Pilot Plots a Course for Inclusion of Mail in Origin

In London, the Joint Industry Committee for Mail (JICMAIL) is partnering with ISBA-operated cross-media measurement programme Origin to conduct a pilot study before the end of this year. This will test the integration of JICMAIL and Origin and help decide how often the latter should capture mail exposure.

Origin is part of a global, advertiser-led initiative backed by the World Federation of Advertisers and aims to help organisations plan and measure campaigns across digital and broadcast platforms. The system moved into Beta Trials in September and last week saw the launch of its Media Landscape Survey and audience segmentation tool, based on a study of the media habits of more than 80,000 citizens. JICMAIL tracks interaction with mail across a panel of one thousand households a month, with the relevant actions of every household member recorded in a diary-based app. Reported metrics include Share of Attention and the wonderfully named Share of Doormat.

The integration combines JICMAIL's mail measurement panel with Origin's cross-media measurement capabilities, in order to measure and understand the impact of mail campaigns within the broader media landscape. 50 Origin panel homes will record every mail item received in their household over the course of a week and track interactions with these items over 28 days; and JICMAIL will provide advertiser mail campaign data to Origin for multi-channel planning and evaluation. First results are expected in January 2025.

Joe Lewis, Chief Research Officer of Origin notes that Direct Mail is the third largest advertising medium in the country 'with unparalleled access to every home in the UK', and adds: 'Creating a solution that can bring this to life and understand how that contributes to a brands overall media message, will be invaluable as Origin moves closer to full market launch. We're delighted with this partnership with JICMAIL and Kantar to make this happen'.

Ian Gibbs (pictured), Director of Data Leadership and Learning at JICMAIL comments: 'From a technical perspective we're really excited to have found a way forward in testing how mail exposure might be measured on Origin's VID panel. From a commercial perspective this could potentially be of huge benefit to advertisers and agencies looking to measure the full breadth of their media impacts. Mail might often be planned to drive a specific response, but it can deliver audience reach and frequency as well as any other channel and getting a joined-up view on how this works alongside TV and digital is going to be an important step forward for the channel'.

Web sites: www.originmediameasurement.com and www.jicmail.org.uk .