Letterbox Media is making its way back into the media mix as a result of growing awareness of its targeting capabilities and a new planning tool making light work of the campaign planning process.

Developed by customer communications provider Salmat, the new SwiftPlan tool provides geo-targeted marketing solutions for media agencies at the click of a button.

Using millions of Census and Household Expenditure Survey data records, combined with sophisticated algorithms, SwiftPlan allows planners to use a combination of 50+ targeting variables to increase the efficiency of their Letterbox campaigns including; standard demographic filters like age and gender, as well as more advanced targeting overlays like average household income, the presence of children in a house, typical household expenditure on different categories of products and many other overlays.

Executive General Manager of Lasoo, Dominic Finnegan, says the development of SwiftPlan will be a game changer for the industry.

“Salmat’s agency clients told us that the lack of a self-service planning tool was acting as a barrier to Letterbox securing a greater share of media budgets.

“Whilst SwiftPlan has been designed to reinforce Salmat’s advanced targeting capabilities, the most important aspect of the tool is its bespoke development in consultation with the media agency community to specifically meet their needs.”

According to Finnegan, “it appears to have been very well received with over 500 agency personnel already requesting user log-ins during our recent soft launch phase.”

In addition to its geo-targeting capabilities, SwiftPlan produces very accurate heat maps allowing Planners to visualise the penetration of their selected target audiences down to geographical areas as small as 200 households. This function allows Planners to target only those areas that over-index against their desired audience characteristics and maximise the efficiency of their Letterbox campaigns.

The production of these maps allow Agency Strategists to see how Letterbox can be used as a complement to other media in order to plug geographical gaps that may exist in a print or outdoor schedule.

Salmat plans to keep adding to the functionality of the Swiftplan tool, including the ability to overlay Roy Morgan’s Helix Personas, which is expected to be added later this month.