Door-drops rise but fight for budget

Door-drop marketing is witnessing a renaissance across Europe as volumes rise, but the head of TNT Post’s division says there is still work to be done to promote what he describes as “one of the most effective media” to marketers.
Mark Davies, president of the European Letterbox Marketing Association (ELMA) and managing director of TNT Post DoorDrop Media UK, was speaking as the trade group published its third pan-European census.
The research found that the door-drop market in Europe continued to recover from the recession, with an increase of 2.2% to 115 billion items in 2012. However, pressure on costs resulted in media spend falling marginally to €3.9bn; a decrease of 0.7% compared to 2011.
The large economies of France, Germany and UK all increased use of door-drops, balancing the stabilisation and slight decline of volumes in the Central and Eatern Europe and Scandinavian markets.
The largest volumes by country in 2012 continued to be Germany (23.3bn), France (21.2bn), Italy (12bn) and The Netherlands (11bn). The UK is ranked fifth with 7.2bn.
In a new development for the ELMA census, it looked at spend on door-drops as a percentage of total advertising spend. The Nordic region, on the whole, allocates more spending to door-drops with Denmark at 15%, followed by Finland (11%), France (9.6%) and Norway (8.1%). The lowest advertising spend on door-drops is in the UK (1.5%), followed by Poland (1.8%) and Germany (2.0%).
Commenting on the research findings, Davies said: “The ELMA census confirms that the door-drop sector in Europe has recovered from the recession but is experiencing pressure on price despite a welcome increase in volume.
“Our new data highlighting spend on door-drops as a percentage of total adspend is illuminating and shows that the sector has to work hard to make its argument for a fair share of ad budgets.”
Davies cited recent research from Experian, which found that 52% of household decision makers said door-drops were the most important source of research about their purchases, followed by the Internet at 24%. He said : “This shows that door-drops remain an, if not the most, effective tool for marketers. It is our job to re-educate marketers across Europe of the effectiveness and cost benefit of using door drops.”