Vanquis vanquished over mailshot

Vanquis Bank, which targets consumers with a poor credit rating, has run into trouble for the second time in a matter of months over an unsolicited direct mail campaign which tried to hoodwink recipients into believing it was an “important” letter.
The mailing, which came in an envelope market “time sensitive documents enclosed…tracked mail”, sparked complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority over whether it was obviously identifiable as a marketing communication.
The company has been using the “urgent” tactic for years, including sticking on a false label which reads “Speedsure Priority Mail”. Vanquis had a complaint upheld by the ASA last year from the blogger Ninja Hedgehog.
In its defence, Vanquis claimed this mailshot included the bank’s logo, a return address, the Visa logo as well as the text “marketing communication enclosed” on the flap on the reverse.
It believed it would be difficult for a consumer to open the envelope without seeing the words on the flap and that the elements on the front showing the mailing as originating from a financial institution, alongside the postmarks from “TNT delivery” or “Royal Mail” further identified its commercial origins.
But the ASA was left unimpressed, ruling that the overall impression of the envelope was that of a solicited mailing relating to a financial company to which the recipient had an existing relationship.
In addition the words “marketing communication enclosed” were printed in such as small font that it could be overlooked. Because the mailing was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and exaggerated the importance of its contents, the regulator concluded it was misleading and breached the Code, and banned it from running again.
The ASA also warned Vanquis to ensure that future mailings were obviously identifiable as marketing communications, and not to repeat the use of the term “time sensitive documents enclosed…tracked mail”, for mailings of this nature.

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