Recommendation Recap

During its deliberations, the Task Force developed a vision for the council that would position it as both a promoter of mail and the mail channel, and as an organization through which efforts could be taken to build support for legislation and other regulatory change. Because the council would have a lobbying role, the Postal Service — the Task Force agreed — would neither hold membership in the organization nor participate in its activities.

The Council’s charter would be to “determine the best methods to meet evolving customer needs, enhance the capabilities of the mail ‘product’ to complement and compete effectively with other communication methods, and identify new learnings and opportunities relevant to all aspects of the mailing industry.”

“For this council to succeed,” said Task Force co-chairman Michael Critelli, who will head the newly-formed council, “we must be able to raise awareness in Congress and elsewhere about the value and role of mail in commerce and the corollary need for a healthy postal system.”

Identify Mission-Critical Issues and Activities. The Council, operating independently of the Mailing Industry Task Force, has begun to identify issues and activities that will support its mission to unify the fragmented mailing industry. Among its initial efforts will be messaging around the continued need for legislative reform in support of the Postal Service Transformation Plan as it reflects the Task Force recommendations.

“People are looking back to mail for many reasons,” commented Council member Charles Morgan. “E-mail responses have dropped dramatically for direct marketers. Telemarketing is facing redefinition.
The future is in multi-channeled messaging and marketing. And mail is an important part of that future.”

Develop and Launch an Advertising and Marketing Program. A prototype advertising campaign for the mail channel — developed by the Wunderman agency — was unveiled last spring in San Diego and got a favorable reception. The campaign, directed towards influencers and policy makers, centered on the concept that mail plays a crucial role in American business and in American lives. Plans for further dissemination
are in development. A communications plan designed to inform the industry and other postal stakeholders about the progress made on Task Force recommendations is also in development, with a roll-out planned to begin in the fall.

Coordinated Government Relations Strategy. Building upon last fall’s successful response to September 11 and the bioterrorist attacks, Council CEOs will sponsor a “summit” for their government-relations managers to develop a coordinated, aligned approach for strategic communications in support of the Council’s priorities. Just as last fall’s message points allowed industry leaders to speak with one voice when interacting with legislators and other policy makers on emergency funding, so too will future messaging provide a shared focus on industry goals for transformation, growth and postal productivity.

Provide Standards Development Leadership. Council members continued to lead standards-development efforts as part of the work done by Task Force committees on intelligent mail, consumer gateway services, preparation and entry optimization, payments and credit, pricing, address quality and network optimization.

• Expand the Council’s membership, to better reflect all aspects of the mailing industry.

• Prioritize Council objectives, and align government relations and communications planning efforts with those priorities.

• Continue efforts to develop unified standards, particularly through continuation of Task Force
work groups.

The companies whose chief executives are members of the Council include Acxiom, Capital One, R.R. Donnelley, Symbol Technologies, Fingerhut, Wunderman, Lockheed Martin Distribution Technologies, Lands’ End, DST Output, Paramount Cards, Harte-Hanks, Inc., and Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.