Do the majority of European marketers still believe the old canard that direct marketing equals direct mail?
Apparently so, according to a new study by carried out by Forrester Research in collaboration with FEDMA (Federation of European Direct Marketing).
This reveals that few direct marketers across the continent plan to allocate more of their budgets to new media – despite a dramatic increase in consumer usage of channels such as the internet, email and mobile phone texting.
Just days ago, the Bellwether Report, carried out by WARC for Britain's Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, revealed a ten per cent increase in the number of UK marketers intending to harness new media to their campaigns [WAMN 19-Oct-04].
And in the quarter to 30 September, online advertising in Britain returned a growth rate well above that of all other marketing activities monitored by Bellwether, suggesting that internet-related marketing continues to grab share from other media.
All of which has seemingly bypassed the average European direct marketer if the FEDMA-Forrester study is correct. Below-the-line marketers in Europe currently spend just under half their budgets on new media; while in 2005 they intend to increase their budgets in this area by just 3%.
Urges Forrester's vp/research director Jaap Favier: "European direct marketers can't stop now. Internet and email campaigns bring good return on investment.
"Big brands like Nike and L'Oréal have advertised first on the mobile and web channel to understand the impact of the commercial and who watches it before approving mainstream broadcasts – thus raising their returns."
And FEDMA director general Alastair Tempest is of like mind: "Evidence shows that electronic communications are becoming increasingly popular – for example in France – as a means of distance selling, as well as for retaining or finding new customers."
Data sourced from mad.co.uk; additional content by WARC staff
