Ad Price Inflation Continues To Decelerate, TV Remains Deflationary (mediapost.com)

The opening session for the final day of the Virtual Inkjet Summit focused on direct mail, and what marketing will look like in a post-pandemic future. COVID-19 has reshaped how brands communicate with consumers in profound ways, and inkjet is, in many ways, perfectly positioned to be the technology that helps them reconnect in very personal, meaningful ways. Barb Pellow, manager, Pellow and Partners, sat down with Darrin Wilen, president of Wilen Direct, to discuss how the current climate has re-shaped business, and what that means for direct mail’s future, as well as the role inkjet will play. Pellow noted that one thing to keep in mind is that while some industries, such as travel, or membership mailings to local events or attractions, has dropped off dramatically over the past six months, the news isn’t all bad. In fact, some markets, such as health care, elder care services, personal care products, and educational products, among others, have actually see an increase in mailings.

The ACMA is excited to cosponsor the upcoming webinar, Rethinking Catalogs: New Technology, New Processes, New Economics, to be held on August 10th at 1:00 pm Eastern Time. Lands’ End Creative Director Daniel Hetzer and Inkjet Insight Founding Partner Elizabeth Gooding will discuss how catalog creative and production processes are adapting to new customer attitudes, technical capabilities and economic realities. Takeaways: •How shifting customer attitudes are affecting retail buying patterns •Objective approaches to measuring catalog and direct mail effectiveness •The impact of Covid-19 on cataloging •Trends toward personalization and customization that predate the pandemic and those that can be used effectively and efficiently •Consideration of new strategies for when to print, what to print and how to print. Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6eXQly3hTnmwD8mamsUJhg

The costs of digital advertising are skyrocketing. By some metrics, prices on major platforms such as Meta, Google, and TikTok grew by anywhere from 61–184% year-over-year in 2021. At the same time, returns are plummeting; recent changes in privacy policies, such as those by Apple, have made it more difficult to target ads to consumers, who are increasingly likely to tune out the advertising that they see anyways. All of these trends are making digital advertising increasingly unprofitable and ineffective, forcing companies to rethink their marketing strategy and spending. Increasingly, companies that are rethinking their strategies are turning to an analog method: physical paper catalogs. And it’s not just traditional retailers that are increasing their catalog investments either. Even online disrupters such as Amazon, Bonobos, and Wayfair have entered the catalog game. But does this mean that every retailer should consider a direct mail strategy? If not, when does it work best?