Using USPS' new Customized MarketMailTM (CMM), advertisers can communicate their products and services visually by sending literally-outside-the-box-shaped pieces of mail. "The local ice cream parlor may appear all the more inviting to a potential customer who holds a model of the real treat that awaits," says the USPS in a recent press release.
"In the battle for audience attention, Customized MarketMail will allow business mailers to differentiate their products in the mailstream,” said Nick Barranca, Vice President of Product Development for the Postal Service. "Within certain size, weight, and thickness limitations, Customized MarketMail can be virtually any shape and design the mailer desires. CMM will let advertisers put their creativity to work, designing their mail pieces to deliver high impact, demand attention, and generate greater response rates."
Advertisers will not, however, be able to just slap a stamp on their hotdog-shaped letter and drop it in the box. Customized MarketMail must be prepared and mailed in special ways. Business mailers must have or obtain a Standard Mail permit, send a minimum of 200 pieces per mailing, but not necessarily per destinating delivery unit, and dropship or deliver them to the ultimate destination facilities for handling.
Of course, Customized MarketMail also holds a profit potential for the always cash-strapped Postal Service. The postage rates for these distinctive mail pieces will be 57.4 cents for Regular Standard Mail, and 46 cents for Nonprofit Standard Mail.
Sending individual pieces or depositing them in mail or collection boxes will not be permitted. Mail pieces may be up to 12 inches high by 15 inches long be three-fourths of an inch thick and weigh up to 3.3 ounces.
"Customized MarketMail is an exciting new development in an industry that welcomes innovation," said H. Robert Wientzen, President and CEO of the Direct Marketing Association, in the USPS press release. "Business mailers are always interested in new creative applications of mail, so the industry is going to welcome this new technique. There is no doubt that CMM is the shape of things to come."
Mailers’ ability to use Customized MarketMail became a reality earlier this month when the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors approved the proposal for this advertising mail product.
Businesses wishing to utilize mailings to market their products or services should visit the USPS' Grow Your Business Website.
