News

Expenditure on direct marketing campaigns increased by 9.8% last year, with direct mail accounting for a quarter of all spend, according to statistics released this week by the DMA.

In total, £18bn was spent in 2007 by companies on direct marketing, fuelling the continued growth of the industry, which has enjoyed a 14% growth in employment generation since 2006.

While internet marketing continued its rapid growth and accounted for 17% of total spend in 2007, the magazine sector held onto third position with a total spend of £1.8bn.

Victoria Bytel, head of membership and research at the DMA, said: “It is fantastic to see such a healthy growth in direct marketing expenditure in 2007. Even when the economy begins to slow and the industry starts to get nervous, direct marketing continues to hold its own.

“As a measurable medium, direct marketing enables companies to plan and invest wisely.”

However, she added that, despite the success in 2007, the industry was facing one of its “biggest economic tests for many years”.

The threat of the economic slowdown was compounded by an independent report released last week, which slammed the data handling of both private and public companies.

The selling of the electoral register by local councils came under particular fire from the report, entitled Data Sharing Review Report, an independent review commissioned by the Ministry of Justice.

The report also recommended that the govern-ment removes the provision allowing the sale of the edited electoral register.

Also recommended in the report were a series of tough measures put on private companies regarding the handling of data and the disclosure of where it was being sold.

Direct marketing in 2007

Total spend Up 9.7% to £18bn
Employment Represents 3.4% of total UK employment with just over 1m staff
DM top five Direct mail (25% of spend); internet marketing (17%); magazine advertising (10%); door drops (9%); inserts (7%)