1

Roger James

national president, Australian Marketing Institute

Whatever people class as traditional advertising, it’s probably not facing imminent downfall. Building brand equity can still be very effectively accomplished by traditional words and images, though the vehicle by which they are delivered may change.

For example, how many people first saw the Flashbeer ad on their computer screen rather than on TV? This is a significant change, not so much for the medium, but of course because the message is viewed by active personal choice. If the commercial itself can still be classed as traditional advertising, then it’s in little danger.

But the changes in direct marketing that are significant relate not to the way it competes with traditional advertising, but to the way sophisticated information technology has allowed marketers to get much closer to individual customers and to frame an offer based on actual behaviour rather than expressed preferences.

Loyalty schemes which allow us to gain a detailed knowledge of individual shopping behaviour provide the opportunity to closely tailor offers that have a higher likelihood of being accepted - a win/win situation, where the customer receives offers that are of real interest and the marketer gets better results.

Even if you are simply registered with an online seller like amazon.com and make only an occasional purchase, it’s uncanny how often when you log on, they have an offer that is interesting and tempting.

What’s significant about these developments, whether you think they are strictly direct marketing‚ or something else, is that in a way they bring marketing full circle. The first marketing was necessarily a one-to-one encounter between a seller and a potential buyer. Now we are seeing what amounts to one-to-one marketing again, though this time it’s supported by very sophisticated technologies.

2

Amy Smith

CEO, JWT Australia/New Zealand

First of all let’s get clear some definitions in answering this question. If ‘traditional advertising’ means TV and print led creative and media and ‘direct marketing’ includes digital communications channels, then the answer is easy. Yes. Sally Martyn, the boss of our sister agency RMG Connect, certainly thinks it is and I agree with her.

Why? Because whether we like it or not consumers are demanding and getting control of the way in which brands engage with them and their lives.

So traditional advertising, as it’s currently planned and developed, just doesn’t fit into people’s lives the way it did 10 years ago. We have all heard the reasons supporting this, including the changes in household structures, decrease in TV viewing amongst younger age groups, exponential increase in consumer touchpoints etc. etc.

It feels like a forced fit. Where as direct marketing seeks to be a natural fit with what, when, where and how consumers want to engage. Direct gives control to the consumer so that the brand relationship is driven by them and not by the advertiser.

From a marketer’s perspective the point is really that direct marketing is not a ‘marketing tool’ but a totally different marketing approach regardless of media or communications channel. It requires traditional advertising and media planning to be turned on its head.

For example, advertisers think about groups of consumers while direct marketers think about one consumer. Traditional advertising is all about the one night stand while direct marketing is about making the first date special in the hope of a long term relationship. Advertisers measure what people say while direct marketers want to know what people did.

Direct marketing the ‘New cool’? Maybe? Maybe not? The real answer is, could be, if as marketers and advertisers we combine the magic of great advertising ideas with the proven logic of direct marketing. Now that really would be cool!

3

Linda Loose

Principal, Linda Loose Marketing & Communication

Traditional advertising isn’t ‘dying’, nor is direct marketing suddenly ‘cool’. As always, the marketing world loves a good stoush, and can’t help itself from proclaiming disaster or triumph, pitting one camp against another. The truth is always more subtle...

What is happening, I believe, is that the immense precision and trackability of online marketing has helped to re-energise and re-focus attention on the fundamental disciplines of direct marketing – targeting, individualised dialogue, measurement, progressive improvement through testing and the like - making the whole DM world look a bit more contemporary (I hate ‘cool’ - the minute you say it, you know it’s not.) It’s also shining a light on that old one-to-one workhorse - direct mail, and demonstrates how well it still works – alone or in combination with online or other media.

Cluey marketers have always known that direct marketing is hot. Not because it’s contemporary or trendy - but because, applied with care, thought and inspiration, it works. Works in the good old fashioned sense of driving customer acquisition, retention, relationships, brand strength and business results.

Forget what’s ‘dying’ or ‘cool’. What’s important is that an ever-increasing portion of the marketing communications pie is going into activities that touch prospects and customers more intimately and interactively, and with more measurable outcomes. That should be good news in any marketers book.

4

Ian Sawers

Group Account Director, Badjar Melbourne

Direct marketing satisfies our need to know. But what we don’t know is how big it will become and where will it stop.

As technologies evolve, so too have the mechanisms of direct marketing. It doesn’t matter whether you want to test drive a car, buy a mobile phone, take up a pre-approved a credit card limit or collect Harry Potter figurines, direct marketing is there to encourage and enable your audience to do a deal. Now.

Measuring response and conversion rates provides an objective method of assessing the success, or otherwise, of a campaign. Some would suggest that unlike above the line advertising, direct marketing allows us to prove precisely which 99 percent of the budget is wasted. Great success can be found in a 1 percent response.

With change comes new opportunities. By way of example, reality television has created the imperative for us to vote for our favourite singer/ housemate/ castaway to stay in the game, or to sing again. Late night game shows are doing the same thing using ex-housemates as talent. We are collectively donating large sums to the networks and telcos via phone and SMS. Television has become a business to consumer marketer and we are shaping content via donation.

Direct marketing has changed the agency landscape as much as the introduction of FBT in the 80’s. It’s hard to imagine agency life without direct marketing because we wouldn’t have the ‘integrated agency’ or a ‘line’ to go through, around or ignore. The challenge for agencies continues to grow because direct marketing demands creativity at many levels.

Above all it is creativity and ideas that are the old cool, the new cool and the next big thing. Without them we may as well go door to door and just ask for the order. That’s really direct.

5

Peter May

Managing director, G2

Direct Marketing has always been cool because like all things that remain both ‘classic’ and ‘fashionable’ it has evolved with the times.

Quite a lot has changed over the years, from technology, consumer tolerance, privacy issues, domineering grocery channels, to media opportunities.

Reinventing is mandatory to ensure an effective campaign. Clients don’t care how it works, as long as it works.

We all chase the ‘work that works’.

What works, is based on expertise in testing new creative, new response mechanisms, new media, building on current and new relationships with consumers and generating results.

The results for direct come because it is a strategic process that works cohesively with traditional, direct and new media. Traditional advertising understands consumers and direct marketing motivates them.

A recent campaign of GREY’s to market RIM’s Blackberry, used an interesting email marketing strategy. People most likely to be interested were contacted via email. A 45 percent registration translated into a high conversion rate. If you present the right message to the right people, of course they will be receptive.

The results are also easier to measure than traditional advertising campaigns. We can count how many people rang the phone, visited the website, returned the form etc.

Consumers are demanding. They want it NOW and wherever and whenever they feel like it.

We must accommodate their whims and make the brand memorable across all platforms or consumers will miss it. If they want to research online, maximize the opportunity. These are a new breed of consumers – a multi-channel breed who want to see the brand stand up to scrutiny.

Consumers will continue to set future trends and it is up to us to provide them with a rationale that will earn loyalty to brands and we must always be prepared to evolve, but that’s cool!