Released
on: June 30, 2009, 5:02 am
Author: NS & I
Industry: Financial
National
Savings and Investments (NS&I), the government-backed savings provider,
is delighted to be named as the first customer within the Government to meet
Sustainable Mail™ environmental standards.
Sustainable Mail™ has been designed by Royal Mail to help businesses increase
the use of environmentally-friendly materials in mailings, while reducing the
amount of mail in the waste stream. With almost 27 million customers, NS&I
regularly uses direct mail to communicate with customers. The new service will
help the financial provider minimise the environmental impact of its direct
mail campaigns. Another benefit of signing up to the Royal Mail's new bulk mail
service is a lower price tariff.
Tim Mack, Head of Marketing and Communications at NS&I,
stated: "We welcomed and encouraged Royal Mail's development of Sustainable
Mail(tm) and are proud to meet the criteria and pleased to save money on postage
costs."
To qualify for the Sustainable Mail™ product, mailers must meet one or
both of the specification requirements - entry level, where prices of up to
2% below normal Mailsort tariffs are available, or intermediate level where
this increases to 4.7%.
Matthew Neilson, Head of Environmental Solutions at Royal Mail, said: "There
has been tremendous interest in the Sustainable Mail™ service and we are
delighted to name NS&I as the first Government organisation to use this
service for their direct mail campaigns."
Sustainable Mail™, along with the Responsible Mail™ product offered
by Royal Mail's Wholesale division, are the first services available that are
consistent with the forthcoming BSI standard for Environmental Performance for
Direct Marketing. The standard, PAS 2020, was announced in January with the
backing of Royal Mail as well the Direct Marketing Association, Acxiom and advertising
organisation ISBA.
NS&I produces all its direct marketing material in association with integrated
agency Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw. The agency was appointed in January 2008
to provide direct marketing and direct response services. NS&I expects to
post its first direct mailings using the Sustainable Mail™ product in
July 2009.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
About National Savings and Investments
NS&I is one of the UK's largest financial providers with almost 27 million
customers and over £94 billion invested. It is best known for Premium
Bonds, but also offers Inflation-Beating Savings, Guaranteed
Equity Bonds and Children's Bonus Bonds in its range. All products offer
100% security, because NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
ISDN for interviews: 020 7602 4522
Out of hours: All numbers above diverted to staff mobile phones.
Images of Tim Mack are available on request.
NS&I
PR contact:
Gill Stephens
National Savings and Investments
375 Kensington High Street
London
W14 8SD
020 7348 93449
www.nsandi.com