Editorial Articles

David Harris, Executive Creative Director at Wunderman considers developments in direct marketing in 2012

Direct marketing, combined with the understanding of consumers which digital targeting allows, has helped increase relevance and traction with consumers. Creating impact with relevance is still the challenge. Direct marketing is no longer a linear process. It’s a journey with multiple touchpoints and ‘influence points’ and every consumer journey is different. Building relationships and understanding the ways in which consumers engage with brands has become increasingly complex. Using social media alongside off and online communications gives consumers more choice in how they interact and gives marketers a greater understanding of customers. Data can be used to create more relevant personalisation - this is important as more and more consumers are demanding they are marketed to as individuals rather than as a catch-all demographic. Augmented reality apps like Aurasma help create an extra digital dimension by introducing video content which helps to engage, but there is also a renaissance in other techniques which are helping to drive an even greater emotional response.

Most marketing communications rely on our visual and auditory senses but neglect the others. Yet neuroscientists have proved that the power of smell is one of the most powerful ways to influence our cognitive skills. It directs our visual attention and plays a key role in consolidation memories. This is a technique estate agents have been advocating for a while - hence the smell of baking bread or freshly brewed coffee to promote the sale of a house.
Research by Hendrick Schifferstein from Delft University of Technology found that when the scent of orange, seawater or peppermint was pumped into a nightclub the revellers partied harder, danced for longer and rated their night as more enjoyable than when there was no scent.

Innovations like this can inform direct marketing. We can now target people at every contact point in their customer journey and use every sense to engage them. Data means we can engage with customers in the way that suits them best, avoid wastage through ill-advised re-targeting and instead learn which method suits each customer best. Some may appreciate having a catalogue and traditional direct mail sent to them. Others will engage with a brand on social media or experientially. Either way, innovation means we can now target people in the most relevant way with the most relevant method. That makes DM one of the most exciting areas of marketing to be involved in.

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