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If last year's table was all about increase in spend, the big news for spend between January and December 2003 is the number of companies who have decreased their budget on mail. In 2003 the number of companies that spent less in the direct mail channel has leapt to 33 - up from 15 in 2002. Worse still is the overall picture. This year 26 companies - more than a quarter of the table - spent less in all of our channels measured (mail, door drop, insert, press and internet) overall. Of these, 21 reduced their mail spend as well. Of the five that spent more in mail while reducing overall spend, for two of these, the increase in mail spend was less than 150,000.

WORRYING TRENDS

If this wasn't worrying enough, another trend is also emerging - that of the company which reduces its mail spend despite increasing its total direct marketing spend. This year's table has 11 of these companies compared to only three the year before, and some of these figures show startling disparities. Take Direct Line, down in mail spend by £1.5m but up in overall spend from £28m to £42m. AOL also jumps out. Its mail spend is down by 11 per cent while spend in other channels has nearly doubled from £18m to £33m.

The resilience that seemed to characterise 2002 appears to have evaporated. As we discuss later on in this report, the bottom has dropped out of the catalogue market as consumers switch to the internet, and financial services are under strain despite being well represented in the top 100 table. The news is not at all heart-warming.

OVERALL SPEND UP

So why the sense of gloom? On the face of it, 2003 seems to be anything but disappointing. Spend on direct mail by this year's top 100 was up again, teasingly shy of the magic £1bn mark (£969,931,713). This is still astounding given the entire size of the market is no more than 12 times this. While spend was up by only 9.2 per cent among the top 100, this is small only in comparison to 2002 (where it was a whopping 28 per cent), and it is still double the industry average. Furthermore, the minimum requirement needed to enter the table also creeps quietly up. It was £2.8m in 2002, it's nearly £3m now.

Yet 2002, it seems, was an extraordinary year. Back then, 85 of the top 100 increased their spend in mail, with just a dozen spending less. Mail as a proportion of all direct spend rose by five per cent. 2003 is far from repeating this, and maybe after such revelry in the first top 100 report, it was inevitable that it was to be followed by a sharp dose of realism. In 2002 the industry was bucking commentator's predictions of a tough year. This year it seems (for spend between January-December 2003), the predictions were spot on.

WHAT THE FIGURES MEAN

As with all statistics, the devil is in the detail, and 2003's figures are no exception. This year's top 100 is a multifaceted read. Some good, some bad, but the majority, it seems, definitely not great. The number of new entrants was 24, two less than last year. Most of these are in the lower half - something which seems to characterise this table - with lots of jostling around where an increase or decrease of spend by only a few £100,000 will see companies enter or vanish from the table (14 of the bottom 20 were new, all within £800,000 of each other).

But these figures do make troubled reading, and if it wasn't for the breakaway performance of the top 10, the rest of the table would read substantially worse. This year's top 10 have really bolstered some of the rot. They spent more than one third of the total spend for the entire 100 in mail, up from 16 per cent on 2002. Last year the top ten were only up by two per cent, leading us to ask if a ceiling was being reached at the upper end. This is clearly not the case. Their contribution though has skewed what would make the most significant reading - the very real drop in the proportion of total spend spent on the direct mail channel. Including the top ten, the figure already falls from last year's 56 per cent of all spend on mail to 52 per cent in 2003. Taking them out, the figure drops for the first time to below the psychologically important 50 per cent mark.

"I think this year's table shows clients are definitely looking at other routes to market," argues Jonathan Clark, co-founder Clark McKay & Walpole. "My guess is that the rise in mail spend by the big 10 is actually an admittance that the channel isn't working for them and they're having to scatter-gun more. As an agency, we used to be putting a minimum of 40 per cent of client spend into mail; now it's more like 30-35."

Fifty-seventh placed Marbles is a prime example of one company's diminishing reliance on mail. Its total spend is about the same as 2002, but mail has dropped by more than £0.5m. Direct marketing services director Jane Perrins says her dependence on mail has fallen. "In 2002 70 per cent of our spend was in mail. In 2003 it was more like 40 per cent. We've realised that we need to test new channels. But while our core has always been to test, recover results and then mail, this is having to be compacted because the market is changing. DRTV is a better way of extending our channel offering to give us more flexibility. We tried it for the first time last year."

CROWDED DOORMAT

For Perrins, the doormat is too crowded. "We monitor the mail volumes of other companies," she says. "Take January this year - 91 million items of mail were sent out. It used to be a leap of faith trying other channels, now it's almost a leap of faith to use mail."

But the financial services market is itself a sector of varying fortunes. Spend by this group represents a whopping 80 per cent of the entire spend by the top 100, which is actually up from 71 per cent last year. But, again, just looking at the top ten means we are not getting the entire story. Of the 33 companies that reduced their direct mail spend, 18 come from the financial services sector.

This, of course, is the dilemma of tables like these; for every trend there is a reverse one, and it would be unkind not to look at companies for whom mail has been a real boon. One of the highest risers (and it's a financial services company) is Virgin Money - in at a modest 90th but up effectively 358 places, increasing its mail spend by 89 per cent from virtually nothing to £3.5 million. "Direct mail is our greatest tool for getting our message across," says its marketing director Trevor Field. "While I'm keen to look at other channels, it's not top of my priorities."

Virgin's appearance in the table isn't because it's a new company, but because it offers a new product, which, says Field, is of a compelling enough nature to excite prospects. "We've entered with a strong credit card proposition and have built 200,000 new customers in our first year. We've also spent a lot of time on our copywriting, winning many plain English campaigns. We fully anticipate direct mail will continue to grow as a channel."

