John Sinclair is Strategic Sales Executive at Citipost Mail. Retail Media Age Editor-in-Chief Justin Pearse sat down with him to find out what led him from direct marketing in the eighties to a career in retail media.
What is your role and what does it entail?
As a Strategic Sales Executive at Citipost Mail, my role is centred on building long-term, value-driven relationships with clients across a range of sectors.
It goes well beyond simply selling postage; I work consultatively with clients to understand their marketing objectives and help them achieve measurable results through intelligent use of direct mail, data profiling, print management and integrated campaign solutions.
How did you first become interested in retail media and move into it?
Like many people of my generation, I stumbled into direct marketing in the late eighties rather than planned it – and it turned out to be one of the best accidents of my career.
I started out at one of the country’s leading mailing houses at a truly golden era for the industry. Volumes were enormous, the pace was relentless and the energy was incredible, everyone pulling together to get clients’ campaigns out of the door on time. There was a real camaraderie and sense of purpose that I’ve never forgotten.
What hooked me was seeing the tangible impact of a well-executed campaign, a physical piece landing on a doormat and driving a measurable response. That cause and effect was compelling then and, if anything, is even more powerful today when done with the precision that modern data intelligence allows.
What most excites you about the industry today and what might happen next in retail media?
The most exciting development in our industry right now is the growing intelligence behind audience selection. Data profiling and propensity modelling mean we can reach the right person, with the right message, at the right time, and (this is key) prove it. Waste is being eliminated and ROI is becoming increasingly measurable and attributable.
What happens next? …. I think AI-driven personalisation at scale will be the game changer — where every direct mail piece is uniquely tailored without the traditional cost and complexity that once made that ambition impractical.
Who is your biggest inspiration in the retail media sector and why?
I think it has to be Rory Sutherland.
He has been a consistent and passionate champion of direct mail at a time when the industry needed it most. His belief that ‘most advertising tries to get a customer to care about a business; direct mail shows a business cares about them’ perfectly captures why physical mail remains so powerful, and his willingness to say so loudly has done so much for our industry’s credibility.
I’d also like to give a nod to Lester Wunderman, who coined the term ‘direct marketing’ in 1967… it was his pioneering work that laid the foundations for an entire industry.
What one retail media campaign or strategy that you’ve been involved in are you proudest of?
It involved a premium retailer facing the classic challenge of improving marketing ROI without compromising brand experience. We applied retail media thinking to their direct mail programme — rigorous data profiling, audience segmentation, multivariate testing and performance measurement at every stage.
The outcome validated everything I believe about modern direct mail: £150,000 in cost savings, across the year, above-benchmark response rates, and significantly improved ROI.
We proved that when you apply the same data intelligence and accountability to physical mail as you would to programmatic or paid social, it performs brilliantly as part of an integrated retail media mix. That’s the future of the channel, addressable, measurable, and results-driven.
Read about how other retail media leaders ventured into the space in the My Road to Retail Media series.
