Marketers Bring Antitrust Suit Against Google (mediapost.com)

The postal price increases in the near term have proven to be a failure. The USPS modeling predicted that revenue would increase and demand wouldn't fall. However, the data tells a different story. In 2023, revenue of “marketing mail” decreased by $920 million and volume decreased by 7.7 billion pieces. The USPS produced and relied on an economic model that proved to be wrong. Mail volume fell for “marketing mail” and the result was a loss in top-line revenue and a bottom-line loss of $1.6 billion. These losses prove that the postage increases were counterproductive and need to be rolled back. The USPS is a classic fixed cost business where incremental volume is highly profitable because the increased volume has little incremental cost. The postage increases for marketing mail clearly resulted in the huge volume declines between 2022 and 2023. The losses from volume declines were not made up by the postage increases.

When we create a new brand, or refresh an existing one, we’re tapping into brand clarity, conveying that key, driving purpose. When we’re creating marketing assets on behalf of a client, the brand has to be in the forefront of our minds. With each touchpoint, each interaction, we know that when we’re reinforcing what you stand for we’re going to connect in a much deeper way. So it’s no wonder that branding, and our clients’ brands, are a huge part of what we think about, talk about and write about. We’ve rounded up this collection of our favorite musings on branding that gives some insight into the thinking, passion and creativity that goes into everything that we do. Enjoy. go to: https://www.jschmid.com/branding-best-practices/

Well, it’s (finally) 2021. As we crawl carefully, still masked, out of the shadows of 2020, there is still much unknown. One trend I’m trying to understand is which way the external agency vs. in-house agency pendulum will swing. Some suggest that the multilayered crisis that was 2020 now has in-house teams shrinking due to the economic implications. The answer to this is to outsource marketing and creative to agencies, and save employee salaries, while giving companies the ability to flex the work – and the budget – up or down as needed. Things being what they are these days, the ability to quickly pivot your dollars and your direction is critical. But, I’d argue that there are compelling reasons and opportunities to work with an outside agency beyond the fiscal remedy. Even companies that continue to maintain an in-house team can benefit greatly from working with an outside agency: to support an overloaded team, deliver a shot of creative adrenaline or stir up habitual thinking with a new perspective. Learn more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/3-hidden-truths-of-hiring-an-outside-agency/