Post Office reveals £10m data line-up

The Post Office has named Rapp, CACI and Aimia as the three companies which will share its £10m data analysis account, in the final stage of the organisation’s supplier review.
Each company will handle £3.3m worth of business, although Aimia – which owns the Nectar loyalty programme – has already advised the Post Office that it will outsource some of the work to a third-party.
The Post Office released an online tender for three “expert data analytics companies” – in addition to a data broker – back in November. The contract will last for two years, with an option for a further two-year extension.
The review was part of a strategy to help it get closer to its customers through the use of advanced data analytics to improve targeting. Medialab was appointed to handle the £1m brokerage account last month.
The government-owned business is keen to transform itself into what chief operating officer and former Bupa marketer Martin George called “a commercially viable multichannel retailer”.
George has already hired former More Th>n and RSA marketing chief Pete Markey as chief marketing officer and last month kicked off a recruitment drive for three senior roles – a head of marketing communications, a head of brand strategy and a senior marketing manager.
The Post Office branched out of simply providing postal services years ago, and now offers a raft of financial products, including mortgages, insurances and travel money, as well as broadband, fixed line and mobile connections.
The company has not run a major marketing campaign for 18 months; its most recent activity was a TV campaign through Dare, which launched in October 2012. The spot was designed to showcase the breadth of its services, and featured people on holiday, moving house, and keeping in touch via mail, phone and online. It also introduced the strapline “handled with care”, with the sub-heading “online, on twitter, in branch, by phone”.