NTL TURNAROUND

Other high movers of note are the digital and telecommunications companies - all up in spend. Telewest Broadband enters for the first time at number 44 , increasing mail spend from £2m to nearly £7m in under a year. Also improving is BSkyB, up 25 places and doubling its mail spend, as well as BT and ntl - all capitalising on the broadband and digital revolution. In fact, ntl is a heart-warming turnaround story. Last year its marketing manager David Meadows was being interviewed about being the largest faller in the table - down from 59 to 86. This year it's the highest in-table riser, up to 23, increasing mail spend from £3-£11 million.

David Coupe, managing director of Experian marketing services, believes this fresh injection is at least some good news. "2003 may well have been tough, but it's significant that there are non pure direct companies here that we would not have seen only a few years ago - especially the likes of Sainsbury's Bank (new at 61) which shows the confidence new players have in this medium.

That channel mix is being tested is still apparent, especially midway down the table, where some of the most interesting figures lie. Tesco slips down 11 places to 42 after reducing its mail spend by £1m and increasing total direct spend by £10m. Three rival direct stalwarts all on top of each other at 33, 34 and 35 also make interesting reading. Esure continues its aggressive market penetration and has found mail the perfect tool, with a higher proportion rise in mail than total spend. Churchill though, while increasing mail by 32 per cent, has increased total spend by 59 per cent. Direct Line has increased total spend by 32 per cent but decreased mail by 16 per cent.

Micro-trends supporting this general trend don't come more prominently than what's going on in the catalogue sector. Apart from BCA and Kaleidoscope, 10 of the catalogue companies reduced their spend - the next biggest group out of the 33 that reduced direct mail expenditure. It supports a recent DMIS report which also showed the catalogue sector was down six per cent. This is a major blow and many commentators cite the inevitable rise of the internet as the method people now use to order clothes or consumables.

GROWTH IN OTHER CHANNELS

Of course this table isn't here to celebrate more spend just for the sake of it, and according to some, reduction in spend is no bad thing, especially if response can be maintained with better targeting. "DM growth every year has a serious risk of alienating recipients," argues Neil Fox, director of planning at TDA. "I'd advise clients to spend less - certainly on mail - and overlay different channels from direct mail to outdoor or regional press where direct marketing can make more impact."

TDA works with Alliance & Leicester and although it is up 40 places at 22, growth in non mail channels has been larger than in mail. Its new integrated campaign for A&L Commercial Bank is an example of the integrated approach - combining mail with 48-sheet, press and branded taxis. Second-placed Lloyds TSB is also diverting more spend to the integrated route according to its agency WWAV Rapp Collins. It has doubled its total DM spend and has increased mail by less. "Its loans division was always mail-only. Now it's decided the integrated route can best show off its offerings at different touch points," said a WWAV Rapp Collins spokesperson.

Charities are no strangers to spending money wisely. This year's table again shows a surprisingly low charity quota, and competition is fierce. But amongst those that do use it, mail is seen as the dominant channel still - but not by spending on it willy-nilly. "Mail has been incredibly successful for us," argues Adrian Burder, marketing director at Dogs Trust, which enters the table for the first time at 87 with a 35 per cent increase in direct mail spend. "Pet owners are heavily chased, and once people are on our mailing list, we obviously want them to stay on. But our mailing programme is dictated by what we want to do; not just raising money for the sake of it." Back in 1998, fundraising from mail was bringing in £4 million. This year he says he hopes to pull in £19 million.

Charity spend is a difficult beast to spot trends in - mainly because spikes tend to appear as campaigns break, and these may not be yearly occurrences. Macmillan Cancer Relief was one charity knocked out of this year's table even though it is spending about the same. However, its direct marketing manager Clara Avery says that anecdotal evidence suggests she is also benefiting from the huge rise in spend by cancer charity Cancer Research UK, now up to 25, as charity is more in people's minds.

PROSPECTS VS EXISTING CUSTOMERS

However, the big question of whether our big 10 will reduce spend for targeting (or indeed existing customers) is now on the agenda according to some. Unlike most tables, our top mailers report gives no automatic prestige for coming first. Many see the top spenders as mere rebels, perpetuating the public's notion that all direct mail is junk. But change has occurred. A look at our prospect versus acquisition data for our top 10 mailers (see page 10) shows Barclays in particular is the odd one out. It sends 20 million mailings to existing customers and 29 million to prospects - an almost equal balance. In last year's table, twice as many prospect mailings as customer ones went out. Saga is also impressive in the quantity it sends to existing customers.

But is the change permanent? According to Thomas Adalbert, managing director at The Preference Service, retention and acquisition always goes in cycles. He works with 85 of the top 100 and says where companies were recently looking to concentrate on mail to existing customers, response is drying up and companies need to recruit again. The difference is that this time they demand names that express a preference to hear from particular companies. "We've seen steady growth in list rental from the financial services market, and as the table reflects, while spend is down in the catalogue sector, they are spending money, but only on definite names that say they actually want GUS or Freemans rather than bland 'women in their 30s' data." He says one company in our top 10 has massively switched from retention mailings to recruitment, and we suspect it is Halifax (see page 10).

CONSISTENT PATTERNS

For most of this report, the top 10 have been out of kilter with the rest of the table, but in this year's figures, we can also show the splits of mailings sent for retention purposes rather than prospecting for the whole of the top 100 (see next page). Not surprising, very few spend more on their existing customers than they do looking for new ones - only five in our top 100 in fact. These are 15th placed Cornhill, 22nd placed Alliance & Leicester, 24th placed Natwest followed by Tesco Personal Finance and Debenhams. The pattern here is obvious, with the financial institutions all used to regularly contacting their customers. Indeed other high spenders on existing customers include British Gas and BT - both of whom make use of statements to mail out additional marketing collateral.

