Direct mail spend reaches 4-year high

UK marketers are spending increasing amounts on direct mail - such as flyer printing - a new report has revealed.

Marketing spend on direct mail - the printing of materials such as flyers - has reached a four-year high, the latest Bellwether report has shown.

The study, which is produced by the Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and accountancy network Binder Dijker Otte, revealed marketing budgets have stabilised although companies remain cautious.

Internet advertising saw the biggest growth with 13.3 per cent upward spend, while direct mail reached 6.8. per cent, its fastest rate of growth since 2006.

Rory Sutherland, president of the IPA and vice-chairman of Ogilvy Group UK, said: "In these times of uncertainty around government spending and the sustainability of an economic recovery it is not surprising that businesses remain cautious."

The figures may have positive implications for flyer printers and follow suggestions in the Guardian from Philip Cowley, a professor of parliamentary government at Nottingham University, that direct mail was one of the key influences in this year's general election.