Wednesday 21st January 2009 saw a milestone date in the development of direct marketing best environmental practice for the direct marketing industry, as the PAS2020 was officially launched at a presentation in London.
After months of careful planning and debate the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2020 standards were published and came into immediate effect. The PAS was sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and its partners Acxiom, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), Royal Mail and the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Developed by BSI British Standards, PAS2020 will provide the direct marketing industry with a standard against which the environmental performance of a direct marketing campaign can be independently certified. It establishes a set of environmental objectives, performance levels and indicators that set out how to create and manage environmentally responsible direct marketing campaigns.
There are 2 key principles embodied within the PAS …
• The recognition of the impact of direct marketing and the criticism of the perceived negative environmental impact of the industry
• That the direct marketing sector are now taking more evident responsibility, which aims for greater environmental efficiencies, without damaging campaign results and profitability
To support the initative there is a devoted website at www.greendm.co.uk which includes access to a ‘PAS2020 Calculator.’ This tool creates an environmental performance score for a campaign together with a concise report.
The specifications measured include the use of suppression and cleaning files to maximise data efficiency, clarification on specifying the most environmentally-friendly
paper stocks and production techniques.
Furthermore, campaigns are not just restricted to direct mail. Door to door, e-mail, inserts and even mobile marketing are also included, thereby reflecting the integrated world we operate in.
