I'm not surprised at all.. We never stopped direct mail marketing.. We just adapted the way we did it and went to a more targeted method of choosing who we mail to rather than a bulk blast to everyone in our custom database.

Jackie, direct mail never went away and has continued to increase in volume in Australia over the last few years. Many advertisers who migrated to e-mail for their cost benefit rather than their customers benefit, are no returning to mail, as e-mail is not always the best solution.

Nearly every marketer who uses catalogues will tell you about 90% of their customers have the catalogue on their lap when they order online, just like they did when they ordered online with voice (the telephone). Very little has changed in their world except the order form - which is the alternative that the web provides.

I'm working with a youth client now who is demanding we use personal mail (not e-mail or sms) to their youth market (high school kids) because these kids love receiving personalised mail, as they don't have much experience with it and it stands out in their lives.

It's really only the digital zealots, who in many cases don't understand marketing, that think "traditional" forms of personal communication are losing to the digital media.

Radio didn't kill newspapers, TV didn;t kill radio, video didn't kill TV and e-mail didn't kill direct mail - but e-mail works extremely well when integrated with mail.

This is an encouraging tidbit of news.  As a designer who loves creating the more tactile pieces; direct mail give us more options.  However, I've also been reading articles with statistics that ad spending in 2008 will shift dramatically to internet & mobile.  It does provide companies with many options and budget considerations when developing their marketing strategies and delivery vehicles.