Mail stays in brain longer than all

TV spend may have reached record levels in 2014 but neuroscience research shows that direct mail has a far greater effect on the brain, meaning recall will be more readily triggered later on.
The study – part of Royal Mail MarketReach’s ongoing Private of Life of Mail initiative – found that mail has a 72% more powerful effect on long-term memory encoding than TV, and 32% higher than email.
The programme also found that consumers interact with mail and absorb its messages in a largely unconscious way. This means it works on the brain’s ‘System 1’ – the faster, more intuitive mode of thought, which affects decision making.
A dedicated direct mail campaign, devised by Publicis Chemistry, has been created to promote the findings of the neuroscience study. The campaign targets around 8,000 marketers and agencies as well as industry bodies and infulencer.
Royal Mail MarketReach managing director Jonathan Harman said: “By all measures, mail has a profound effect on the human brain. It is effective regardless of demographic indicators and stated attitudes. Mail clearly has a strong interaction with other media, which can be exploited to boost overall campaign effectiveness.”
The TV advertising market saw a 6% increase in sales last year to reach £4.91bn – the fifth consecutive year of growth to be enjoyed by the sector- according to a study released today by Thinkbox.