Target's €4m deal set to bring direct marketing right to your door

Media&MarketingMany years ago prophets of doom predicted the death of direct marketing, wrties Emmet Oliver

Engaging in direct mail or door-to-door selling was regarded as somewhat outmoded, but with consumers increasingly trying to avoid direct advertising, the skills of the direct marketer are back in demand.

Put simply, direct marketing is any sales and promotion technique in which material is delivered individually to potential customers via direct mail, telemarketing, door-to-door selling or other direct means.

It's a function advertising agencies increasingly have to offer their clients and this week it was disclosed that DDFH&B, one of Dublin's largest agencies, have snapped up one of Ireland's oldest direct marketing houses Target Marketing in a deal believed to be worth about €4 million.

The main beneficiaries of this deal are Target's two main shareholders - Gary Brown and Geoff McGrath.

Over the years, Target has worked for brands like Diageo, Permanent TSB, An Post and Ballygowan.

The main shareholder in Target, Gary Brown, will remain involved in the business as part of the deal.

As for direct marketing itself, the industry is likely to grow further.

Fragmentation of traditional media platforms like television should guarantee this.

Also compared to other countries, particularly the United States, Ireland looks like it has a long way to go yet in terms of the amount of direct mail generated per individual consumer.

Cheetah joins race

According to the latest ComReg quarterly report, 48 per cent of Irish homes have a PC or laptop. The computer industry almanac 2004 estimates that there are 2.06 million internet users - 53 per cent of the population - in the Republic. With that level of penetration it was only a matter of time before someone decided to specifically target e-mail users for marketing purposes.

This week CheetahMail, which is used by brands like Barclays, the Discovery Channel, Dixons, Hilton International, HMV and National Geographic comes into the Irish market. The service, unlike spam, is permission based. Consumers sign up to receive e-mails advertising or promoting products. CheetahMail, which is ultimately owned by US company Experian, promises to create e-mail campaigns "specifically designed to appeal to Irish customer profiles".

With marketers already confronted with a dazzling array of marketing choices - TV, radio, press, outdoor and online - it will be interesting to see if there is room for one more format.

Selling Zidane

Next Wednesday's crucial Irish football international between France and Ireland will clearly give RTE's early September audience figures a boost.

The kick-off time of 7.45pm is perfect from a TV ratings point of view and the return of French legend Zinedine Zidane also adds a little lustre to the tie.

The French television networks have already profited from the return of Zidane, it was disclosed this week. His return in the friendly against the Ivory Coast last month (his first appearance for his country since Euro 2004) gave French channel TF1 its highest August ratings, 9.7 million, since 1994.

The channel has now increased by 10 per cent the cost of advertising for Saturday's World Cup qualifying game between France and the Faroe Islands. The channel's premium tarriff (for the first and last ads in each slot) has also been raised to €89,000.

Maybe RTE will consider adopting the same tactics considering Roy Keane is returning to Irish action after missing the Italian friendly.

Johnson goes 'flat'

Johnson Press, the fourth largest regional publisher in Britain, now owns five newspapers in Ireland (Kilkenny People, Longford Leader, Leitrim Observer, Tipperary Star and the Nationalist and Munster Advertisers) following its takeover earlier this year of Score Press, a division of Scottish Radio Holdings.

Yesterday Johnson issued its results for the first six months of the year, although the results shed little light on the operational performance of the five Irish titles.

Overall, the company's revenues were almost static at £264 million (€386 million) . Pretax profits were up 9.3 per cent to £82.2 million, mainly due to tight cost control.

The company described the advertising market as "flat" in tough market conditions and said it was unlikely to improve in the second half.

Johnson believes its Irish acquisitions will be earnings enhancing in the first year.

Johnson is believed to be among those shortlisted to make a bid for the Leinster Leader group. In that context, it is interesting to note that it has £311 million in net debt on its balance sheet, however the company believes it remains in a strong position to make further acquisitions.

Chief executive Tim Bowdler has spoken of his desire to increase the company's presence in Ireland, north and south.

Only a few weeks ago Johnson snapped up Best Asian Ltd, a company that distributes a fortnightly free newspaper to the Asian population in the north-west England.

Meanwhile, back in Ireland watch out for todays ABC circulation figures for Irish daily and Sunday newspapers.

Already speculation is centering around sharp slippages in sales for Ireland on Sunday and the Sunday Tribune, but advertisers will be studying the whole range of results from lunchtime today.

FT's new rival

Over in the UK executives with the Financial Times are increasingly worried about the potential impact of a new paper called City AM.

The paper will be handed out free to workers arriving in London's financial district each morning.

So far, advertisers have remained relatively sceptical of its chances, but the promoters believe City workers would like to read a paper which treats the City area like a mini-community.

One of the more interesting editorial ideas is to treat well-known City figures like show business personalities.

The editor of the paper recently explained: "We will bring a touch of the culture of showbiz and celebrity to covering the people who make London's financial districts tick," he said.

Knowing how secretive and publicity shy leading IFSC folk are, it could be some time before a similar title makes an appearance in Dublin.