Direct Marketing Tag

DCI Digital Campaigns Bring Home Two Awards

Last Thursday, May 18th, President and CEO Nick Lanzi had the pleasure of attending our region’s premier direct marketing awards show. Held at Manayunk’s unique Platform Thirty, The Philly DMA’s Benny Awards treated local direct marketers to another delightful evening of comradery and celebration of success. Speaking of celebrating, DCI was the proud recipient of two awards for our digital work over the past year.   Our “Playbook”educational e-Book for ArmadaCare was a winner in the Digital Sales Enablement category. Developed to help ArmadaCare elevate the value of supplemental benefits to HR professionals, the Recruiting & Retention Playbook beat the control in terms of open rate, clickthrough rate and response rate. We attribute its success to the value of the content, including compelling statistics from our client, which was wrapped in a theme that clearly resonated with the needs of HR departments.   In the Digital Social Media category, our “YES Plan” campaign took...

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Maximizing Marketing ROI. It’s not just for recessions.

Given consumer spending at the start of 2023, it may seem like the media are crying wolf when it comes to recession fears. The problem is, although consumer spending and corporate profits seem strong, all of those reports are based on trailing data. It shows us what happened last month or last quarter. The Consumer Confidence Survey®, on the other hand, is meant to reflect prevailing business conditions and likely developments for the months ahead – and confidence is down for the past 2 months.   Regardless of the indicators, ROI-driven marketing is always the safest/best place for your marketing spend. Being an agency that specializes in direct marketing, we have some ideas on this topic.   Recognize which channels drive the most ROI.  For prospecting, the 2022 Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Response Rate Report shows direct mail in the lead. Direct mail’s advantage over digital is that our mailboxes are far less saturated with...

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2023 Direct Marketing: Top Trends and Predictions

With the unexpectedly rapid recovery of 2021 and 2022 in the rear-view mirror, and inflation slowing as we entered 2023, we are left with a big question mark on where the economy is headed. Will inflation plus rising interest rates trigger a recession, or will the Federal Reserve’s policies deliver the “soft landing” everyone desires? In either scenario, businesses are likely to spend more conservatively and look for highly measurable marketing tactics that have the largest impact on the bottom line — i.e., exactly what direct marketers aim to do regardless of economic conditions.   Here are some of the top ways we expect businesses to benefit from direct marketing in 2023:   Increased emphasis on B-to-B marketing: According to the White House, over the last two years, Americans have applied to start 10.5 million new businesses, the strongest two years on record. Layer onto that the fact that B-to-B markets have higher-value purchases...

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What it takes to win a Telly

Filming three versions of a DRTV spot with six actors, multiple extras and props in an outdoor location is akin to herding cats in a hurricane. Fortunately, our partners at Center City Film and Video are pros at managing what looks like controlled chaos. After months of concept and script development, we watched our creative vision come together in one frenzied day of shooting.   The What Matters TV spot was conceived out of a need to appeal to a broad audience during open enrollment for individual health insurance. Together with our client, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, we knew our spot needed a setting that could serve as a common ground for a diverse group of people. We landed on a public park. Specifically, we chose the Philadelphia Navy Yard’s Central Green which had all the ingredients needed for a one-day shoot composed of numerous scenes.   After a rain...

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Direct Choice honored with Best of Show at Philly DMA awards

Last night’s Benny Awards Celebration was extra special on many levels. First of all, it felt so refreshing for everyone — our agency family and the greater Philly direct marketing community — to be together in person. That honestly would have been enough for an amazing night out. To our good fortune, the night became progressively better as we were awarded for our work across three marketing categories:   Interactive – Social Media Winner: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina “What Matters”. As part of a multi-channel campaign for individual health insurance, our social media campaign leveraged the star of our TV spot to garner attention. Each ad promoted affordable plans that can “check all the boxes that matter to you” for as little as $0 a month.     Outdoor Campaign – Other Media Category (Outdoor, Transit, Posters, Point of Purchase): Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina “Healthy Blue +...

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Brand Advertising and Direct Marketing – aka Beauty and the Beast.

by Bill Rogers   Many years before joining Direct Choice, I strolled into a creative presentation with Progressive.com weary from an early flight but emboldened by the solid direct mail concepts my team had prepared. This was before Arnold Worldwide had crafted the beloved Flo character. At the time, Progressive.com was the new kid on the block, smothering the airways with a bold offer: get the best quote on auto insurance even if it’s not ours!  It was a novel approach, not to mention an offer that was built for direct mail. The presentation was going exceptionally well until I presented a mailing which removed the Progressive logo from the envelope in favor of what I called an “urgent, under-the-radar” approach. They didn’t get it.   The argument I heard against the “under the radar” approach was the same one I hear today. Quote the client, “Why would we mail un-branded envelopes when we’re...

