The opening session for the final day of the Virtual Inkjet Summit focused on direct mail, and what marketing will look like in a post-pandemic future. COVID-19 has reshaped how brands communicate with consumers in profound ways, and inkjet is, in many ways, perfectly positioned to be the technology that helps them reconnect in very personal, meaningful ways. Barb Pellow, manager, Pellow and Partners, sat down with Darrin Wilen, president of Wilen Direct, to discuss how the current climate has re-shaped business, and what that means for direct mail’s future, as well as the role inkjet will play. Pellow noted that one thing to keep in mind is that while some industries, such as travel, or membership mailings to local events or attractions, has dropped off dramatically over the past six months, the news isn’t all bad. In fact, some markets, such as health care, elder care services, personal care products, and educational products, among others, have actually see an increase in mailings.

Ultra-fast delivery is back in a big way, and retailers need to adapt. Ultra-fast delivery services focused on getting customers in densely populated urban areas their online orders in as little as 15 minutes or less began popping up in the U.S. a few years ago, but most failed to gain traction.  Companies such as Jokr and Buyk shuttered operations in the U.S. in 2022, with Philadelphia-based Gopuff a rare success story in the space. However, more recently, both Amazon and Walmart have launched efforts to get goods to consumers as quickly as possible. Amazon Now, which delivers thousands of items including household essentials, personal consumer electronics and groceries to customers’ doorsteps in about 30 minutes or less, is available in dozens of U.S. cities and will be rolled out to millions of customers across the country by year’s end.

Consent will be a critical issue for publishers next year, according to Richard Reeves, managing director of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP). Specifically, Reeves means informed programmatic ad consent, as opposed to, say, email opt-in. Publishers are seeking tech solutions that “do not rely on personally identifiable information,” Reeves said in an interview with the UK’s PressGazette. In the marketing world, that requires anonymized data solutions and reliance on first- and zero-party data.