What's also promising is that among those for whom 'loyalty' is a stated company aim, their direct mail expenditure follows suit. Standing out here are the supermarkets - Tesco and Sainsbury's (ranked separately for their stores and financial services offerings but both high retention mailing spenders). Each of these have loyalty cards, and working its existing company database is a clear indication that customer relationship management can work if put at the core of a company's activities.

But are there any unexpected high spenders on retention? The answer here must be a short, sharp no, and an indication that when times are hard, acquisition still rules the roost, with development of customers still playing second fiddle. However, our top 100 do represent those with the money to spend on new lists, and according to Gerry Scott, managing director of list broker HLB, they are exhibiting different behaviour from the rest of the mailing universe.

According to Scott, the bigger picture is that more clients are actually turning to their own lists - something which, while sounding sensible in theory, she thinks may not be to the long term benefit of direct mailing companies.

"The last 18 months has definitely seen a slump in the lists market with far more concentration on house mailings with the targeting of new people being tightened," she says. "In my view this isn't a good trend. Limited testing means that when the upturn returns clients won't have learned everything from the last 18 months and who to model mail out to. The reality is that clients can easily achieve a 20 per cent level of testing without it affecting revenue and most likely response - and they'll have learned new information at the same time."

For reasons like this, deciding whether a high retaining or prospecting ratio is good or bad is difficult. Individual companies do stand out though. Charities have a far harder time weighing up the balance between risking getting more 'new' money in or relying on a fairly stable pool of givers.

Cancer Research spends £4.2m on existing donors and £7m on prospects, deciding that maintaining a relationship with existing customers is virtually equal in importance to attracting new ones. For the RSPCA, Salvation Army, and NSPCC the ratios are in opposite directions - all three spend virtually nothing on existing donors compared with their efforts attracting brand new ones. We feel some adjustment may be needed for these three as charities often keep control of costs by making both existing and new prospect mailings the same, making it difficult to tell the difference. According to Julius Wolff-Ingham, head of marketing and fundraising at The Salvation Army, its main Christmas mailing in 2002 went to 671,000 existing and 3.5 million new prospects. The big lean towards new names is still apparent, although he also says he keeps in touch with the best 400,000 donors (out of 800,000) every couple of months or so.

ACQUISITION SPEND

All of the top 100 companies will have different reasons for the proportions they mail to current customers/donors versus prospects. Like a Formula One race though, team tactics appear to differ wildly. Take 29th placed insurance company More Th>n, part of Royal & Sun Alliance. It looks like an aggressive prospector, spending eight times more money on acquiring customers than it does cross-selling to existing ones. But, for this company, the spend works counterintuitively. "We certainly spend more on acquisition," explains its marketing director, Mike Tildersley. "But we actually get 40 per cent of our sales from existing customers, so the little we do spend on existing customers works incredibly well." He adds: "This situation allows us put more money into growing the brand. There's still a lot of business out there and we only spend what we make money on, so it's not money wasted. Acquisition is definitely the plan for us still, and this is characterising the way we work - albeit in a more integrated way."

Other companies also seem to take a different approach. If one was looking for a chink of light in the catalogue sector, Grattan might appear to have chosen the most sensible policy. Down in its mail spend by 35 per cent, our retention and acquisition spend table shows that it is putting more than two-thirds of its spend on existing customers - taking the decision to concentrate on where it knows its customers are at least until the market picks up. As Andrew Wilson, managing director of The Catalogue Consultancy, says: "Catalogue spend has been flat in the last year, but most of the catalogue producers are mailing much smarter. Grattan has obviosuly predicted that tougher times were ahead and it has scaled back accordingly."

And yet, it is worth point out that this isn't the tactic chosen by others. GUS Home Shopping - similarly down in mail spend by 28 per cent - still thinks prospecting works best with a 6:1 ratio of spend on new versus existing customers. What is interesting though, is that where there is minor scope for movement, the opportunity to go back to old prospecting seems to be seized. Kaleidoscope is the only pure catalogue company in our top 100 to raise its mail spend, and it sends more mail to cold customers than hot ones.

SOCIOGRAPHICS

Another addition to this year's supplement which we only have room to talk at a broad level about is data from Thomson Intermedia which also reveals who is receiving the mail sent by our top 100 from a sociographic point of view (To see the complete tale, you can click on the Marketing Direct website at www.mxdirect.co.uk).

Of all our tables, this has the most consistency, showing that direct mail for every single one of our top 100 continues to be a C1, C2 targeted affair. There isn't a single company that mails more to Bs than C1s. That doesn't, of course, mean that our top mailers don't home in on their prospects ruthlessly. Only where there is obviously no social discrimination possible for the product/service being sold is the targeting across all social groups the closest. (Like the AA for example, where car ownership is pretty much classless. Here virtually equal sixths are spent across the social spectrum).

For most other companies, targeting appears very deliberate, to maximise every inch of potential gain. But the old adage that poorer people tend to give more money to charities and therefore receive the most mail is challenged by the likes of Cancer Research, where Bs receive £1.7m worth of mail - virtually the same as the D group and not far off the C1s and C2s. Oxfam also has one of the closest spends in the C1 as it does in the B category. In fact the B group receive the second highest level of spend in total.

The rise of the digital companies has already been remarked upon, and here even though they may appear to be class-driven, to people of higher disposable income internet access and digital TV seems applicable to all. AOL, ntl and BSkyB all spend similar amounts across all the social classes than other companies.

IMPROVING CHANNELS

We hope that you find more interesting nuggets on spend across the classes. Our parting comment though has to be made about MBNA - our number one mailer for the second year. Most people in the direct marketing industry have their own opinion on the exploits of MBNA - whether it tarnishes the image of direct mail or not - but could it actually be smartening up its act at the same time as demonstrating such huge spend? According to Paul Barnett, sales director, list broking at Prospect Swetenhams, it is.

