Affinity Marketing - DM's hidden jewel

Affinity marketing has been part of the UK marketing scene for years, booming in the 1990s when credit card companies partnered with charities, writes Nick Howse of Howse Jackson Marketing.

The tie-ups between charities and credit cards generated much-needed revenue for the charities themselves whilst boosting revenues for the financial firms.

To this day, a number of charities have a donation base comprised primarily of credit card commissions.

While affinity marketing is not new, it has been evolving far beyond its original remit into sectors of DM that are now benefiting from what has become a second affinity 'boom'.

For the DM industry the developments have great significance because affinity marketing has now moved into data and lists.

In fact it has even evolved to cover inserts in mailings and product dispatch; email broadcast (solus or combined); web presence; and telemarketing.

Some DM specialists are now partnering with like-minded brands allowing access to DM lists that never come onto the open market.

For example, a famous high-street car repair chain recently partnered with a well-known insurance company and was able to mail the insurance company's database to offer a unique benefit, in this instance 25 per cent off an MOT and service.

Not only did this give the insurance company's customers a unique money-off MOT and service deal unavailable elsewhere on the high street, it simultaneously gave the high-street repair chain access to hundreds of thousands of car owners who they would otherwise not be able to mail.

Both brands benefited and so did their customers.

Critics argue that third-party opt-out prevents some firms from being able to share data.

The counter-argument is that if a company ensures that affinity campaigns are relevant, timely and useful to its customers, an 'opt-out' box is not needed in a brand's marketing communications and data then becomes available to share.

Third-party lists available to rent form the bedrock of cold direct mail and its no secret that targeting is the number one prerequisite in successful DM campaigns.

Yet even though data itself is more plentiful, good lists to rent are becoming scarcer and many marketers are constantly looking for fresh sources of data.

For that reason, affinity DM involving data swaps and data sharing is rapidly gaining momentum.

It allows a company access to lists and data not available on the open market and provides commercial opportunities that otherwise would be left untapped.

Brands are combining forces to provide relevant offers that are to their mutual benefit whilst using fresh data that often gives a serious uplift to response curves and greater ROI.

If you are a brand in search of fresh sources of data and new marketing channels, affinity marketing is a hidden jewel.

Nick Howse Managing Director Howse Jackson Marketing.

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