News Round-up

Accountancy firm BDO Stoy Hayward has appointed integrated marketing communications consultancy Aspen Business Communications to manage a lead-generation programme following a three-way pitch.

The Business Database from Yellow Pages now includes more business locations, increasing records to 1.7 million.

Hooton Schofield and the production services division of The Computing Group have merged to create The Production House, a one-stop direct marketing production unit.

The Direct Marketing Association has achieved a surplus after tax of 130,788 for the year ending 31 March 95, compared with a restated surplus of 97,212 for the previous year. Ninety new members, raising membership of the DMA to over 500 companies, is partly responsible.

JBX Marketing, the West Midlands-based consultancy, has launched a range of promotional telephone cards that operate on the basis of a PIN number. This activates a specific sales message before connecting the caller free of charge.

Record year for direct mail sector

Direct mail volume is on course for a record- breaking year of growth, according to statistics from the Direct Mail Information Service (DMIS).

The latest quarterly figures, covering April to June 1995, show volume rising more than 6.5 per cent, year on year, to 687 million items. This is the highest second-quarter volume figure.

With the first quarter figure up by a similar margin, the total volume for the first half of the year stands at 1.5 billion items, compared with 1.4 billion in the first six months of 1994.

Total volume in 1994 was 2.7 billion items, the highest annual figure since direct mail monitoring began, but that record looks set to be broken by the end of this year.

Analysis of the statistics by the DMIS shows that both the financial services and retail sectors have increased mailing volumes significantly.

In the second quarter of 1995, banks accounted for 8.1 per cent of the total mailing volume, up from six per cent year on year.

Building societies increased their share from 1.3 per cent to 2.2 per cent over the same time. Meanwhile, retailers’ mailing volumes went up from 10.8 per cent to 11.7 per cent of the total.

Companies invest in employee incentives

Motivation schemes are gaining in popularity, according to the results of a survey from Page & Moy Marketing.

Companies which have developed loyalty schemes for their customers, are now looking at new ways of motivating and rewarding staff.

The telephone survey of 245 companies found 60 per cent had used a motivation scheme. Although most users were primarily interested in programmes for sales people, three out of ten had used one for non-sales staff. Twenty-five per cent were concerned about building morale and 20 per cent were aiming for improved loyalty.

However, companies showed low levels of satisfaction with their schemes. Just 28 per cent said that they had “completely” achieved their objectives, while 54 per cent claimed to have “mainly” done so. Those using an outside agency (40 per cent of the total) were more likely to have achieved complete success.