"Amongst our clients looking at more intelligent ways to target new prospects, financial services companies are particularly interested in seeing what impact a data strategy can bring. And, MBNA in particular is doing a lot of work with us to find out what triggers the response that makes people convert," he says. According to Barnett, geographic overlays are now being used to further screen names and then when new lists come in, these are pruned according to this insight. "It's a definite sign they want to learn more from their suppliers and work harder to improve the channel."

We began this supplement gloomily, but with news like this, maybe it's not quite so downbeat for the sector after all. A serial mailer doing serious data and segmentation analysis might be thought of as more unlikely than ATL marketers knowing which half of their ad spend works. But when even the most downtrodden name in direct mail puts spend in this area, it's a sign that mail is continuing to fight for its share of spend. If done with agility and respect for the consumer, direct mail continues to be a prized channel, but what marketers must surely be aware of is that they only get out what they put into this medium in the first place.

HOW WE FOUND OUR FIGURES

All the data in our tables is compiled by Thomson Intermedia which uses the GfK Hometrack panel. This comprises a minimum of 6,000 individuals reporting on the press, door drops and direct mail they receive each month.

They are recruited through interview to ensure the entire UK population (from age, sex, and different income groups) is properly represented. According to the size of the panel a weighting is also applied based on social class, tenure, number in household, type of dwelling and presence of children. This weighting allows for an estimate of the nationally representative size of the mailing. A spend figure is then calculated based on the weight of the mailpack and Royal Mail rate card to the size of the mailing to calculate a total expenditure figure. Similar spend figures for press and web are deduced from size/rate card data. Web spiders also collect occurance data from the top 300 sites and work out impressions and cost per thousand rates. Direct mail spend does not include items including statement mailers and any other regular communication (like reward card information). Spend figures also include an estimate of the supplier costs involved too, from creative to print. A blue-chip base of 400 companies regularly benchmark these figures to see if they tally with their own.

OXFAM

pounds

Spend on direct mail in 2003 5,482,359

Spend on mail to prospects 2,018,412

Spend on mail to existing donors 3,312,535

Total direct spend (2003) 8,104,023

This year Oxfam is a big success story, with an increase in direct mail spend of £2m, taking it to £5m and 59th place in the table. But Oxfam's slightly different accounting year means that its financial year is 2002-03, with half of 2003's figures in the 2004 financial year, so our figures don't quite tally. But according to Oxfam's direct marketing leader Emily Wild, there has been a change to the way it sends out mail. "In 2002 our mailing programme was characterised by two very large mailings - some three million items split between the two. The difference for 2003-4 has been having three smaller, more targeted campaigns sent to four million people in total. About £1m of this spend is in cold mailings." Wild is part of the recruitment department, which comprises direct mail, door drops and inserts, and once these people are converted, they are looked after by the donor development team. According to Wild, spend on developing supporters hasn't changed dramatically over recent years, although email development has been one area the charity has put a lot of effort into. "Mail is probably only about 20 per cent of our prospecting spend," says Wild, correcting our figures. "The largest channel in terms of volume is still door drops."

Loans.co.uk

Spend on direct mail in 2003 £21,329,942

Percentage of total spend on mail 94%

Tested for first time in 2003 Direct Response TV

Total direct spend (2003) £22,704,936

This year's table couldn't go by without mentioning the highest new entrant, loans.co.uk, which has stormed into a spectacular 9th position. Loans has emerged onto the market as the leading credit broker, trading on the promise that it can find prospects a bank that will definitely accept them for credit when previously they might have been rejected when they responded to other banks' obviously untargeted mailings. Its marketing director Andy Pelley explains: "The beauty of loans is that we can advertise once and find that person a willing lender every time. This differs from banks, who might still send out mail, but say only one in ten replies, and of them, one in five is rejected, making it a waste of money. In this respect, it's cheaper for lenders to pay us a commission rather than do their own advertising."

The business model means that 100 per cent of its mailings go to prospects. It technically doesn't need to do any sophisticated profiling as virtually no one will be rejected, but this doesn't mean the mail it sends is junk. "Names are bought from the normal Claritas and Experian data and we profile with what works for all our supplier banks so that we provide the best for everyone," says Pelley.

ntl climbs back up the table

Spend in direct mail in 2002 £3,464,857

Spend in direct mail in 2003 £11,478,740

Percentage rise in mail spend 70%

Total direct spend (2003) £17,180,850

Looking at the same companies in successive years makes annual league tables like these so much more revealing, and none is more deserving of attention than ntl. A year ago, it was the largest faller in the table, down from 59 to 86, but this year sees it recovered, bumping up mail spend from £3m to £11m, putting it at number 23. And it's all been down to a recovery in the company's fortunes which now means it is able to pursue the mail policy it wants, as Grant Law, marketing director, ntl north explains:"We had to manage costs last year but have turned the corner. Mail is our medium of choice because we only cover 30 per cent of the country, so national ATL work wouldn't make sense. We overlay segments where there is a high level of broadband coverage and target accordingly, but all our material also promotes our other digital services, so we get tremendous value for money."

According to Law, most prospects are cold, mailed every four to eight weeks, with the majority of other spend goes on door drops. "We're one of the few companies where we think BTL activity improves our brand position. We don't have the resources to commit to massive ATL spend and have found response rates are not dropping but staying constant to what we expect," Law adds.

WHAT AGES AND REGIONS DO OUR TOP 100 TARGET?

