Brands are slowly returning to printed communications as response rates continue to grow.

Print has and always will be one of the best ways to communicate to customers and consumers short of picking up the phone and speaking to each one individually.

The value of having something tangible in your hands has never been lost on me and while we all sway with new and exciting fashions and trends the fact remains that print delivers!

The introduction of email and social media has offered a cheaper alternative which has naturally tempted some brands away from print, but in nearly all cases we have seen a slow but steady return as our inboxes become more and more saturated. At Eclipse we are fortunate enough to work with some of the countries leading brands and whilst we are seeing a return to printed materials the volumes have decreased in favour of more innovation and standout.

Overall 11.8% of companies increased their Direct Marketing budgets in Q1 2015 which is significantly up from 6.1% in Q4 2014. This continuing trend coupled with some impressive response rates from printed materials is giving brands more confidence and opportunity to try different formats and include different methods of personalisation on their printed communications.

With Data also playing a bigger role than ever in Print and Direct Mail we are having some exciting conversations about the campaign as a whole which includes the use of data cleansing and profiling as well as the inclusion of cross media and online response mechanisms, both delivering some surprising results. All of these elements combined appear to be making brands rekindle their relationship with print and direct mail, Its an exciting time to be part of our industry.