In the mid-90s we pitched (and won) some direct marketing work for a company offering personal loans. We were told that as long as 0.5% of the people we mailed applied for a loan and that a third of applicants were offered and accepted a loan, then the campaign would generate a positive return on investment.

We did the basic sums, and indeed, assuming we could create, produce and distribute mailing packs for a specific price – it did pay back – marvellous!

The company had a large data management team analysing individuals’ credit worthiness & propensity to need a personal loan and we created occasion-based campaigns to suggest reasons to borrow – a new car, a special holiday, over due home improvements, the family wedding…and of course the default: ‘consolidate your debt and pay less per month’…but for many more months…in the hope that the marriage of consumer needs, credit worthiness and propensity would lead to a converted sale.

I couldn’t help think about the 99.5% of people we mailed who didn’t respond. We could argue that the mailings created awareness and therefore delivered some benefits if you looked at it from the brand owner’s perspective. But what about the people mailed – did they really welcome unsolicited treaties to take on debt for only 28% APR – or did it just hack them off?

So what’s the relevance to all this today?

I read from The Marketing Society that a ‘key business growth driver’ is:

“Smarter use of customer analytics to translate customer and market data into value added strategic insights”. In plain English, I think this means: ‘use information to come up with ideas, products & services which meet consumer needs better than those being offered by your competitors’ – simples.

At the same time, data management companies tell us that thanks to advanced analytical techniques (I think this means an ability to do maths – or at least, programme a computer to do the maths for you) – marketers can now target more accurately and timely than ever before. Marketing agencies also give life to these claims promising their approach is better, smarter, more focussed, less wastage.

It should be great news for the 99.5% of our personal loan victims.

This being the case, am I the only person in the country who receives 3, 4, 5 pieces of direct mail every day – the vast majority of which are unsolicited and irrelevant? Let alone the queue of emails offering me everything from a new job to another expensive event to listen to someone ‘sell’ their wares & the promise of lasting improvements in the bedroom performance department.

And if it’s not the case that companies feel an urge to include me on their mailings simply because I’m ‘me’ – then I have to assume I’m one of ‘many’ – which suggests that most of us receive a ton of irrelevant stuff, despite the assertions of the data and agency experts – resulting in many hacked off people and wasted marketing investment…hardly clever.