We couldn't conclude this year's top 100 mailers report without a brief mention about the age and regional trends of our mailers. (The full tables can be seen by visiting our website on www.mxdirect.co.uk)

Last year we revealed that of the nine regions we divided the country into, Londoners came top ofthe pile when it came to receiving most of the mail sent by the top hundred. In 2002 they received more than 20 per cent of all the mail by our top hundred. This year however, the picture is different, and the landscape has evened itself out. Today the capital receives just 16 per cent. In fact this time around, the Midlands and Lancashire were sent more mail than was sent in London. (Although for the top 25 or so, the proportion is still more like a fifth).

The area of the country which received the least was the North East - just 5.5 per cent of the total share of direct mail. Surprisingly maybe, Scotland recieves 20 per cent more direct mail than the South East, despite the huge difference in population and income. Another large area to receive mail was the Wales West region, receiving twice as much as the North East, so these may be areas where marketers are targeting the lower income groups for loans or credit or another forms of finance.

In terms of age, the splits amongst our companies is far more even. What is a surprise however, is that the youngest age group (16-24) is pretty much ignored by our 100. Only MBNA spend a million pounds on this group and yet there are some 'youth' brands that we might expect to be doing more here. Virgin Money spends less than £50,000 on the young. The only big spenders are the banks - Abbey, AmEx, Goldfish, Royal Bank of Scotland et al, who see value in getting hold of new account holders young. Saga of course, is at the other extreme, with £10million spent on the over 65s alone, but while much is talked about the affluence of the 'grey spenders', the 35-54 age group still receives the bulk of all our top 100's direct mail, and only charities seem to be tapping into the wealth of the retired set. Cancer Research UK pumps £3.1 million to over over 65s compared to £1.8 million to the next age group below that. Maybe this could be the next opportunity seized in next year's figures.

DIFFERENT CHANNELS FOR DIFFERENT AIMS

Mailings sent to customers in 2003 1,464,819

Mailings sent to prospects in 2003 7,943,428

Total spend on retention mailings £878,891

Total direct mail spend (2003) £5,648,813

According to our figures, marbles sends approximately 1.5 million mailings to existing customers while sending close to 8 million to prospects.

Jane Perrins, its direct marketing services director has already said that mail volumes have fallen while she tests DRTV as a new channel for the first time (see ad-still above). However, her acquisition/retention story is more interesting than the figures suggest, because of what she uses the mail she does send for.

"Mail is still a significant spend for us, but what is beginning to change is that mail is being used much more for retention now, while non-mail channels like the DRTV push is being used for acquisition," she says.

Marbles has just launched a new 'back to front' mailing campaign that is being sent to warm lists. This campaign also shows how marbles is moving to a much lower volume strategy for picking prospects. The pack was sent to just 90,000 people, from a mixture of HFC lists, its parent company.

"We want our product just right," she says, "We want to see where our most profitable accounts come from and concentrate more on these."

- This year six companies spent more than £25m on mail. Last year four did. Twenty-seven companies spent more than £10m this year on mail - the same as last year.

- One of the largest increases in mail spend as a proportion of its previous year's spend is Homeowners Financial Services - its spend is up by 91 per cent this year.

- Capital One spends 86 per cent of its total spend on direct mail; at Morgan Stanley it's 92 per cent and for Reader's Digest the proportion spent on mail is 96.6 per cent.

- BT spends just 11 per cent of its total spend on mail, yet this is enough for it to rise six places up the table to 32.

- This year's two highest entries came into the table at 9 and 11. Last year's highest new entry was in at number 13. This year there were only four new companies in the top 50; last year there were six.

- Liverpool Victoria has been one of the most successful to ride out the fall in total spend and maintain direct mail spend. Its total spend fell by £4m but its direct mail spend only dropped by £1m.

- For the AA, direct mail has increased in significance tremendously. Its total direct marketing budget has been slashed from £34m to £29m, but its direct mail expenditure during the same period has doubled from £7m to £14m.

- The highest mover within the table was ntl, climbing from 86 to 23.

- The greatest rise in places has come from Virgin Money. It would have been 448th if the table extended that far last year. This year it is in at 90 - up 358 places.

- The greatest drop within the table has come from The Associates, falling 54 places. Credit Plan fell 47 places to number 68, while Empire and Hospital Plan Insurance both fell 24 places.

- Tesco's direct mail spend was down 20 per cent, while its total direct spend increased by 20 per cent.

- Thirty-six companies fell in their ranking, and excluding new entries, only 34 companies improved their ranking.

- One of the biggest fallers in mail spend was Littlewoods - down 92 per cent. This was topped by Credit Plan and The Associates, down by 146 and 166 per cent respectively.

- Of the falling mail spenders in 2003, Norwich Union, Littlewoods Extra, Home Owners Friendly Society and M&S Financial Services also fell in 2002.

- The top 10 in 2003 put 71 per cent of their spend in mail, while in 2002 the top ten put 74 per cent of their spend in direct mail.

- Our top 100 mailers sent nearly 388 million mailings to existing customers for retention purposes in 2003. This compares to the 1.3 billion that was sent to prospects in the same year. (4.3 billion are unaccounted for)

- MBNA actually sends more than a fifth of its direct mail to existing customers whereas Capital One sends 6.5 million to existing customers and a massive 63.8 million to prospects.

- According to our figures, some companies send no mail to existing customers, but all their mail to prospects. These are Loans.co.uk, DFS, Everest, GSM, Homeowners Financial Services, Lever Faberge, The Mortgage Lender and Silkies.

- Boots spends the closest amounts on existing as it does on new customers - £1,551,164 on the former and £1,730,295 on the latter.

- Telewest Broadband puts more of its mail spend to the 'E' social class than it does the As - £1.1 million compared to £835,936. This is the odd one out as it is the catalogue companies (GUS Home Shopping, Empire, Littlewoods) who are the normal companies to exhibit this trend.

