playnext.fm

WDMA - Daily Marketing News · John Miglautsch

WHY MAIL! Saving USPS

·39 min·1 clip
John McGlash opens by saying today is about mail, especially direct mail. He says direct mail is the best way to save USPS. He points listeners to a discussion next Tuesday at 3 p.m. Chicago time and says anyone who disagrees is welcome to come argue with him. He says the post is on the WDMA LinkedIn page. It should also be on the WDMA website. He adds that he had computer problems yesterday, so the website post may still be catching up. He gives [email protected] as another way to reach him. A couple of people wrote back after he framed the talk as a way to save the postal service. One reply said the answer is a new postmaster general. John says that is not the whole answer. He mentions hearing about a speech at the National Catalogs Mailers Association. The report came to him third hand, so he is careful about treating it as fact. He says he would still like the speech in full. He then turns to AI and a previous example about dogs. He uses that example to show how models get pulled toward common features and miss outliers. Left on its own, he says, that kind of system can drift into nonsense if it trains on its own output. He contrasts that with an 18-month-old baby that can tell a dog from a cat. He brings in CAPTCHAs and traffic lights to show how humans recognize categories that AI can miss. He says marketing needs labeled data that matches customer data with who saw and engaged with the ad. He closes by arguing for a special attribution lab with USPS, because direct mail can support the kind of accountability a billboard cannot, and the people who know how to do this are fading away.

As heard by us

A steady case for mail, accountability, and why USPS still matters.

John McGlash makes a plain case for mail, especially direct mail, as a reason to keep USPS around, and he keeps the focus on accountability instead of slogans. He argues that marketing needs labeled data: not just who someone is, but who saw the ad and engaged with it.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a blunt, mail-first argument for why USPS still has a future.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
Listen to the show on
Apple PodcastsSpotify
Play clips from this episodeMore from WDMA - Daily Marketing News