The integration of the JICMAIL dataset with the TGI survey opens up new possibilities for marketers to assess mail interactions using a wider range of demographic variables.

The launch of JICMAIL in January last year by the Joint Industry Committee (JIC) for Mail marked a significant step for what remains a major, if unsung, media channel; direct mail in all its forms is the fourth largest adspend category in the UK behind search, online display and television.

By measuring the readership, reach and frequency of exposure to each item that comes through a household’s letterbox, JICMAIL aims to put mail on a par with other media channels and be considered in a new way at the planning stage of a campaign.

These data are captured, in partnership with Kantar, using a diary that follows each piece of mail for four weeks in a nationally representative sample of 1,000 households per quarter across the UK.

The recent announcement that these data are being linked with Kantar’s TGI data, a detailed and comprehensive lifestyle survey completed by around 26,000 participants in the UK, enables advertisers, agencies and media owners to assess mail exposure and frequency of interaction across the thousands of audience variables in TGI.

Initial findings show that a broad range of target audiences interact with mail, particularly heavy consumers of other media channels, while marketers are also able to create more specific audiences, based on, for example, attitudinal data.

And now JICMAIL has also been integrated into the IPA Touchpoints Channel Planner, for the first time enabling planners to assess the contribution of direct mail and door drops to total campaign reach frequency while using approved industry currency data.

Louise Cook, managing director of Holmes & Cook, has welcomed the role of JICMAIL data in producing econometric modelling results that are more focused on planning outcomes.

“Ultimately, econometric results which all parties acknowledge are representative, will enable seamless optimisation across all media, including mail,” she said.

Sourced from JICMAIL, Mediatel; additional content by WARC staff