The UK has suffered national strikes in the last few weeks: harrassed men in suits emerging from protracted negotiations, oil-drum braziers burning outside locked gates, management and unions both lambasted in the press for failing to adapt to the realities of the digital age.

Chris Barraclough wrote on his Brand Republic blog that some elements of the marketing fraternity seem pretty smug and sneery about the postal service…

“we don’t really need the post these days, do we? I do everything on my Blackberry…” the subtext being “do we really have to subsidise the post for Ethel Miggins living in rural Cumbria?” (Yes, you do).

Well, we at The Real Adventure tend to agree with him, and not just because we create award-winning Direct Marketing campaigns…(!)

The mail service in the UK is Universal, and that’s not something to be taken lightly: very few things are any more. 26m households have a letterbox of some form, more than have a TV or a phone. The Post connects people in a way email or twitter can’t. Its predicted demise will impact most on the people who are least able to use or afford the internet - the old or very young, the isolated, the poor. ONS statistics for 2009 indicate 64% of the over 65s claim to have never used the internet. 30% of UK households (nearly 8 million) don’t have internet access. My daughters squeal with excitement if they get anything in the post.

Crucially, it’s the important things that get put ‘into writing’; contracts, Christmas / Birthday / Mothers’ Day cards, presents, thankyou notes or holiday postcards… All these are things that show ‘we’re thinking of you even if we can’t be with you’. For the recipient, post can be truly tangible, keepable and have historical value. We keep cards and letters. We print ‘important’ emails. Because if it means something, we like to have a copy. Letters, diaries, photos are the lifeblood of personal and family memories, the everyday history of us all.

And on a commercial level, Direct Mail still delivers high quality customers and donors for many brands and charities, without even thinking of the vast new market for online rentals and purchases. We have created many long-running campaigns and programmes that deliver tremendous returns for our clients, and offer great value and experiences for the consumers. Coupons incentivise trial for well-targeted groups of new consumers, and we also know that up to 40% of the incremental sales from our door drop campaigns come from people who received the door drop, then trialled the product without even redeeming the coupon: proper through-the-door media for only a few pence per person…

The postal channel is real, tangible and meaningful to many groups of consumers and businesses. Offline and online activities should and can be integrated to achieve an impact greater than the sum of the individual campaign elements. Direct Marketing is eminently measurable and as such we can actually prove its worth to our clients.

So it’s myopic (to say the least) if marketers anywhere are questioning its relevance…