The Winterberry Group has released a whitepaper on Vertical Market Trends in Direct Mail 2008:
Winterberry Group’s fourth annual white paper on vertical market trends in direct mail is based upon an exhaustive research effort, including interviews and surveys with more than 100 senior executives involved in the direct mail planning, design and execution processes. This panel includes high-volume and mid-market mailers from virtually all vertical markets, as well as marketing service and technology providers whose offerings span the value chain—from agency services to data to production and fulfillment.
The whitepaper identified a few macro trends that will effect the direct mail industry in 2008, they include:
Political and societal pressure will require marketers to adopt environmentally-friendly processes.
Legislative threats inclunding "do-not-mail," data and privacy protection will effect strategic and spending decisions.
Increased material and distribution costs will impact budget decisions and promote process efficiency.
Vertical trends in identified include:
Economic outlook has marketers cautious about their direct mail spending.
The ability for service providers to manage multi-channel delivery of marketing campaigns will provide a competitive advantage.
Catalogers will experiment with new formates and optimizations to minimize the mailing costs.
Marketing automation is gaining attention form mid-market service providers.
