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Until mid-2005, there was nothing much to say about freemiums in the financial services sector. But in May of that year, a variety of mailers, such as American Express, Capital One, MBNA and Discover, started using magnets to lend weight to their mailings and help their messages stick around. That year ended with freemiums in about 1.7 percent of financial services mailings; this number has almost doubled so far in 2006 to 3 percent, a jump driven almost exclusively by magnets.
• Envelope Sizes. It should be no surprise that envelopes are by far the most dominant format in the financial services sector. Some 86.9 percent of financial mailings received by the Archive in the first half of 2006 were envelopes—leaving just 13.1 percent for self-mailers, most of which fell into the banking category. It is, however, interesting to note that while the #10 was once the most dominant envelope size by far, it has lost some ground lately. In fact, while 31.7 percent of envelope efforts were #10, a higher 39.3 percent were a slight variation on this size, such as 4” x 9-1/4” or 4-1/4 x 9”. The most popular of these variations is 4-1/4” x 9-1/4”, which accounted for 22.4 percent of all envelope efforts—more than all of the other standard sizes combined. Financial mailers only made use of a few other sizes: 6” x 9” (4.4 percent), #9 (4.1 percent) and 6” x 11” (2.3 percent).
• Formats. Just because most of these financial services offers were mailed in envelopes, it doesn’t mean all financial services efforts were alike. Some unusual formats have appeared in recent months. Snap-packs were an interesting sighting, including efforts from Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan Bank, and an unusual one from Advanced Financial Services, which is designed to look like a manilla folder, complete with a preprinted tab that reads, “LOAN DOCUMENTS,” and interior components that are bound together like a booklet. Priority and special handling designs also seem to be popular among financial mailers right now, with Capital One, Citibank, Chase and National Education Association using outer envelope creative that focuses on their priority handling, confirmed delivery, tracking codes and “air saver xpress” status. Financial mailers, such as American Express and Capital One, also have been reaching out to best customers and high-end prospects with upscale mailings using such techniques as linen, card stocks and invitation formats.
• Sweepstakes. While sweeps did not make much of a splash in the financial services pool in the first half of 2006—less than 1 percent of efforts—all the sweeps the Archive did receive came in June, indicating that this number might climb as the year progresses. One such promotion came from Capital One, with a free gas sweepstakes offer. In 2004, this mailer buoyed financial services sweepstakes to an all-time high with its Win an Island promotion; if this gas promotion has legs—and the timely nature of the giveaway suggests it might—Capital One could have a similar influence on 2006’s numbers as well.
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