Is direct mail and print advertizing going away?

I think it is - over time, not overnight.

Colin Crawford, an SVP at IDG (technologies largest print publisher) nails it in his blog. He says, "It’s been a challenging time to be a print publisher"... "the stark reality is that print is not rebounding and is not likely to". The honest truth is that print media is failing and dying a slow and very painful death. Last March I met with Scott Harding, CEO if ADVO (a 2B direct mail marketer) to discuss the future of online vs print marketing. He said that print media was growing and that the market looked rosy for ADVO and print media. On July 6, 2006 ADVO was sold to Valassis.

Smart print publishers (like IDG) are driving toward online media which is perfectly fueled for direct marketing. Digits were always meant to be measured. For the first time in marketing history we're able to measure patterns, like and dislikes, habits and trends of entire markets using the Internet. All this is being done real-time with very little user intervention. As a result, the economy is changing for mainstream direct marketing companies and If they listen to their customers they will change to serve them.