Direct Mail Outlook: Still Best Marketing Value

Jim Andersen, CEO of Chanhassen, MN-based IWCO Direct, points at volatility in the marketplace as being the greatest challenge that confronted his firm in 2012. Like Coyle, Andersen notes that the financial services sector was particularly impacted; changing regulatory and compliance requirements for credit card and other financial marketing likely played a role in reduced mail volume. That decrease, which was also felt by the insurance sector, prompted IWCO Direct to reset its operating platform. This allowed the printer to reduce its cost structure by more than $8 million.

"In 2012, we also focused on transitioning the assets acquired from DGI Services in December 2011 to our existing locations in Minnesota and Pennsylvania," Andersen says. "This asset acquisition, along with the expansion of our Chanhassen mailing operations, advanced IWCO Direct's capital investment plan to better meet market needs for more complex campaigns focused on the right message, at the right time, to the right person, through the right channel."