In the not-so-distant-past, branding and mass marketing tactics were substantially different from their direct marketing counterparts. Now—given the advances in technology, constant connectivity, and increasing power concentrated in the hands of consumers—marketers have systematically altered their brand and mass marketing approaches in ways that would traditionally fit the direct marketing model.
This isn’t exactly novel. Brands have grown increasingly adept at targeting and engaging with their customers on a hyperpersonalized, one-to-one basis. However, some marketers maintain the distinction that direct marketing and other forms of marketing remain fundamentally separate.
If the notion that all marketing is direct hasn’t caught on yet—and it really should have by now—then the superlative efforts of these brands should help to drive the point home. Let these campaigns function as guidelines to help realize the customer-centric ideal of contemporary “direct” marketing.
