Rye Brook, NY–Catalogers considering selling blow-ins should be sure to get the size dimensions of the inserts their advertisers are looking to place up front; otherwise, they could face some unexpected postage costs, said Keith Nettesheim, customs product manager for Pewaukee, WI-based catalog printer Quad/Graphics, during a session at the Direct Marketing Association’s Insert Media Day here on Sept. 9.
In addition to watching the height and width of the inserts, mailers need to watch is paper weight of the inserts. In trying to minimizing its costs, Jane Buck, media director of Custom Direct, said that her company prints its catalog inserts on 40-lb. paper, using an 8” x 10” sheet folded down to 4” x 5”. Folding down the 40-lb. sheet gives the insert “some heft for the inserter,” Buck said.
Although Custom Direct’s first choice is 40-lb. paper, “if the inserter says ‘no’, then we go to 50-lb,” Buck said. “But we don’t notice a difference in response. I try to keep everything as standard as possible, but also flexible.”