TOP 100 MAILERS BY SECTOR

2003 2002

pounds £1. Finance 784,250,240 692,488,960

2. Retail 282,843,840 281,238,592

3. Entertainment, Media/

Leisure 131,935,360 129,629,920

4. Education & Charities 122,214,576 103,155,968

5. IT/Communications 50,178,164 44,419,360

6. Travel 40,452,532 35,043,620

7. Government & Utilities 25,021,290 26,852,970

8. FMCG 21,833,190 26,130,768

9. Pharmaceutical 21,108,764 22,371,040

10. Automotive 18,791,698 20,586,640

11. Electrical & Household 13,378,312 10,782,805

12. Toiletries/Cosmetics 6,373,559 4,903,074

13. Other 1,262,380 578,797

14. Dealerships 8,208 0

TOP 100 - 2003 PROSPECTS VS EXISTING CUSTOMERS

Mailings to prospects Mailings to

existing customers

Company Mailings Spend Mailings Spend

pounds pounds

MBNA Europe Bank 89,492,008 53,695,208 20,846,716 12,508,029

Lloyds TSB Group 54,983,044 32,990,090 36,109,720 21,665,832

Capital One Bank 63,823,044 38,293,824 6,469,709 3,881,825

Barclays 29,466,250 17,679,750 20,714,988 12,428,993

BCA (Book Club 37,677,196 22,606,318 9,334,131 5,600,479

Associates)

