NEWS: JICMAIL announces the first ever winners of the JICMAIL Platinum Awards for outstanding practice with JICMAIL data

JICMAIL, the joint industry currency for mail, has today announced the winners of its inaugural Platinum Awards, which have been given to 10 companies for their outstanding expertise and practice in planning, measuring and evaluating mail campaigns with JICMAIL data.

Platinum Organisational Accreditation is the highest accolade given by JICMAIL and has been awarded to businesses who have demonstrated a level of proficiency with JICMAIL beyond its basic application which includes evidence of JICMAIL data being embedded into the subscriber’s L&D programs, routinely applied across the planning, sales and data ecosystems, and together with case study evidence that JICMAIL is being systematically used to retain or grow business.

It is an award for exceptional practice for this not for profit, joint-industry-owned planning currency which, following the introduction of the JICMAIL Levy in the spring, now has over 120 accredited subscribers.

The winners span the interests of the industry.

• Citipost Mail
• Edit
• Marketreach
• PSE Offline Marketing
• The Dragonfly Agency
• The Kite Factory
• The Letterbox Consultancy
• The Lettershop Group
• Webmart Limited
• Whistl Doordrop Media

For agencies, intermediaries and sell-side organisations to be awarded platinum accreditation, they will have gone beyond a specific set of tasks as agreed in their adoption plans which need to be completed to maintain their accredited status. These included meeting their targets for individual training across the relevant team members.

Individual training comprises three tiers of training tasks set by JICMAIL: ranging from Bronze for demonstrating basic proficiency with the data, to Silver for intermediate users, to Gold for expert users. The Bronze and Silver Awards are readily accessible through the JICMAIL Academy elearning platform and count towards CPD training hours. There are now well over 600 individual training awards.

The JICMAIL judging panel were particularly impressed by the quality of work on show from the winners.

Ian Gibbs, Director and Data Leadership and Learning at JICMAIL commented;

“Today represents a real milestone for JICMAIL and cements our position as a fully-fledged independent mail planning and measurement tool embedded into all corners of the mail ecosystem – a journey that we have made in the space of just four years. It has been heartening to see some of our most engaged users embrace the platinum challenge – a challenge that we hope our other hundred plus subscribers are themselves keen to embark on over the coming years!”

Mark Cross, Engagement Director at JICMAIL added “Judging these Platinum Awards has been a joy for us at JICMAIL and collectively they serve as a great demonstration of how this fundamental industry research and data is now driving value for users.  Our training is designed to empower users to confidently apply the data across their working routines and when this happens, as shown by the evidence within these awards, great things happen!”    

There has also been a delightful response from the winners:

Mark Davies Managing Director of Whistl (Doordrop Media) Ltd commented;

“Whistl is simply over the moon to be awarded Platinum status by JICMAIL, an affirmation of the way the team has embedded it into our business. More and more of our conversations are starting with the insights delivered by JICMAIL, particularly with the heightened engagement in consumer behaviour witnessed over the last two years and we quite frankly couldn’t be without it nowadays.”

Phil Newton, Chairman of PSE Offline Marketing said;

“We’re delighted that PSE has been awarded as a Platinum partner through JICMAIL Accreditation. The JICMAIL (Joint Industry Committee for Mail) Policy is designed to ensure that all users gain the maximum benefits from data under the new JICMAIL Levy, which came into effect this year. The Platinum Organisational Accreditation is only reviewed and evaluated twice a year, and it means we have been recognised for demonstrating exemplary use in our application and advocacy of JICMAIL data. This further proves how we always go above and beyond to deliver offline marketing, which ensures our customers retain and grow their businesses.”

Neal Dodd, Director from The Letterbox Consultancy remarked;

‘The Letterbox Consultancy is absolutely delighted to receive platinum accreditation from JICMAIL. The data has given a tremendous boost to the door drop channel and we are proud to have fully integrated it into our internal data systems, enabling us to provide clients and agencies with the very best in door drop planning services.”

Phil Ricketts, Wholesale Commercial Director, Royal Mail Marketreach said;

“The foundations of Marketreach are deeply rooted in promoting the magic of mail and we are delighted to have been awarded Platinum Accreditation in JICMAIL’s inaugural awards. We are very proud to have been involved in the journey with JICMAIL to bring leading and impartial insights to the marketing industry, helping to enable better communication planning and to support brands realise greater benefits from using mail.”

Other comments received were;

Hamish Colville, Account Director, The Kite Factory:

“JICMAIL has handed the industry a universal currency for mail, allowing planning and measurement of commercial mail to be bought in line with the other media channels which have had the luxury of uniform measurement for years. At The Kite Factory we are increasingly using JICMAIL data to give our clients the competitive edge when it comes to campaign planning and analysis, and very quickly they have started to see the commercial benefits from the inclusion of JICMAIL data.”

Sarah Burns, Head of Media Solutions, Edit:

“It is an honour to receive the Platinum award as recognition of our use of JICMAIL here at Edit. JICMAIL has become an integral planning and analysis tool for the Connected Acquisition team, and something our clients could also no longer be without! The insight that we get from JICMAIL is unrivalled, giving us real life data to make more meaningful and effective campaigns.”

Lesley Yeomans, Deputy Managing Director, Citipost Mail:

“We are absolutely delighted to achieve JICMAIL Platinum status. I am proud that our client-facing teams have adopted the Discovery tool so quickly and have used it to benefit so many clients already. JICMAIL has become an intrinsic element of our specialist client service and supports our vision to become the recognised custodian of direct mail letters in the UK.”

Isla Munro, Managing Director, The Dragonfly Agency:

“We are both excited and honoured to be awarded the JICMAIL platinum award. It’s a huge USP for our agency – adding JICMAIL insight into the conversations we have with our clients adds great gravitas. We are passionate about the power direct mail has within the marketing mix and to quantify its benefits through JICMAIL helps us keep clients engaged and committed to the channel. We look forward to displaying our certificate with pride and to helping more brands use JICMAIL to grow their direct marketing campaigns.”

Alistair Ezzy, Managing Director, The Lettershop Group:

“Lettershop are delighted to have achieved JICMAIL Platinum Partner status. JICMAIL is fundamental to the success of mail and door drops and allows the results to be compared on a like for like basis with other media channels. The new discovery tools allow competitor comparisons and insights into how campaigns are likely to perform. JICMAIL allows the team at Lettershop to work smarter with clients and help them improve the performance of their campaigns by recommending content, targeting and format advice all based on historical data.”

Tom Oldershaw, Customer Growth Director. Webmart Limited:

"JICMAIL has been instrumental in helping Webmart to portray the value of Mail to our customers. Central to that has been educating a significant number of our team in the value of JICMAIL and how to use it. To achieve Platinum status as a business brings all that training together to show us and our customers that we’ve embraced it and understand it, which in turn adds value to us and our customers." 

Platinum submissions are set to be evaluated twice a year with the next evaluation due in Spring 2022.