The Dynamic Duo: Combining Direct Mail and Digital for Increased ROI (nahan.com)

Sears perfected the direct-to-consumer (DTC) model, long before DTC was widely known. Macy’s continued it with its legendary Christmas catalogs, as did many others, but the Sears catalog was the Gold Standard. While the catalog fell out of favor over the past 15 years or so, it is making a comeback. According to eMarketer, DTC revenues grew about 24% in 2020, and the marketing push by brands is driving much of that. DTC is the promotion and sale of products to consumers directly by the brands or manufacturers, effectively eliminating the in-store experience. While brands often do have physical retail stores, they are increasingly marketing their products directly to consumers. One of the ways they are doing that in 2021 is through catalogs mailed directly to homes. “We are seeing a huge resurgence in direct mail,” Polly Wong, president of Belardi Wong, a direct mail company for top brands such as Parachute, Levi’s, Untuckit, Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and more. much more at source: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/brands-turn-the-page-back-to-catalogs-as-powerful-dtc-marketing-tool

HH Global has acquired Genii, an Australian owned marketing services provider. Genii was established in 2010 as a full service marketing execution business specialising in the provision of innovative, cost effective and strategic services to the retail sector. The company was founded by Marcus Smith and Layton Parslow and headquartered in Sydney. The acquisition will deliver significant value to the clients of both HH Global and Genii, through the strength of their combined proposition and scale. Existing Genii clients will benefit from HH Global’s worldwide reach, market-leading IP/Technology and significant support infrastructure, while HH Global are able to further enhance their offer to the retail and FMCG sectors and accelerate growth within their Australian business.

According to the Joint Industry Committee for Mail (JICMail), during Q2 the average piece of direct mail was interacted with 4.58 times, an 11% increase year-on-year and a record high since JICMail began tracking mail activity in Q2 2017. Door drops also garnered record levels of consumer engagement, with the average item interacted with 3.19 times, which represents 15% growth year-on-year. Business mail, essentially addressed mail that contains some form of bill or statement, also reported higher interaction figures, up 7% to 4.87 times. The various channels all recorded significant increases in the amount of time they live in the home with all three effectively extending their life-span by a day year-on-year: DM 8.5 days; door drops 6.9 days and business mail 9.6 days.