Royal Mail offers discounted APA Advantage Study

Royal Mail is demonstrating its commitment to the customer publishing industry by offering a financial incentive to organisations to benchmark their publications and improve their marketing value.

The initiative, part of a strengthening of Royal Mail's relationship with the Association of Publishing Agencies (APA), means that customer publishers can save GBP2,000 from the cost of having the effectiveness of their titles measured through the acclaimed Royal Mail APA Advantage Study.

Launched in 2005, the Royal Mail APA Advantage Study tracks customer magazine effectiveness as a valuable marketing tool and shows how titles perform against others in their sector.

The study currently features 70 magazines and over 20,000 customer interviews, conducted by Millward Brown, making it one of the largest pieces of media research in the UK and more cost effective for publishers than undertaking their own analysis.

Emily Fovargue, Royal Mail's Head of Publishing, said: "Royal Mail has long been an advocate of the customer publishing industry and its power as a marketing and CRM tool.

"As a result, we are further strengthening our relationship with the APA and making it even more cost effective for publishers to benefit from the Advantage Study so that they can demonstrate and improve the effectiveness of their titles.

"Proving the value of marketing activities becomes increasingly important in time of economic downturn and we are delighted to be able to help both publishers and clients prove the undoubted effectiveness of this medium, particularly in their retention strategy".

Julia Hutchison, COO of APA, said: "The initiative means The Advantage Study will now be co-branded between Royal Mail and APA.

"The results that have been delivered as a result of the Advantage Study have to date been one of the main reasons for the astonishing growth of this medium.

"Proving that customer magazines are read on average for 25 minutes, deliver a 44 per cent response rate, eight per cent sales uplift and 32 per cent brand loyalty is a highly persuasive argument in convincing marketers that a customer magazine is a must-have in the marketing plan".

To enter their title on the Advantage Study and to qualify for Royal Mail's GBP2,000 subsidy, publishers must be members of the APA.

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