Dino Myers-Lamptey Totally Mailed It

In my late teens and university, mail was the medium of choice for various promotional things, from organising club nights to working with friends who had computer distribution businesses and mobile phone businesses. For them, sending out mail and leaflets around the country was a key core component of what they did. So, the idea of having to think carefully about what the message is, what the format is, the style etc. was instilled in me early on. And then I started my career in media as a print buyer, so I had a lot of experience of what it was all about for our brands.
 

“Mail was a key component in driving action.”

I’ve been involved in lots of campaigns where mail was a key component in driving action, particularly for a lot of charities, it's always been a big feature. An effective way of driving donations, reminding people that charity is still relevant. It also offers quick feedback and shows what's working and what isn't, where to stop distributing, where to start distributing etc. My experience of working in charities over the years is probably the clearest case of where it's worked best.

You're always interested in your mail because it’s a moment of receiving something. And it's easy to stand out because you're not competing in a cluttered space. I think that mail coming through the door is unique moment. You're not really sharing your attention with other forms of media - and probably the one time that people put their phone away.
 

“Mail makes them feel really special, like the brand's made some effort.”

Ultimately mail is a personal format. The experience is one-to-one, and personalisation generally brings better results. There's a trade-off where people want brands to be informed so they deliver relevant things. If you get more relevant stuff, you pay more attention to it. You regard it more highly. You consider it to be more worthwhile and you're more likely to respond. Every media platform has got to battle with ensuring that people trust what they see and when someone's made a bit of effort to print something, you feel that. Unlike a digital advert, which can be pushed out in moments, it's a big commitment to do something more physical. I think mail makes them feel really special, like the brand's made some effort.   

The holy grail for a brand is to be an everyday visible item in the home. Be on that fridge, stick around the home, be something that constantly reminds them the brand exists. If it's nicely designed and it's got some useful information on, then it will. 

If you haven't tried it, then you need to, because a lot of people are using it to great effect and there's a reason why it's working. My advice would be start with a focused test, pick an area and see how it goes. There's no harm in that. What it also does is it allows you to really think about your message both in terms of being attention-grabbing, but also in terms of giving a bit more information and detail about what you're offering. And if your competitors keep using it, because it's successful, then that's the best kind of case study to show.

Sustainability is always a big topic because everyone should be playing a big role in it, and we are all in the in the good habit of recycling paper and card. I think that you can expect that to continue, but you should also expect improvements generally in terms of using recycled materials, the quality of them, and improved production processes. So, it’s important for companies to track what they're doing and to look at the partners they work with to make sure they're working with the people that genuinely care. 

When everything advertisers and marketers go for is new and shiny, it is often the tried and tested traditional stable things that stand out the most.