According to new research, direct marketing agencies run the risk of disappointing their clients by failing to nominate their campaigns for industry awards.

The research investigated the attitudes of direct marketing practitioners and their clients towards the value of marketing industry awards programmes.

Waitrose has launched a direct mail campaign to encourage customers to continue using its online grocery channel WaitroseDeliver throughout the summer, even if they’re going on holiday.

This is in response to the increasing amount of people holidaying in the UK, as it reminds customers they can have shopping delivered to their holiday destination, or order groceries online and arrange to collect it en-route.

Toyota is launching a direct mail campaign to encourage potential car buyers to test-drive the cars, as well as promoting its models with optimal drive as standard.

The campaign aims to promote the eco-benefits of its Optimal Drive models, which offer better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions.

Tesco will create 800 new jobs by opening a banking call centre in Glasgow as it rebrands its financial services division as Tesco Bank.

The supermarket chain plans to re-brand its Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) division as Tesco Bank, in the wake of the banking crisis following the global credit crunch.

The new call centre, will manage customer sales and service for TPF, which already offers saving accounts, loans, credit cards and insurance to around 6 million customers.

The government is refusing to intervene in the escalating dispute between Royal Mail and the postal workers’ union over modernisation plans, despite calls by the union’s chief to do so.

The strike, which would badly affect direct mail and marketing services, could happen in the next few weeks unless the situation is resolved.