Insert Media: Not Just an Alternative

	Card decks

Sets of business reply cards — usually 3-1/2" × 5-1/2" — delivered in poly packs, card decks have traditionally been used by business-to-business merchants. But Henry notes that more consumer card decks have come onto the market. All told about 500 deck programs are available, in circulations of 50,000 to 1 million each. Rate card prices average $25/M- $35/M and include printing, though most decks will accept preprinted inserts at a higher cost per thousand. Some are also mailing in the larger 5-1/2" × 7-1/2" format.

	Co-op mailings

Co-op mailings present a group of noncompetitive advertisers mailing to a common market. They can reach up to 40 million prospects in a single drop, can usually provide good geographic selectivity, and often offer demographic targeting as well, such as expecting mothers, new parents, and new movers. Most of them are available in a #10 envelope format, but some mail in a 6" × 9" envelope.

Responses generally are not as high as those of package inserts. But while they generate one of insert media's lower response rates, they are also the least expensive option, averaging $15/M-$20/M.

	Product sampling

Most people think of the goody bags given out at special events when they think of sampling. But product samples, coupons, and other offers can also be inserted into newspapers and mailings; they can also be distributed at stores, on college campuses, and among special-interest groups.

Some marketers, Henry says, try to qualify recipients by requiring them to spend a certain amount, purchase multiple products, or fill out a direct response vehicle before receiving their sample. So you could include a coupon as a bind-in or in a co-op mailing to generate a prequalified lead as the first step in a two-step prospecting program.

One downside to product sampling is that some samples are large and bulky and require hand insertion, rather than machine insertion. Then there's the additional weight, which can drive costs up. “Weight can be the greatest problem,” Zuckermandel says, “and many general advertisers just don't understand the significance of this in the direct response industry.”

Because of the issues of weight and manual insertion, costs can vary significantly. But Henry says a fair estimate is $25/M-$40/M.

	Statement stuffers

Because statement stuffers are mailed with cable, utilities, or credit-card bills, the offers are highly likely to be seen. What's more, there aren't many other offers fighting for attention in the envelope. Mailers tend to limit the number of inserts they'll accept to no more than two, as statements mail first class, and additional outside advertising would bump up their weight into the next postal class.

Response rates tend to be among the strongest for insert media, at an average price of about $50/M. And Zuckermandel says this segment is expanding, as more mailers are making these programs available.

	Free-standing inserts (FSIs)

Faced with declining ad sales and coupon distribution, newspapers are making their FSI programs more accessible to direct marketers. In addition to being included in the Sunday newspapers, FSIs show up in supermarket “take-one” racks, order acknowledgements, and retail circulars. A great testing vehicle, Henry says, FSIs can reach millions each week and can frequently be bought as remnant space for less than $3/M for a half page. Advertisers can narrow down the recipients by county, though as Zuckermandel notes, you cannot target by demographics.

	InfoUSA buys Rubin Response

InfoUSA bought another list firm on Nov. 10: Schaumburg, IL-based Rubin Response. But unlike its previous acquisitions, in which the individual companies remained intact, infoUSA plans to fold Rubin Response Services into its Walter Karl division, giving that list firm its own Midwest sales office.

InfoUSA's chief financial officer Stormy Dean says that the approximately 30 Rubin Response employees would remain with the company, including vice president John Murphy, who will handle the day-to-day operations there. Judith Rubin-Zivic, who assumed the title of president of Rubin Response in January, will remain with the company as a consultant through mid-2007.

“Our stated goal is to continue to consolidate a fragmented industry,” Dean says. “This represents a smaller asset purchase for us, but it will be rolled up into Walter Karl.”

Bill and Arlene Rubin founded Rubin Response in 1974. Bill Rubin died in 2002; the firm went on the market shortly after Arlene Rubin died this past June. Rubin Response's catalog clients include western apparel merchant Sheplers, food merchant Hickory Farms, and pet supplies retailer Doctors Foster & Smith.

Rubin Response is the third list company purchased by infoUSA in the past 12 months. InfoUSA bought Peterborough, NH-based Millard Group in November 2005 for $12 million. In May, infoUSA paid $6.6 million for Hackensack, NJ-based Mokrynskidirect. Terms of the Rubin Response deal have not been disclosed.
— TP