Several recent pieces of news give further indication that direct mail may finally be exiting the doldrums it’s been in for the past couple of years. First, the US Postal Service posted monthly financial data for April with the Postal Regulatory Commission last week and the figures indicate that standard mail volume was up 1% during this period. Standard mail volume was up 5.5% in March, 0.2% in February and down for many months prior to that. First class mail volume decreased 3.8% and periodicals volume dropped 9.5% during April. In addition, US consumers reportedly received 16% more direct mail in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the fourth quarter of 2009 for a total of 6.1 billion pieces, according to Mintel Comperemedia. This growth was driven primarily by the insurance and credit card industries. Interestingly, Mintel noted that the make-up of the mailbox has changed over the past two years as credit card and mortgage direct mail volumes declined dramatically while insurance and telecommunications volumes showed resilience. As a result, insurance mailings now account for 43% of all direct mail efforts and telecommunications has replaced mortgage & loans as one of the top three mailers in terms of volume. Finally, J. Crew executives had some interesting things to say about catalogs during an analyst call for its first quarter financial results. In a quarter that saw revenues increase 20%, comparable store sales increase 15% and direct sales increase 20%, the company’s CEO Millard Drexler took time to point to catalogs as an important part of the company’s strategy: “We love that our customers view our catalog now as an editorial magazine,” he said during the call. “We're thrilled when they ask us what color lipstick a model in the catalog is wearing, and it reinforces the way they see us every time they're looking at us for inspiration.” Tracy Gardner, president of J. Crew and the direct divisions, discussed what she said is “an opportunity to grow” page counts. Gardner reported that J. Crew increased page counts by single digit amounts during the first quarter. The growth opportunity is a function of three things, she continued: “We’re seeing our customer file strengthen. We’re acquiring new customers at quite a clip. We’re also seeing an opportunity to mail deeper into our retail-only file, which we’ve done more aggressively as we’ve taken on new customers in the retail channel. And, then thirdly, we’re just seeing new incremental growth in opportunities like shoes, crewcuts, the non-apparel business collection,” she noted. J. Crew executives also mentioned a new marketing campaign it will launch in the fall for its brand Madewell, which will include direct, package stuffers, catalog inserts, print and online advertising, e-mail, a sweepstakes, search and social media.