campaigns of 2005/6 is that consumers are equally won over by advertising that comes through the letter box. The direct marketing industry is one of the UK’s top ten, worth £13.6 billion a year. It is engaged in an ongoing exercise to raise standards and listen to consumers. The People’s Choice Awards, now in its fifth year, celebrates the slickest, best-designed and best-targeted mail-shots and uses consumers’ opinions to fine-tune direct marketing methods. The awards were voted for by 10,000 members of the public, rather than a panel of experts, who monitored and evaluated the direct mail they received over a year. In 2005/6 they assessed a quarter of a million pieces of direct mail in a vast and unique exercise in finding out what consumers really think. The Grand Prix Award for overall excellence in direct mail went to savings and investments group Zurich for a guaranteed investment campaign. Consumers were impressed by a highly creative design, the clarity of the message and it was also easy to respond to. “Understanding consumer attitudes towards direct marketing is key to improving perceptions of our industry. The Awards celebrate the industry’s best work as judged by consumers, in two core areas of dm, highlighting how to use the media successfully and providing a footprint for the development of excellence within direct marketing” said James Kelly, managing director of the Direct Marketing Association. Sean Larrangton-White, founder of the People’s Choice Awards and of tank!, a consortium of senior marketing decision makers, said: “In the 21st century we have to be aware that the only direct mail that is likely to work is the material which can cut through the competitive clutter, make its point clearly and quickly, and provide strong emotional reasons to buy.” The 20 different categories, including a separate award for e-marketing, are:
To book your place at the Gala Dinner on
Thursday, 12 October at the Russell Hotel, London email tankgroup@aol.com.
Places £110 plus VAT, discounts for group bookings. Come along
for a superb evening. tank! Benchmarking - Benchmarking direct marketing effectiveness across all the major channels for financial service clients will be launched in 2007. This service will incorporate effectiveness studies taken from other industry sectors, from the UK and abroad for the benefit of the members. This service is free of charge for existing tank! benchmarkers. The National Email Marketing benchmark carried out for the DMA is in its second year and covers 75% of all UK email marketing. Reports are available from the DMA. Data Action Group - The National Data Quality Best Practice Programme has been launched. The National CRM Best Practice Programme and the National Opt In/Out Best Practice Programme will be launched in October 2006. The Online Marketing Action Group - a full programme is planned for late 2006/2007. As outlined above we have completed, for the DMA, the National Email Marketing Benchmark Surveys. BtoB Excel – tank! for BtoB marketers continues to attract client support and will launch a Data Quality Survey in Autumn 2006. tank! Agency Creative Healthcheck
– here we provide creative split tests to beat controls. The
team has conducted 12 split tests – all have been won, except
two that were drawn or inconclusive, (and here the creative produced
by the team was altered). The latest test was for a financial services
member and it nearly doubled response rate. |
