It's still a viable vehicle for many companies. There are still buyers who would prefer to have the tactile catalog or brochure to browse instead of doing it online. I am familiar with the use of personal URLs in direct mail pieces and have worked on projects that range from a single postcard, to a multi-panel mailer or a several page catalog. The following are examples of direct mail projects I directed and managed.
Madison Park Productions
This is a direct mail piece we sent to clients and prospects after the great Flood of 1997 when the building where the studio is flooded for several days.
Convergys Corporation
Most of the direct mail efforts I managed while at Convergys revolved around inviting prospects to visit Convergys at booth displays for strategic special events and unfortunately I didn't retain any of those examples.
Jones the Florist
I managed a number of direct mail initiatives at Jones the Florist. Each holiday season we mailed a custom designed mailer to our top existing customers as well as a number of prospects segmented by zip code. The mailer promoted the custom designed arrangements for that holiday as well as a special promotion designed to entice early order placement. I worked with Mahan Advertising on the design and layout and the creative always matched our outdoor billboard campaigns. Here are some examples.
Outdoor
Email
Direct Mail
Valentine's Day Postcard
Valentine's Day Outdoor
Sweets In Bloom
These catalogs were mailed out all over the country and at it's height, we were mailing a million and half pieces a drop. I worked with a list broker and we utilized predictive modeling to target customers based on their purchases of similar products. I worked with Mahan Advertising on the design and layout of these as well. After acquiring a teddy bear candy company and integrating Hugbsy into the Sweets In Bloom product line we took the mailers and transformed them into more of a gift catalog. Here are 2 examples.
Halloween
Holiday
