11 February 2009
This year Royal Mail is set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the postcode. Since being introduced half a century ago it has evolved to become an invaluable tool for direct marketers.
In 1959, the first postcodes were introduced in Norwich, with the first half of the postcode NOR representing the city name, and the last three characters each individual street.
There are now in more than 1.7m postcodes in the UK, covering 28m addresses. The postcode is used in geodemographics, a targeting methodology based on the premise that “birds of a feather flock together”.
Giles Finnemore, head of marketing at Royal Mail’s address management team, says: “Without the postcode, the direct marketing industry would be less well developed and brands would be unable to target their mailings efficiently.
Moreover, our postcode system now lies at the heart of many forms of modern technology, such as sat-nav systems, online mapping and route planners – and of course online shopping.”
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