In response to 'Why hate junk mail?'

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.redcmarketing.net/blog/in-re ... %E2%80%9D/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Last night I was looking forward to settling down in front of the TV to watch a rather interesting debate on the subject of direct mail. I was expecting a well balanced argument from respected Panorama reporter Tom Heap looking at the pros and cons of the industry. What I got was anything but balanced. I haven’t seen such a one-sided fight since, well it was Saturday night actually…. broken toe? Come off it David Haye, you can do better than that.



Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised given the title “Why hate junk mail?” but Mr Heap’s argument was not only unbalanced but incredibly naive, not to mention inaccurate. I also found it incredibly distasteful and dis-respectful to the direct mail industry to tackle the subject of ‘Scam mail’ in the same programme.



OK, so Tom might have a dislike for direct mail. That’s fine, but what Tom failed to register was that he is not in the majority. According to Mail Media Centre, 17.7 million people bought something after receiving a mail order catalogue in the past 12 months, so clearly not everyone shares Tom’s rather blinkered view.

Less in landfill, more in recycling

Tom spent the first part of the programme covering the issue of environmental waste and the cost of this to the UK tax payer. Despite speaking with Chris Combemale, executive director of the DMA, Tom or the editors of the programme failed to document that the direct marketing industry has made great strides in recent years with regards to the impact direct mail has on the environment, so let me put the record straight. In 2003, Defra set the industry the target of ensuring that 70% of all used advertising mail is recycled by 2013. This target was smashed four years early in 2009, with 76% of advertising mail being recycled. Tom also failed to mention that since 2003, the volume of advertising mail now being sent to landfill every year has fallen by 80%. Oh and Tom, another failing was not to highlight that advertising mail represents just 0.4% of the average household’s un-recycled waste.

Welcome or unwelcome?

Throughout this 30 minute attack on my industry Tom kept referring to this form of communication as being “unwanted” or as “junk” but what Tom failed to really appreciate was that people can choose to receive this material or choose not to. Research conducted by Royal Mail shows that the majority of people still prefer to be contacted by mail by the businesses they’re customers of, than by any other method of communication: for example, 46% of BT customers prefer to be contact by mail, compared to 22% by email; 50% of Churchill’s customer prefer to be contacted by mail, compared to 20% who prefer to be contacted by email.

There’s also plenty of research to show that the majority of consumers welcome receiving advertising mail that provides them with exclusive offers on products they like. For example, research by BMRB reveals that 75% of consumers like receiving special offers and vouchers through the post. The same research also reveals that consumers like mail alerting them to new products and services they might want to try, etc…

In this one sided assault on the industry Panorama also failed to recognise those people in the UK who don’t necessarily have access to online shopping. For them, advertising mail is a source of information on products and services they wouldn’t otherwise know about.

The freedom to opt in or out

However, the most remarkable element of this investigation was Tom managed to completely ignore the fact that the direct mail industry does give people the choice of opting out of receiving direct mail, if they so wish. The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is a free service set up 20 years ago and funded by the direct mail industry to enable consumers to have their names and home addresses in the UK removed from lists used by the industry. It is actively supported by the Royal Mail and all directly involved trade associations, and fully supported by The Information Commissioners Office.

Advertising isn’t scamming



Although I’m in no way disagreeing with Tom’s report when it comes to the “scam mail” industry as this is clearly something that is wrong and has caused hundreds of people a great deal of stress and money over the years, I do have to repeat it was incredibly misleading to report on this subject in such a way that some consumers might have even mistaken “scam mail” and “advertising mail” as the same thing.

So in summary, “Why hate junk mail?” was biased, misleading, inaccurate and most importantly poorly researched. I’m not saying the direct mail industry is perfect which industry is?! But I do know it works extremely hard to self regulate itself in order to improve its working practices. Perhaps, rather ironically, if the journalism profession was to do the same we might not have to see such a poor standard of reporting as we did last night.

[demon]

junk mail is great

[DGP1]

What is junk mail??

D2D leaflets or advertisement mail or scam mail - people dislike certain parts but welcome other parts

[POSTMAN]

One mans (or womans) junk is another mans (or womans)...

[DB1100]

He is a journalist,they are on a par with most politicians and are to be taken with a pinch of salt.

[Dorset Plodder]

Thought that was a brilliant idea with the "Log Maker" I'm planning on getting a woodburner so like the guy said, "I'll be ordering every catalogue I can get" That'll piss my postie off!

Perhaps RM should sell discounted Woodburners, then they can tell everyone to order more junk mail and we'll get paid to deliver it, thus saving jobs. Plus it'll save money for the Council, on landfill/recycling, so that should reduce the Council Tax. That'll keep the everyone happy (apart from those who get it paid for them).

[DGP1]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/COUNTRY-KILN-BU ... 391&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Might actually look at these myself, maybe need a bit of work to fit it but cheaper than oil and gas atm (heated all winter for free and keeping myself in a job ).