Direct marketing refers to any marketing activity used to achieve interaction with readers, listeners, or viewers. The aim of direct marketing is therefore to elicit an individual and measurable response from the recipient.
Direct marketing includes:
- addressed promotional mail (mailings),
- brochures,
- catalogs,
- unaddressed mailings and
- telemarketing, but also
- emails,
- banner advertising and
- search engine marketing or social media marketing.
Legal Framework
The legal framework for direct marketing and the sending of advertisements is formed by the Trade Regulation Act, the Telecommunications Act, and data protection regulations.
The Trade Regulation Act
According to the Trade Regulation Act, address publishers and direct marketing companies are generally permitted to send addressed promotional material to third parties by post. However, the recipient can prohibit the sending of future advertisements. This regulation, however, only applies to advertisements sent by post.
The Professional Association for Advertising and Market Communication of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) maintains the so-called “Robinson List”. Individuals can register on this list if they do not wish to receive addressed postal advertising. The list is updated monthly and made available to address publishers and direct marketing companies. Before sending addressed advertising, these companies must cross-reference their data with the Robinson List. Furthermore, the advertiser must comply with their information obligations under the GDPR and inform data subjects about their rights. In addition, data subjects must be informed that they can object to receiving future addressed postal advertising. Address publishers and direct marketing companies that fail to consult the “Robinson List” or send postal direct advertising to recipients registered on the list not only commit a commercial administrative offense but also violate applicable data protection law and risk a fine.
The Telecommunications Act
According to the Telecommunications Act, any form of electronic communication, such as calls, text messages, faxes, or emails for advertising purposes, is prohibited without the prior consent of the recipients. This applies to both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) relationships. Even the initial call, fax, or email to obtain consent is considered advertising. Furthermore, if a recipient’s given consent is revoked, the sending of addressed postal advertising becomes impermissible from that point onwards.
Data Protection
Under data protection regulations, personal data may only be processed if there is a legal basis for doing so.
The GDPR stipulates that the processing of personal data, such as names, addresses, and email addresses, for direct marketing purposes can constitute a legitimate interest of the data controller. However, caution is advised! Anyone who conducts direct marketing in electronic form without the prior consent of the data subjects is still acting unlawfully under the Telecommunications Act.
See also: “Online Advertising”
