Business Marketing Newswire

Archive for September, 2009

UPS Logo

NEW YORK, NY – The direct mail industry is about to get more competitive – especially for business who use mailing lists for traditional direct mail advertising. United Parcel Service (UPS) is testing a new direct mail service called Direct to Door.

The pilot program is to be conducted in five markets – Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. UPS drivers will be delivering boxes containing about 12 premium offers and samples to targeted consumers. Some of the brands participating in the test are Zappos.com, FTD.com, Bed Bath & Beyond and Sephora. Over a dozen brands are said to be participating in the pilot program, according to a recent AdWeek article.

The AdWeek article also emphasizes that UPS feels that its drivers are its secret weapon. Being the world’s largest package delivery company puts its drivers on the doorsteps of more households than any other package delivery service. UPS director of new product development, Lisa Lynn, says that customers trust the drivers and see them all the time. She also states, “We can leverage the familiarity and trust people place in us to help our customers grow their businesses.”

Lynn also added, “There will always be packages that need to be delivered. It’s unique because it’s brought to you by the drivers. That personalized delivery is going to break through the clutter of those other channels.”

If the test is successful, then UPS plans to expand the program and support it with a full-scale marketing campaign. UPS is currently conducting an ad agency search where it is looking for traditional and digital advertising, media planning, media buying and customer relationship management efforts. Estimates on annual media spending by UPS on its brand is $200 million worldwide and more than $100 million in the U.S.

The UPS Direct to Door program will undoubtedly create more competition for companies who buy mailing lists for traditional direct mail and only the future will say exactly how competitive it will be.

HAVANA, Cuba – Today, officials sat down for the first time together to discuss restoring direct mail service between U.S. and Cuba. This is a small but positive move toward improved relations that comes after a bitter week of accusations over the extension of the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba.

The U.S. delegation is headed by Bisa Williams, who is the current deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. The negotiations are being held at the Cuban capital of Havana. Representatives of the U.S. Postal Service were also present.

Since there is no U.S. embassy in Cuba, Washington maintains a U.S. Interests Section in Havana, a spokeswoman for which is Gloria Berbena. Berbena told The Associated Press that this is the first time State Department officials have traveled to Cuba for talks since late 2002.

The talks seem to be pretty hush hush. The Cuban government has no comment on the talks, not even to confirm they are happening … nor will either side disclose exactly where in Havana the talks are being held.

In August 1963, direct mail service between the U.S. and Cuba was suspended. Washington imposed its embargo a year later. Because of the ban on direct mail, a letter currently mailed between the two nations can only arrive by first going through a third country like Mexico or Canada … with a little bit of luck … maybe. Still, it can sometimes take months for letters to arrive.

The U.S. first attempted to restore direct service in 1999, then tried again in 2000, 2002 and 2008. Cuba finally accepted in May, of this year and agreed to host the talks when representatives from U.S. and Cuba met in New York in July when the bilateral talks on migration were held.

According to the Associated Press, Berbena stated that the talks would be limited only to direct mail service and that the talks were expected to take all day.  Berbena said that the Obama administration sees the talks “as a potential avenue to improve communication between our countries’ peoples.” The outlook does appear to be optimistic for families who are separated by this political divide and for users of mailing lists in general.

WASHINGTON – Talks between the U.S. and Cuba are in the works to resume direct-mail service between the two countries for the first time in nearly half a century. On Sep 1st, 2009, diplomats made the announcement that talks are set to begin on Sept 17, 2009 as part of the Obama administration’s efforts to continue to try to engage the communist country.

Direct mail to Cuba stopped in 1963, and since then mail has had to go through other countries. Diplomats have now arranged to meet in Havana to discuss the renewal of direct mail between the countries to put an end to rerouting direct mail through Canada or Mexico. President Obama would like to improve relations between the U.S. and Cuba. He has taken measures to see if the Cuban leadership is interested in participating. One such step taken involves the support of a recent decision by the Organization of American States to reverse its position in 1962 to suspend Cuba from the 34-country group.

This is also big news for suppliers of mailing lists and for businesses that buy mailing lists. Restoring direct mail service between U.S. and Cuba has been an issue that has thwarted previous presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Previous attempts had been stalled by the Cuban government. Experts say that it would not only be a big step for families that have been divided but also would be a politically critical move. The decision to have the direct mail talks comes just after migration talks in New York in July.

In a Sep 1st article from the Miami Herald, Cuba expert Phil Peters from the Lexington Institute,  a Virginia research center, stated that there is a big difference this time and that Cuba was never able to agree to talk about it and now it seems like Cuba has agreed to talk about it. Peters also said that this is important “Within the context of Cuba and all the divided families,”  and that it was also very symbolically important.

The Miami Herald article also mentions Cuban writer Manuel Vázquez Portal who says that a letter that  should take only three days to arrive can take three or four months.  He also emphasizes that this has bigger meaning because if he wants to communicate to his family in Cuba he is not restricted to calling them by phone or sending them an e-mail.

Vázquez Portal also points out that mail doesn’t get there by magic but that it gets there on ships and planes, and that mail arriving on more ships and more planes has a very important commercial and political meaning. He says, “This is the tip of the iceberg.”

John Jay Daly - Family Photo

LONDON – A PR man from Washington, John Jay Daly, who was credited as the inventor of the concept that consumers could opt out of direct mail, has died of heart disease at the age of 80.

The US Congress was considering legislation in 1970 that would have restricted direct mail by requiring companies to get an explicit opt-in for each household.

Daly, who was then the deputy chairman of the US Direct Marketing Association, came up with a plan that would allow companies to continue to send direct mailings to consumers and allow them the choice of opting out of direct mailings by sending a postcard to a central address and have their names removed from mailing lists.

His idea was later used when establishing the national ‘do-not call’ lists and when applying the ‘unsubscribe’ option for email lists.

According to his obituary in the Washington Post, some of his contemporaries were concerned that the policy would kill the direct-mail industry, but they actually discovered that many people really wanted to receive direct mail advertisements. The result was that marketers could focus their campaigns on people who were actually interested in their products and could avoid wasting postage and printing on people who did not want to be on a mailing list.

Daly made a living representing clients before Congress and referred to himself as  a “postalologist” because of his thorough knowledge of postal regulations and postal commissions.

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