Nov 23

Daily we receive unsolicited email in our Inbox in form of Spam. Spam is sent in massive quantities to individual email by using email lists or web addresses. Leafleting is done through letterboxes but is different to Spam.

There are several differences despite quite few uninformed people trying to group both in same category.

Email Spam

1.       Sender’s identity and address are concealed.

2.       The message is done by buying email lists, beyond the original formulation it requires no more effort.

3.       Often is to sell dubious products from unverifiable sources, it can range from counterfeit goods, to drugs that can be dangerous to use or hard to check their effectiveness [without doctor’s prescription] to unfounded claims about results that are unverified.

4.       Spams are not easy to stop, that is a major problem of ISP companies and to individs at work or home.

5.       People are given no choice to opt out of it.

6.       Can be sent from anywhere, a flat in Chiswick can receive spam email from Arizona and there is little they can do about it, bar to delete the email. Spam has no national boundaries.

7.       Often there is no recourse if you buy faulty goods as reputable companies do not target people outside of their client’s lists, not to speak of many cons perpetrated by Spam email.

Leafleting

1.       The identity and address or the company-individual providing a product / service are clearly displayed.

2.       The message is spread into a local area and requires a lot of effort to formulate, design, print and distribute in the best  possible way.

3.        Leafleting has to present the best part of a company during local advertising campaigns. Products and services have to be Real, addresses verified and telephone numbers and websites displayed. Business or Service reputation is at stake during leafleting if the service is not up to standard or unavailable.

4.       Leafleting can be easily Stopped. Any serious leafleting company will not deliver through the doors that clearly display the No Flier-No Leaflets sign.

5.       People have a choice as explained above if they desire to opt out of leafleting.

6.       Leafleting is often local or National in few cases.

      7.      There is always a recourse for services or goods, as the source is always known and the usual national commercial laws  apply.

      There is no contest about leafleting and Spamming through email. Leafleting has some clear advantages for persons that use it and for the community that receives the message. If a local council, a police station or a water-gas-electricity company wants to transmit a message urgently to the people, there is no better, faster and surest form than to drop a message through each letter box. Not every single person does watch TV, listens to radio or read the newspapers, but anyone can see the flier in their doormat. Leafleting brings clear benefits to the receivers, it can be a Pizza voucher, a new hair-dresser in the area with lower prices, a guttering company offering competitive services, an international phone card, a taxi card, a restaurant offer, financial advice, how to find a dentist/doctor by the NHS, a dedicated gardener, plumber, builder, computer repairs or a web designer. A leaflet can offer choice, prove cost efficient, save money for the household, get new deals and make more savings.

Even those who have placed the sticker No Fliers in their letterbox ask our operatives sometimes to get that taxi card, to have that college brochure to get more info for their children’s schooling or to browse through a catalogue with health and beauty products. With every modern technology there is a new etiquette, how to behave, how to present it and how to communicate clearly and without causing offence to the older ways, of course not every goes about it the “proper way” and some or many people feel a sense of intrusion. Rules are made up as we go along.

Every technology prompts these questions. As it was the case with the Telegraph, in 19-th century. In May 1864, some British politicians got a knock early evening at their doors. As Telegrams were a big deal then, the anticipation was for something important in the text. In fact Mr Gabriel of 27 Harley Street, was informing them that their Dental practice would be open during summer up to 5 PM. Being very indignant about this, the recipients wrote to the press: “I never met Mr. Gabriel – one said- and beg to know where does he find the right to disturb me through this medium of advertisement?”

With these letters of complain printed on the newspapers, Mr. Gabriel got more publicity that he originally imaged and all for free. It goes to show that Advertising has different methods and not all are acceptable for some people. As communication and the means change in the modern word, the behaviour changes also: it may be better to dump your boyfriend face to face rather than Facebook, it is certainly better not to make workers redundant by text or to use gizmos to send an important message instead as appropriate communication requires in certain cases. Email, mobile phones, social network sites etc have changed a lot of the way in which the modern world communicates today.

Leafleting is a growing industry, has been going on at large scale for the last 70 Years and is here to stay. It works in the long term and done carefully and persistently, also as a one off, for quick notices or messages to the community. Leafleting is used by top advertisers, in election campaign and local government also.  The statistics say:

52-63% of people find leaflets useful, 79% read and 48% respond, compared to 60% for press or 47% for TV.