Insert Marketers Say They're Poised for Growth

The current climate of declining postal response rates combined with a soft economy is making package inserts, catalog blow-ins and other such vehicles much more attractive than in the past.

Inserts have grown from being an afterthought into “a channel recognized for its own budget,” said Robin Neal, vice president of sales at PlusMedia.

Neal, a nine-year insert business veteran, was among the many marketers lavishly praising what often has been seen as an underdog medium at the Direct Marketing Association's first Insert Day in September.

“[Additional] money is being allocated to insert media to find more cost-effective ways to do business,” said Jeff Holland, president of alternate response media marketer Vertical Media Group. “Insert media has grown to the point where it can offer more than $1 billion annually in revenue.”

Insert media includes package inserts, bill stuffers, ride-alongs, blow-ins and other less visible media.

One particular growth area is catalog blow-ins.

Sandra Roscoe, senior vice president/partner for Singer Direct, said she's seen “huge growth” of blow-ins inside catalogs this year.

“Catalogers are screaming, ‘How can we get these in?’” she said. “They're looking for blow-ins to increase their bottom line.”

“We've seen more growth in catalog blow-ins in the last two years than we saw in the previous 10,” added Geoff Batrouney, executive vice president of Estee Marketing Group. “It's good for both the inserter and cataloger because of the incremental revenue for the cataloger and as another source of names for the inserter.”

Batrouney noted that the cost of blow-in cards is maybe half the cost-per-thousand of renting lists for straight mailings. But he cautioned that response rates are much lower.

Leon Henry, president of Leon Henry Inc., argued that the overall insert business is picking up — and not just for catalogers. He noted that new players, pharmaceutical companies among them, are using insert media for the first time and that the types of mailers choosing them as their primary medium should increase.

Henry also noted that “in addition to the standard remnant space users such as insurance companies, magazines and photo finishing continuity clubs, brand advertisers that are looking for an inexpensive way to reach targeted consumers will see the insert medium for what it is: a hotline customer ready to react to the inserts in the package that they just received and opened.”