In the first signs of a new era of a more positive relationship between the print and mailing industries and monopoly Australia Post since the departure of Ahmed Fahour the two sides came together in Queensland to discuss mutually beneficial technology.

PIAA says a new marketing tool from Australia Post will add significant value to the print industry. Walter Kuhn, president and Queensland representative for the PIAA says, “The new Campaign Tracker tool will be adding value to printed materials, which we have been trying to do for years. It is good for printers and good for our customers, showing the value of what we do.”

The Campaign Tracker tool is a recently launched service that the PIAA says allows users to plan, promote and execute promotional mail campaigns based on demographic, behavioural and psychographic profiling.

Andrew Macaulay, CEO of PIAA says, “We have been encouraging increased communication with Australia Post for a long time now and we are heading in the right direction, albeit with a need to improve further. I urge printers to make use of the tools available and push Australia Post as a partner in mail activity so that we improve the performance of the sector for clients and ourselves”.

Australia Post also presented structural changes to the handling and pricing of the Print Post mail sector, used predominantly for the distribution of magazines. PIAA says new technology being rolled out at Australia Post will increase efficiency and industry need to accommodate changed requirements for how the material is lodged whilst simultaneously absorbing increasing costs.

Tom Eckersley, managing director of Eckersley Group says, “The meeting reflects the potential for industry and Australia Post to work more closely together to develop, harness and promote the virtues of the print and post sector, thereby working to grow the market.”

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Walter Kuhn says, “The meeting was based on new equipment being installed at mailing centres and how things should now be lodged and prepared. There was also the new industry tool which will be valuable for us, the Campaign Tracker which will give us insight into marketing and mailing.

“The first piece of technology Australia Post is introducing is the scanning of mailing post, such as magazines. That will all be scanned automatically. The second part is the Campaign Tracker, which businesses will be able to use to present information. They can say to their clients, this is your market, here is how we target them, create the marketing and increase volume of print material. We can use it to our advantage.

Eckersley says, “Campaign Tracker appears to have powerful potential to improve the effectiveness of promotional mail campaigns. There is no one size fits all when it comes to planning a promotional campaign, and this tool will help us target the core audience with greater precision, improving the impact of the activity.

“It is essential that printers, mail houses and their clients focus decision-making on the Return on Investment (ROI) that various marketing channels offer. The outlay may be higher for a printed campaign compared with firing off thousands of emails, but when you start looking at what sales or leads are generated by the activity, the ROI begins to favour print channels, particularly when used as part of an integrated multi-channel campaign. Our industry has the ability to be able to demonstrate and sell that.

“Again, industry needs to focus the attention to the ROI that print generates. We shouldn’t get distracted talking about a cost per unit, focus on the return per dollar spent. When we talk about benefit rather than cost, and we engage with suppliers and partners to challenge how we can improve that return, that’s when we have the potential to see growth in the segment.”

Kuhn says, “It is encouraging that Australia Post wants to work with the industry and that the industry is willing to work with AusPost, it is refreshing to see that we can work together as a combined force.

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