Back in 1993 I was a copywriter at Wunderman, a direct marketing agency. It was founded by Lester Wunderman (the man who coined the term “direct marketing”) and then owned by parent company Young & Rubicam, the global advertising agency. Wunderman was on the 7th floor. Y&R was on the 15th floor. And all too often, whenever the doors opened on the 7th floor, you would invariably hear someone at the back of the elevator announce the floor as if we were in some bizarre department store – “ENVELOPES!” – an obvious and derogatory allusion to direct mail.

Truth be told, we did do envelopes (direct mail) for clients like Columbia House Music Club, Book of the Month Club, Time Life Books, Canadian Tire Financial and others. Advertising disciplines remained in silos. Clients bought Direct Mail from direct mail agencies. Television spots, radio and print ads were done by advertising agencies. And so on. The internet was still a curiosity. And the term “brand” was used interchangeably with the word “advertising” – as in “We have to do a brand ad!”

But then coming out of the recent recession, large multi-national companies like Apple Computer, American Express and Ford, to name a few, decided they wanted to start seeing more accountability when it came to their advertising spend. ROI became more of a differentiator for Direct Marketers. We could actually prove that you could spend X on a campaign and show how it paid for itself. You could test and adjust your campaigns based on the learning from the test. You could target your audience and focus your message better so that it was truly relevant to the prospect. And of course, you could upsell and cross-sell your current clients, keeping them loyal and making them more profitable. So more marketing dollars came over to the Direct side and our friends in mass advertising started to see their world change.

And so it was that, as the “big guys” got more interested in Direct Marketing, brand became more important to direct marketers. Now we were working with famous brands and Directors of Marketing were asking us to “integrate” with the rest of their advertising and reflect their brand in everything we were doing – and generate a response. Admittedly, starbursts went away and things got prettier and more conceptual. And soon enough we were driving traffic online, asking for the order on TV, in magazines and so on. We called it Brand Response and it was a brand new world before we knew it. Direct Mail didn’t go away, but nobody thought of Direct Marketing agencies as just licking envelopes anymore.

Now it’s 2010 and I’m working in the fundraising sector and seeing the exact same sea change. We’re living in tough times. Donors who once thought nothing of opening an envelope, putting a cheque in and mailing the donation to a favourite charity, are now aging. We asked and they gave. Younger people are not as likely to donate through the mail. Or read appeals that come in the mail. They text. They tweet. They Google. They volunteer their time before they part with their money. They give once online and not necessarily again. They’re skeptical. They connect emotionally to brands and wear famous brands like a badge of honour.

At the same time, more people from the commercial side are moving into client positions in the non-profit sector. And they’re bringing their brand experience with them. That’s also why general agencies are pitching and winning non-profit business that would, in years past, have gone to traditional fundraising agencies. Or they’re doing pro-bono work to generate creative that wins awards.

So we’re living through a moment of change. Fundraisers working in this sector – whether you’re a client or an agency person – ignore the brand at their own peril. It’s what connects donors to your cause. It’s what differentiates your organization. It’s what the marketing department understands. And it’s how you make your fundraising efforts more relevant to a changing demographic in a more fragmented world.

We’re not talking about doing away with direct mail. We’re talking about understanding when it’s appropriate to use it alone, how to incorporate branding into it, and how to integrate the mail with other channels to give the mail a lift. Or when it is appropriate, indeed, finding new and innovative ways to communicate with your intended target audience in a way that is consistent with what they know about your brand.

In the end, branding is about connection, relevance and consistency. It’s about being open minded and choosing the right channel(s) based on what your specific challenge is, for the best result. Especially in these challenging times.