DIRECT MAIL - You've Got Mail

December 2000

multipage

BY SCOTT POLK


As printers continue to determine how to capitalize on the Internet to further business, perhaps no segment may be affected by cyberspace more than direct mail. A projected 100 million people will be connected to the Web within five years, and direct mail will play an important role in guiding those people to the Internet.

According to a study by the Printing Industries of America, dotcom startup companies looking to establish brand equity will account for much of that business. By 2003, however, the study cautions that the direct mail industry will begin to encounter considerable competition from electronic media. New technologies that print Internet URLs into direct mail pages with watermarks and bar codes—directing computers to specific Web pages—may help to slow down this process.

Top 10 Direct Mail Printers
 	Company	Segment Sales (millions)	Total Sales (millions)
1	Quebecor World Montreal	$850	$6,540
2	Moore Corp. Bannockburn, IL	$480	$2,400
3	Vertis, Inc. Baltimore	$360	$1,800
4	R.R. Donnelley & Sons Chicago	$250	$5,000
5	Banta Corp. Menasha, WI	$228	$1,270

	Japs-Olson Co.		Lehigh Press		Quebecor World
	Vertis Communications