Halifax 31,025,016 18,615,010 12,672,176 7,603,306

Norwich Union

Direct 32,059,210 19,235,526 8,536,316 5,121,790

Saga Group 25,239,912 15,143,947 13,343,692 8,006,215

Loans.co.uk 35,842,576 21,325,546 0 0

Royal Bank of 29,105,956 17,463,574 5,154,458 3,092,675

Scotland

TOTAL 428,414,652 257,048,793 133,181,906 79,909,144

TOP 100 - 2003 PROSPECTS VS EXISTING CUSTOMERS

Data not supplied Total

Company Mailings Spend Mailings Spend

pounds pounds

MBNA Europe Bank 31,697 19,018 110,370,421 66,222,225

Lloyds TSB Group 368,770 221,262 91,461,974 54,877,184

Capital One Bank 128,650 77,190 70,421,403 42,252,839

Barclays 103,181 61,908 50,284,419 30,170,651

BCA (Book Club

Associates) 33,584 20,150 47,044,911 28,226,947

Halifax 28,946 17,368 43,726,138 26,235,683

Norwich Union Direct 41,776 25,066 40,637,302 24,382,382

Saga Group 234,914 140,948 38,818,518 23,291,110

Loans.co.uk 7,328 4,397 35,549,904 21,329,943

Royal Bank of

Scotland 73,014 43,808 34,333,428 20,600,057

TOTAL 1,051,860 631,116 562,648,418 337,589,052

TOP 10 DOOR DROPS ANALYSIS - 2003

Rank 2003 Company

£1 23,057,710 BSkyB

2 17,922,802 Safeway

3 17,116,098 Somerfield

4 16,699,771 Alliance & Leicester

5 16,653,958 Barclays

6 15,233,469 Norwich Union Direct

7 13,510,891 Prudential

8 12,600,951 MORE TH>N

9 11,839,604 Sainsbury's

10 11,330,436 Tesco

TOP 10 INTERNET ANALYSIS - 2003

Rank 2003 Company

£1 10,491,200 British Telecommunications

2 9,163,143 Amazon

3 8,471,258 BSkyB

4 6,942,816 Ebay

5 6,367,240 William Hill

6 5,803,872 Dell Computer Corporation

7 4,132,973 MBNA Europe Bank

8 4,123,407 Personal Loan Express

9 3,930,365 02

10 3,363,434 Freeserve

TOP 10 OUTDOOR ANALYSIS - 2003

Rank 2003 Company

£1 14,282,716 Lever Brothers

2 13,579,460 United International Pictures

3 13,110,304 Ford

4 12,573,267 Orange

5 11,687,059 BBC

6 10,786,601 Hutchison

7 10,649,039 Nestle

8 10,122,567 Lever Faberge

9 9,531,860 Procter & Gamble

10 8,808,840 Masterfoods

TOP 10 PRESS ANALYSIS - 2003

Rank 2003 Company

1 47,596,300 British Telecommunications

2 39,620,128 Vauxhall

3 38,718,300 PC World

4 35,854,512 COI

5 35,456,188 Ford

6 33,864,124 DFS

7 33,749,092 Procter & Gamble

8 30,467,104 L'Oreal

9 29,304,388 Ocean Finance

10 29,046,948 BSkyB

TOP 100 SPEND ON EXISTING CUSTOMERS V PROSPECTS IN 2003

Existing customers Prospect

Company Spend Mailings Spend Mailings

pounds £1 MBNA Europe Bank 12508029 20846716 53695208 89492008

2 Lloyds TSB Group 21665832 36109720 32990090 54983484

3 Capital One Bank 3881825 6469709 38293824 63823044

4 Barclays 12428993 20714988 17679750 29466250

5 BCA (Book Club

Associates) 5600479 9334131 22606318 37677196

6 Halifax 7603306 12672176 18615010 31025016

7 Norwich Union Direct 5121790 8536316 19279650 32132750

8 Saga Group 8006215 13343692 15184444 25307406

9 Loans.co.uk 0 0 21325546 35542576

10 Royal Bank of

Scotland 4385032 5154458 17463574 29105956

11 Monument Group 4681330 16730 19313254 32188756

12 Morgan Stanley 5699171 7308387 13799065 22998442

13 Goldfish Bank 8067675 7802216 13224553 22040922

14 Reader's Digest

Association 3591072 9498618 10052955 16754925

15 Cornhill 7309444 13446124 7155155 11925258

16 American Express 2791123 5985120 11241221 18735368

17 British Gas 4704410 12182407 7275261 12125435

18 AA 5634541 4651872 11466595 19110992

19 Abbey National 2661735 7840684 9226719 15377865

20 Norwich Union 6816805 9390902 7986284 13310474

21 AXA Sun Life 1132886 4436225 9613083 16021804

22 Alliance & Leicester 5866279 11361341 4918981 8198302

23 NTL Group 4388172 1888143 10331863 17219772

24 NatWest 929867 9777131 4777703 7962838

25 Cancer Research UK 0 7313619 6205939 10343231

26 BSkyB 4032506 1549778 9618862 16031437

27 DFS 1142258 0 10355897 17259828

28 First Direct 1926496 6720843 5748533 9580888

29 MORE THs19]N 1835598 1903763 8037399 13395665

30 Liverpool Victoria 3497867 3210827 7064993 11774989

31 GUS Home Shopping 1767337 3059330 6950005 11583341

32 British

Telecommunications 1890084 5829778 5143249 8572082

33 esure 2810496 2945561 6530248 10883745

34 Churchill 900390 3150141 6108228 10180379

35 Direct Line 56387 4684160 4981596 8302661

36 PDSA 132969 1500650 6866983 11444971

37 Matalan 638459 93979 7536416 12560693

38 Hospital Plan 734260 221615 7443526 12405877

Insurance Services

39 Citi 734260 1064098 6789005 11315009

40 Vernons 2733285 1223767 6678458 11130763

41 Littlewoods 695885 5024935 4082479 6804132

42 Tesco 3014961 1223767 4312988 7188313

43 Which? 1117123 1159808 6342538 10570897

44 Telewest Broadband 998555 1861871 5823890 9706483

45 Egg 2121687 1664258 5770334 9617223

46 Empire 1107862 3536145 4524443 7540738

47 Kaleidoscope 2588703 1846437 5451472 9085787

48 Nationwide 67344 4314506 3990390 6650649

49 AOL (UK) 1069177 112239 6433685 10722808

50 Bank of Scotland 753190 1781962 5005990 8343316

51 Sainsbury's 3218 1255317 5273715 8789525

52 Freedom Finance Corp 1325014 5364 6031299 10052165

53 The Telegraph Group 2785215 2208357 4687883 7813138

54 Healthy Living 1383203 4642025 3181896 5303160

55 Freemans 750978 2305339 4505600 7509334

56 Prudential 878891 1251630 5091791 8486318

57 Marbles 1968330 1464819 4766057 7943428

58 Grattan Catalogue 2018412 3280549 3574384 5957307

59 Oxfam 0 3364020 3463947 5773246

60 Everest 2023432 0 5441855 9069757

61 Sainsbury's Bank 1526367 3372387 3312536 5520894

62 Daxon 2838640 2543945 3690319 6150532

63 Tesco Personal

Finance Ltd 0 4731067 2398799 3997999

64 GSM 2064029 0 5020827 8368044

65 La Redoute 0 3440048 2803498 4672497

66 Homeowners Financial 0 0 4826640 8044399

Services

67 Littlewoods Extra 1404765 2341276 3371919 5619865

68 Credit Plan 1207476 2012460 3495745 5826241

69 Homeowners Friendly

Society 1356792 2261320 3297411 12209

70 Marks & Spencer 2685734 4476224 1934134 3223556

Financial Services

71 Frizzell Financial

Services 580629 967715 3944368 6573946

72 Damart 1295658 2159431 3080943 5134905