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USPS Boosts Savings in 2022 Promotions for Marketers

It’s no secret that the USPS loves commercial mail. While last year’s first-class mail volumes fell to their lowest since 1971, marketing mail was on the rise in 2021.  That must be one of the reasons why the postal service is encouraging marketers to innovate and save with six special promotions throughout the year. Many of these special promotions are offering increased discounts compared to last year.   Some quick facts on these programs and why you may want to take advantage:   4% Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Promotion (now through July 31): Perhaps you’ve always wanted to test an interactive pop-up format or a mailer with special textures, visuals, or sound? With this discount, which has been doubled for 2022, you can help offset the added production and first-class mailing costs. Besides making a big impression in the mail, you may discover the added cost is worth the boost in response/sales regardless of...

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A Quartet of Awards — Music to our ears.

Awards season is back for 2021 and Direct Choice is off to a strong start. Last week, our team attended a virtual presentation of the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards (AKA Bennies) via Zoom. Other than the “Creative Only” category, these awards are judged based on a blend of marketing strategy, creative and response metrics. Direct Choice was recognized with awards in four categories:     Integrated B-to-C Winner: Blue Cross of NC Medicare Advantage Campaign. While face-to-face sales were made impossible by the pandemic of 2020, this campaign managed to drastically increase direct sales and decrease the cost per sale. The campaign included traditional direct mail and DRTV together with new social media strategies for highly targeted marketing.       Broadcast (TV or Radio) Campaign Winner: Blue Cross of NC Medicare Advantage DRTV: As part of the above campaign, we expanded our DRTV efforts with a new spot that leveraged the localized power...

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Learning from the pandemic: 5 direct marketing survival facts

While the term “new normal” has become a cliché, it’s an apt description for the pandemic’s impact on daily life. We are resilient creatures and we’ve quickly adapted to living with COVID-19 in ways that will forever change the way we think and act. Looking ahead, marketers need to recognize that much of the new normal is here to stay. Consider how these 5 facts and trends may affect your marketing plans:   1) The value of E-commerce cannot be overstated. This comes as no surprise but it’s important to note that the lockdown has forced traditional brick-and-mortar retail shoppers to become more comfortable with online shopping. At the height of the lockdown, there was a 66% spike in global daily e-commerce sales. If you sell directly to the consumer via your website, now is a critical moment to ensure that your shopping experience is optimized.   2) Technology’s role in customer relationships is...

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Recalling office life in 1995 as we celebrate our Silver Anniversary!

As your hand searches for the snooze button on your clock radio, you hesitate upon hearing an update from the O.J. Simpson trial. There’s an incriminating bloody glove but the defense insists a dirty cop has planted the evidence. Intrigued by this update, you are compelled to learn more. You decide to buy a newspaper along with the obligatory cup of coffee on your way to the office. Regular or decaf are your only options. No Italian dark roast, organic breakfast blend or mochaccino to be found.   Arriving at the office, you boot up Windows 95, marvel at the colorful new interface and wait for email to load. There’s no social media, no text messages and no app notifications to distract you from getting right to work. That’s a good thing for Nick Lanzi. He needs all of the time in the world to manage the duties of his full-time gig while starting a side-hustle...

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Direct Choice was honored to present this check to Alex Archawski from the Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network (GPVN). GPVN’s mission is making Greater Philadelphia the Best Place For Veterans. #phillyvets #gpvn #communitymatters #givingback ...

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To celebrate the sentiments of peace, love and understanding, this year we are contributing to the Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network, who work to make our city the best place for Veterans. Happy Holidays from Direct Choice Inc!
#Phillyvets #GPVN #HappyHolidays
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A fun time and great food at our annual holiday luncheon and gift exchange held @autographwayne! Many alcohol-related gifts beginning with the letter “I”! Thanks Nick! (We missed you Beth!) #happyholidays #whiteelephant #funholidaytimes ...

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Had a fun and informative time at the @BCAPhilly Hospitality Breakfast last Friday. Speaker @TarynSouthern gave a thought-provoking presentation focused on how AI is changing our world. #ai #aimarketing #bcaphilly ...

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Proud to report that Direct Choice picked up 2 Benny Awards last night in the digital/social media marketing categories - Congrats to All!! #pdma #bennyawards #socialmediamarketing #digitalmarketing ...

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This holiday season, we’re continuing to support @philabundance to help them end hunger in our local communities. Happy Holidays from Direct Choice Inc! #philabundance #happyholidays ...

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Kudos for Direct Choice at the PDMA Benny Awards last night. DCI won the top award in 3 categories PLUS WON BEST IN SHOW! Congrats to ALL #PDMA #bennyawards ...

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Here`s something many of us can relate to in the era of virtual meetings - enjoy a good laugh and Happy Holidays from the DCI team! #virtualbloopers #Happyholidays #happyholidays2021 ...

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