The year 2000 proved a judicious time for me to join Marketing Direct.
The industry is accelerating into new areas bringing huge opportunities (affordable targeted communications, permission-driven marketing, the rise of the empowered consumer) and considerable threats (blanket emails, dubious forms of data collection, easily alienated consumers).
All of these will continue to provide plenty of issues for the magazine to get its teeth into. But it was Royal Mail which consistently dominated the headlines, and 2001 looks set to be an equally roller-coaster year for Her Majesty's carrier.
No doubt its involvement in the Postal Preference Service will continue to rumble along with no clear resolution in sight, but this is a mere hiccup for Royal Mail compared to the issue of postal deregulation.
Postcomm, the newly appointed regulating body, is expected to licence at least one competitor to the Post Office this year,with companies able to formally apply for a licence in March. With the likes of Deutche Post snapping at its heals, Royal Mail has good reason to feel concerned.
Not surprisingly, the direct marketing industry eagerly awaits the chance to chose between different postal operators and deserves the right to do so. Competition will have a positive effect on price and service and that benefits everyone in the industry driving more spend into direct mail in the face of emerging electronic channels.
Moreover, Royal Mail is in a strong position to take the lion's share of the newly liberalised market. It has an established and proven delivery network, the strongest name in the market and plenty of trust is still attached to the Royal Mail brand.
Competition is inevitable. The challenge will be for Royal Mail to become the supplier of choice.
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