73 The Store 763332 1272220 3646247 6077078

74 Debenhams 2760822 4601371 1640885 2734808

75 Peoples Choice

Insurance 872701 1454502 3467300 5778834

76 The Co-operative Bank 1557752 2596254 2740049 4566748

77 News International 1261693 2102821 2920023 4866705

Newspapers

78 Lever Faberge 0 0 4153908 6923181

79 The Associates 150431 250718 3894353 6490589

80 The Mortgage Lender 0 0 4032926 6671455

81 Silkies 0 0 4002873 6721543

82 Loan Line 1592828 2654714 2317399 3862331

83 Homebase 1505446 2509077 2393424 3989041

84 The Winners Club 0 0 3891374 6485624

85 Vertbaudet 1368177 2280295 2442144 4070241

86 Craftmatic UK 114297 190494 3683016 6138360

87 Dogs Trust 914331 1523885 2847493 4745821

88 Argos 697279 1523885 3004244 5007074

89 RAC 338617 564361 3313563 5522604

90 Virgin Money 4859 8099 3313563 5522604

91 Independent Finance

Corp 915547 1525911 2520962 4201604

92 The Book People 352378 587297 3042448 5070747

93 Scottish Friendly 311856 519760 2925305 4875509

94 RSPCA 146180 243634 3068584 5114307

95 Masterfoods 296675 494459 2950771 4917951

96 The Salvation Army 316665 527774 2759747 4599579

97 Abound 467272 778787 2582068 4303447

98 NSPCC 24019 40032 3022535 5037559

99 Littlewoods Personal

Finance 1,761,527 2,935,878 1,264,860 2,108,099

100 Direct Car Finance 2,831,184 4,718,639 £146,772 244,620

Data not supplied Total

Company Spend Mailings Spend Mailings

pounds £1 MBNA Europe Bank 19018 31697 66222255 110370421

2 Lloyds TSB Group 221262 368770 54877184 91461974

3 Capital One Bank 77190 128650 42252839 70421403

4 Barclays 61908 103181 30170651 50284419

5 BCA (Book Club

Associates) 20150 33584 28226947 47044911

6 Halifax 17368 28946 26235683 43726138

7 Norwich Union Direct 25066 41776 24426506 40710842

8 Saga Group 140948 234914 23331607 38886012

9 Loans.co.uk 4397 7328 21329943 35549904

10 Royal Bank of

Scotland 43808 73014 20600057 34333428

11 Monument Group 26325 43875 19349617 32249360

12 Morgan Stanley 10027 16712 18194124 30323541

13 Goldfish Bank 15400 25667 17921282 29868805

14 Reader's Digest

Association 60860 101434 15812986 26354977

15 Cornhill 30367 50612 15253197 25421994

16 American Express 16488 27479 14848780 24747967

17 British Gas 40808 68014 14625513 24375856

18 AA 33683 56138 14291401 23819002

19 Abbey National 17867 29778 13948996 23248327

20 Norwich Union 67026 111711 13687851 22813087

21 AXA Sun Life 18106 30176 12292923 20488204

22 Alliance & Leicester 35193 58656 11770979 19618299

23 NTL Group 13991 23318 11478739 19131233

24 NatWest 29508 49180 10673489 17789148

25 Cancer Research UK 33155 55258 10627265 17712108

26 BSkyB 31107 51845 10579836 17633060

27 DFS 0 0 10355897 17259828

28 First Direct 9075 15124 9790113 16316855

29 MORE THs19]N 19794 32990 9199451 15332418

30 Liverpool Victoria 13533 22555 9005022 15008371

31 GUS Home Shopping 37113 61855 8822716 14704526

32 British

Telecommunications 29654 49423 8670769 14451282

33 esure 38594 64324 8336178 13893630

34 Churchill 10379 17299 8008691 13347818

35 Direct Line 11594 19323 7803686 13006143

36 PDSA 21099 35165 7788471 12980786

37 Matalan 5487 9145 7598290 12663816

38 Hospital Plan 10968 18281 7587464 12645773

Insurance Services

39 Citi 7521 12534 7434984 12391641

40 Vernons 11716 19527 7424434 12374056

41 Littlewoods 65704 109506 7163144 11745976

42 Tesco 237518 395863 7283791 11938573

43 Which? 9163 15271 7047585 11568354

44 Telewest Broadband 0 0 6941013 11281481

45 Egg 0 0 6768889 11176601

46 Empire 99718 99718 6705961 11002307

47 Kaleidoscope 70083 70083 6601384 10987553

48 Nationwide 22399 22399 6592532 10835047

49 AOL (UK) 33,584 0 6501028 10165814

50 Bank of Scotland 0 40537 6099489 10096073

51 Sainsbury's 40537 51231 6057644 10063205

52 Freedom Finance Corp 51231 5676 6037923 10044119

53 The Telegraph Group 5676 22625 6026472 10009371

54 Healthy Living 22625 64187 6005623 9823799

55 Freemans 64187 9127 5894279 9754203

56 Prudential 9127 16254 5852522 9414687

57 Marbles 16254 6441 5648812 9245460

58 Grattan Catalogue 6441 7603 5547276 9137265

59 Oxfam 7603 0 5482359 9074729

60 Everest 0 4972 5444838 8896823

61 Sainsbury's Bank 4972 3542 5338093 8822238

62 Daxon 3542 127762 5293343 8729065

63 Tesco Personal

Finance Ltd 127762 0 5237439 8368044

64 GSM 0 0 5020827 8148642

65 La Redoute 0 36097 4889185 8058337

66 Homeowners Financial 8363 13938 4835002 8058337

Services

67 Littlewoods Extra 26789 44649 4803473 8058337

68 Credit Plan 11285 18808 4714505 7857509

69 Homeowners Friendly

Society 12209 20348 4632077 7720128

70 Marks & Spencer 12209 20348 4632077 7720128

Financial Services

71 Frizzell Financial

Services 6064 10107 4531061 7452490

72 Damart 94892 158154 4471494 38886012

73 The Store 0 0 4409578 7349298

74 Debenhams 5139 6565 4406846 7344743

75 Peoples Choice

Insurance 7125 11875 4347126 7245211

76 The Co-operative

Bank 11122 18537 4308924 7181539

77 News International 57071 95118 4238786 7064643

Newspapers

78 Lever Faberge 25215 42025 4179123 6965206

79 The Associates 1654 2757 4046439 6744064

80 The Mortgage Lender 19591 32651 4022463 6704105

81 Silkies 0 0 4032926 6721543

82 Loan Line 6626 11043 3916853 6528088

83 Homebase 11504 19174 3910375 6517291

84 The Winners Club 42819 71365 3802855 6338091

85 Vertbaudet 42819 71365 3853140 6421900

86 Craftmatic UK 5542 9237 3802855 6338091

87 Dogs Trust 0 0 3761824 6269706

88 Argos 7813 13022 3709337 6182228

89 RAC 16511 27518 3553071 5921786

90 Virgin Money 0 0 3436509 5727515

91 Independent

Finance Corp 0 0 9790113 16316855

92 The Book People 6081 10135 3400907 5668179

93 Scottish Friendly 6887 11479 3244048 5406747

94 RSPCA 5116 8527 3219880 5366467

95 Masterfoods 10910 18184 3258356 5430593

96 The Salvation Army 4145 6909 3061974 5103289

97 Abound 12633 21055 3061974 5103289

98 NSPCC 8547 14246 3055102 5091837

99 Littlewoods

Personal Finance 0 0 3026386 5043977

100 Direct Car Finance 15,656 26,094 2993611 4989352