Traditional Media

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Fifty percent of U.S. consumers prefer direct mail to email, according to a study released by marketing services firm Epsilon on Dec. 1. The study also found that one-quarter of all U.S. consumers said they found direct mail to be "more trustworthy" than email.

Revenue from social media advertising will quadruple, from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion by 2015, according to a report released by research firm BIA/Kelsey on May 2. The "US Local Media Annual Forecast (2010-2015)" also forecast a 1% decline in traditional advertising spending, falling to $115.7 billion in 2015.

Columbia Sportswear is using a variety of direct and experiential marketing efforts to boost traditional media as part of its latest product launch.

E-mail marketing spending will continue to expand at double-digit rates — 18.5% per year — for the next five years, according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a private equity firm, in its annual Communications Industry Forecast published on August 3. VSS specializes in the information and media industries. VSS puts the total spend for e-mail at $11.9 billion in 2008 and, by 2013, it forecasts e-mail will be a $27.8 billion business.

Interactive marketing spend will hit $55 billion and represent 21% of all marketing spending in 2014, as marketers continue to shift dollars from away from traditional media and toward search marketing, display advertising, e-mail marketing, social media and mobile marketing, according to Forrester Research.