"Just a few years ago, I could count on receiving a mailbox-full of direct mail nearly every day, including the crown jewel of direct marketing, the BIG direct mail piece," writes Dean Rieck at Direct Creative. "Thick #10's, fat 6×9's, and beefy 9×12's once stood atop the mountain of attention-grabbing communication."

Although the recession and a shift to online marketing channels made direct mail seem expensive and outdated, it hasn't gone away—for one simple reason: "What people are discovering is that traditional media, including direct mail, still work. That includes the big direct mail piece," according to Rieck.

Here are a few of his reasons why big direct mail pieces might be just what you need:

• They face little competition in a recipient's mailbox. "A mail stream full of dinky formats makes larger formats stand out," he notes.
• They provide extra space for marketing copy. "[This is] the driver in any direct mail campaign."
• They encourage recipients to focus on your message. People will give a bulky direct mail piece more consideration than the second or two they spend on an email's subject line.
• They give your company an innovative image. "[T]hose big packages seem novel now," he says. "They let you zig while everyone else zags."

The Po!nt: This might be the time to test a large direct mail piece—an old media stalwart might just deliver new media results.

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