It might be desirable to reach grandparents with mouthwash advertising. I don't know that it fits into every strategic marketing plan. But I do think that those products that have a unique target audience, or products that have a lifetime value, have a place for direct marketing in their marketing mix. And that growth is expected to continue as a percent of overall sales for the next century. One is the demand on the American public's time, and the fact that Americans like to have control over their time.
Direct marketing gives the consumer wonderful control.
You can sit in your living room at 2 a.m. and shop in a catalog or on the Internet. So you get great ability to deal with time. Secondly, as we get more and more variety in goods, you develop a better market for specialty items. You certainly couldn't have a store of sandpaper, and you couldn't have all the types of sandpaper available in most stores. Direct marketing is a wonderful tool to bring a huge variety of products to interested people.