Held in New Orleans, LA, LMS’s Steve Cohen and John Craig attended the 2012 Newspaper Target Marketing Coalition Conference and made quite an impression. Participating in a vendor contest, they received a 2nd place accolade for their idea. They introduced an email broadcast message that would supplement the total market coverage the newspapers currently have whereby they would be in print, mail stream, and electronic channels– something they referred to as omni-channel marketing. The idea was well received by the audience filling 2 round tables and sparking vibrant discussions on the idea.
1/4/12 News Roundup: Starbucks Rises Prices, Amazon Reveals Holiday Sellers, QR Codes Less Popular with Consumers
Often complain about the steep prices at your local Starbucks? Well, prepare to encounter even higher prices as the world wide coffee chain increases the cost of some of their items by increments of 1% and 10 cents. The increase will be seen in Northeast and Sunbelt regions, and while the above story notes Florida will be excluded, a visit to our local Starbucks in Orlando leaves us thinking otherwise.
If you received a Kindle e-reader or Walter Issacson’s Steve Jobs biography this holiday season, then consider yourself in the majority. Amazon.com announced their leading items for the recent holiday season, and the Kindle tops the list, with customers buying more than one million a week in previous month. As for actual hard copy books, “Amazon said that customers bought enough copies of Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” biography — the season’s best-selling book on Amazon — to create a stack taller than Mt. Everest.”
Marketers gravitate to QR Codes quicker than consumers
While you may be seeing scannable QR (Quick Response) codes everywhere, a recent study reveals that only 5% of Americans with mobile phones are scanning the bar codes. For marketers, QR provides a a quick and easy way to integrate print or commercial advertising with digital landing pages, videos, or calls to action. But consumers are not jumping on board as quickly. Confusion and inconsistency in readers and results are early explanations.
New York Times Email Gaffe
Yesterday some eight million people received an email intended for only 300. The New York Times mistakenly sent an email meant to encourage people not to cancel their subscription to their entire email marketing list. The publication quickly followed up with a correction email and later offered clarification, which attribute human error, not hackers, for the mistake. Let it remind all of us in the marketing world to be that much more careful before sending out campaigns.
Fortune Names Howard Schultz Businessman of the Year
Fortune profiled Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in their most recent issue, selecting him as the top businessman of the year. The resurgence of the coffee powerhouse and Schultz’ invovlement in the political sector made the magazine’s selction an easy one. Find an excerpt below and a link to the full story after.
There aren’t many CEOs who would get such presidential calls, or who would meet a few weeks later at the presidential palace in Paris with Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss eurozone economic issues. (Sarkozy’s wife, Carla Bruni, is a big Starbucks customer.) But it’s been that kind of year for the 58-year-old Schultz — out in the realm of political and social activism, as well as inside the caffeinated corporate suite. His dynamic union of the public and the private has made Schultz a signal American CEO.
Shaped Mail Shaping Methods of Direct Response
Some direct mailers are differntiating themselves by offering shaped mail, or a piece of mail cut out or shaped to resemble something other than a typical rectangular letter or postcard. A recent survey details high customer satisfaction among clients who have used shaped mail. For more details on the survey and shaped mail visit the following link.
Actual Obama USPS Proposal
From the President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Defecit Reduction:
1) restructure Retiree Health Benefit pre-funding in order to accelerate moving these Postal payments to an accruing cost basis and reduce near-year Postal payments;
2) provide USPS with a refund over two years of the $6.9 billion surplus in Postal contributions to the FERS program;
3) reduce USPS operating costs by giving USPS authority, which it has said it will exercise, to reduce mail delivery from six days to five days;
4) allow USPS to offer non-postal products and increase collaboration with State and local governments; and
5) give USPS the ability to better align the costs of postage with the costs of mail delivery while still operating within the current price cap, and permit USPS to seek the modest one-time increase in post¬age rates it proposed a year ago.
Obama Endorses 5 Day Mail Delivery
With the USPS facing an uncertain future and in need of serious change, the Obama administration releasaed their proposed plan which draws on many of the reccomendations brought up earlier this month. Of the reforms, Obama supports eliminating Saturday mailing days as well as allowing the post office to raise postage beyond inflation and to sell non-postal products. Read the full story here.
Results of SubCommittee USPS Hearing
We posted a preview, live-tweeted the hearing, and were glued to our office television as the United States Postal Service was examined by a Senate subcommittee. As a direct marketing agency, mail is our bread and butter, so with the USPS facing a first ever default payment, we couldn’t miss this hearing.
The end result was a simple illustration of the facts.
To help erase the postal service’s deficit, Mr. Donahoe has proposed several painful and controversial steps, among them, eliminating Saturday delivery, closing up to 3,700 postal locations and laying off 120,000 workers — despite union contracts with strict limits on layoffs.
“The Postal Service is on the brink of default,” Mr. Donahoe testified. “The Postal Service requires radical change to its business model if is to remain viable in the future.”
The other take away was that the Obama administration had yet to formalize a plan, but expressed commitment to helping the USPS regain sustainability and profitability. Read the full story here.
Senate SubCommittee to Hold Hearing on USPS Today
With the USPS deficit reaching an all time high, the US Senate will hold a SubCommittee hearing today to find a solution for the agencies continuing losses. Postmaster General Patrick Donahue has proposed several initiatives to reduce the $9.2 billion deficit, including reducing facilities, employees, and even the 6-day mail schedule.
The SubCommittee, headed by Thomas R. Carper – Del. (Dem) will meet at 2. Our office will be watching closely, and you can find results of the hearing here at LMS’ blog.