20 June 2008 - A new 'UK Junk Mail Award' has been launched in a bid to 'name and shame' businesses that excessively use junk mail as a form of marketing.
Initiated by The Green Insurance Company, the campaign aims to make businesses more aware of how consumers feel about direct mail by asking people to nominate companies with "annoying, irresponsible and environmentally unfriendly" business practices.
Every year more than 16 billion pieces of junk mail are pushed through British letter boxes, for which an estimated 550,000 tonnes of paper is used. Most junk mail campaigns have a response rate of less than 2 per cent. The Scottish insurer hopes its campaign will encourage businesses to adopt more environmentally friendly marketing strategies.
Andrew McMillan, managing director of The Green Insurance Company, said: "The Junk Mail Awards are a way of reaching out to the business community and showing them what consumers think of their current direct marketing strategies. This campaign should make companies sit up and take note, showing them the effects of their actions. Even consumers who actively recycle cannot break down some of the junk mail they receive, so we must try to stop it at the root of the problem."
People can nominate bulk mailers in a number of different categories on the company's website. The awards are open until 5pm on 11 July 2008. The winners will be announced on 21 July 2008.