Member Article

SMP welcomes Royal Mail offer to help organisations hardest hit by coronavirus restrictions

The Strategic Mailing Partnership has welcomed a new, tailor-made Royal Mail incentive to help organisations hardest hit by the current coronavirus pandemic. Charities will be among those to benefit from the new ‘Covid-19: Open For Business’ scheme, designed to boost advertising in the sectors that have been devastated by current social distancing regulations. Launching on May 6th, the brand-new incentive is aimed at businesses that have been hardest hit by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. It will offer reduced postage rates to eligible organisations, including: • Charities requesting donations; • Retailers forced to close that want to direct consumers to their website for online sales; • Any mailing from a magazine publisher or newspaper promoting direct to home subscriptions; • Brands in the ‘away from home’ entertainment sector to promote future or rescheduled activity, such as cinemas, theatres and festivals and restaurants; • Any mailing from a brand to vulnerable customers to support their physical or mental well-being; • Specific mailshots to thank customers for their loyalty during the current situation.

The offer will run until December – longer than Royal Mail’s seasonal incentives – and the list of eligible organisations is expected to alter to reflect evolving customer and sector needs. With a lower than average entry level of 20,000 mailings, the scheme would, said SMP Chair Judith Donovan CBE, be an attractive and timely offering. “So many organisations have been hit very hard by the impact of measures brought in to combat coronavirus,” she said. “This offer is a lifeline for organisations that need to communicate with their customers, whether it’s to tell them about what they offer or to simply thank them for their loyalty. “It’s also excellent news for our members. Mailing houses have had to adapt to new ways of working so they can continue to provide essential services such as producing documents for banks, local government and the NHS so hopefully they too will benefit from an increased demand for marketing mail.” The offer itself is straightforward – there are no baselines and it is available for Partially Addressed Mail, Responsible and Advertising Mail. “A further benefit is that it is flexible, so as the situation changes, so too will the list of those who are eligible to take part,” Judith added. “The impact of coronavirus will continue for months, so I am delighted that the offer will be available until December, providing long-term support.” Full details on the offer can be found on the Royal Mail Wholesale website. The SMP represents the interests of mailing houses across the UK. Many have introduced various measures to enable them to continue producing essential communications. These include social distancing, split shift patterns and on-site temperature testing.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kate Wobschall .