FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Ballantine Corporation Releases 2008 Direct Mail Control Report WAYNE, N.J., June 17, 2008 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- The Ballantine Corporation, a full service direct mail production company, announces the release of their 2008 direct mail control report that analyzes what's working and what's not for direct mail formats. *(LOGO Link: Send2Press.com/mediaboom/08-0617-Ballantine_72dpi.jpg) In January of this year, Ballantine (www.ballantine.com) surveyed their clients and marketing contacts and compiled a list of direct mail formats that would be tested during the year. Since January, the economy has walked a rocky path. As a result, Ballantine decided to share, mid-year, what direct mail formats have been most effective so companies can benefit and increase their bottom line. The main questions asked were: What is your best performing mailer and has the recent postage hike and weakened economy forced you to readjust your direct mail strategy? The answers varied as did the types of companies surveyed. For senior care, healthcare, retail, software and marketing, the postcard was most effective. "Historically, we have had our best success with 8x5 four-color postcards," one senior care company representative revealed. "We have revisited our mail list qualifiers and made a few modifications to help reduce costs - tweaked age and income levels, but mostly geography. We want to be more precise with our target audience. In some instances, we have divided mailings into regions or to specific zips, instead of sending to the entire list each time." For publishing and entertainment, the 9x12 package, despite the significant postage hike on flats, was indicated by some companies as their best performing mailer. One magazine publishing company reported, "The 9x12 continually performs above four percent for us. Obviously, ever increasing postage is a major concern on this flat mailer, and on flats in general, and so we are testing a 6x9 mid-size portfolio mailer against it this year." Overall, the report reveals that direct mail continues to drive business. "We are really happy with the responses we received," Ryan Cote, Director of Marketing for The Ballantine Corporation, said. "Our intention with these reports is to give direct marketing professionals access to information they may not normally have." Founded in 1966, The Ballantine Corporation has evolved from offering print production services to also providing mailing, creative and one-to-one marketing solutions. To download the full report (no registration required), visit: http://www.ballantine.com/controlreport2008.html . VNR related to this story may be viewed here: http://Send2Press.com/newswire/2008-06-0617-002.shtml. All trademarks acknowledged. Send2Press(R) is the originating wire service for this story. NEWS SOURCE: The Ballantine Corporation # # # //RELEASE END// MEDIA ONLY CONTACT(S): [ contact info not for publication online or in print ] Ryan Cote of The Ballantine Corporation +1-973-305-1500 x206 ryan @ ballantine.com /Note to editors: Additional Ballantine news and RSS feed available here: http://send2press.com/newswire/The_Ballantine_Corporation.shtml ......... Plain Text Copy, and Story Permalink: http://www.Send2Press.com/mediadrome/2008-06-0617-002P.txt Release PDF: http://www.Send2Press.com/mediadrome/news_2008-06-0617-002P.pdf Get our full-text news via RSS: http://www.Send2Press.com/RSS2/rss.xml ......... Text provided by news source (and/or the source's authorized agency), who is solely responsible for accuracy and legality of content transmitted. ......... This news story from Send2Press Newswire may be redistributed and re-posted in part or in whole by members of the media. Copr. (c) Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope(R). For news aggregation sites, blogs, and bureaus, you must retain Send2Press as the original wire service source. You may capture and self-host images linked to in above release, but do NOT stream from our server. ......... The original version of this release was issued on behalf of the above organization (the "news source"), by Send2Press(R) Newswire, a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.Send2Press.com. ......... June 2008 Press Release / B-NAB NJ / IND ADV MKT EBIZ / WR-LS / VID / PRT / REF: Advertising Industry Newswire(TM) + New Jersey Newswire(TM)