What we learnt from the Strategic Mail Partnership Summit

25 January 2023

By Isla Munro

5 minute Read

Category:

Learning

A few weeks ago, we attended the Royal Mail Strategic Mail Partnership Summit in London to meet with some of our partners and see what’s new in the world of direct mail.

In fact, we ended up being the only direct mail agency in attendance, which (alongside being on the board) made us a unique voice in some of the discussions throughout the day. Here’s a quick overview of what you missed.

To kick off the day, we heard from the newly appointed CEO of Royal Mail Group, Simon Thompson. Along with an update on their plans to invest heavily as we enter peak mailing times, he shared some interesting ideas on their sustainability goals and what the future of mail might look like.

They’re currently running an ongoing trial of 400 electric vehicles, with aims to move away from fossil fuels, making every piece of mail sent more environmentally friendly. We then split up into breakout rooms.

In small groups, we discussed everything from carbon offsetting and efficient transport routes, to how we can be more ethical and responsible when it comes to data acquisition and usage. Something we’re extremely passionate about here at Dragonfly.

After lunch, Two Sides – an industry body focusing on sustainability as it relates to paper – reported on the progress of their anti-greenwashing campaign. (Greenwashing is when a company makes a misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or practice).

To date, they’ve identified over 2,000 companies using this kind of messaging across the UK. And thanks to their anti-green washing campaign, they’ve been able to educate over 170 large and small companies on how their actions negatively impact the industry and mislead the public, leading to them removing this kind of messaging from their communications.

“There’s a huge misconception around the print industry and its sustainability, and it’s this kind of messaging that gives the industry a bad name. Print is so much more green than you think and as an industry, we’re continuously refining our sustainability efforts and thinking of the future to create a greener, more sustainable future for the print industry.”

As evening fell, it was time for the awards. An opportunity to celebrate those having a positive impact on the industry and companies bringing new ideas and fresh ways of thinking to the industry to create positive change.

8 Days A Week stole the show with two gold and a platinum; with Lettershop Group also taking home two golds.

Aside from getting an opportunity to meet some of our partners and suppliers, we asked Fiona what her main takeaways from the Summit were. Here’s what she said:

“It was great to spend the day with leaders in the print and mailing community, industry insights and knowledge. Supporting and learning from each other is hugely important for the future of mail, our partners help us to continuously drive innovation and create more cost-effective solutions for our clients. It’s great to see how creative and personal we can get even on a small budget, opening the doors for brands without a huge marketing budget to give direct mail a try”.

“It reminded me why we put such an emphasis on working collaboratively with our partners here at Dragonfly.”

SMP Summit, it’s been a pleasure. See you again next year!

About the author

Isla is an experienced Managing Director, marketeer and leader. Driven by creative data led solutions, she takes pride in providing the best direct marketing campaigns and strategies. As Dragonfly’s Managing Director, her goals include delivering growth not just for her clients, but her team too. Isla sits on the Royal Mail Strategic Mailing Partnership board and the DMA Scotland committee and has spoken at many industry events on topics including GDPR and direct marketing.