A prediction of direct mail's continuing relevance from an unusual source.

Here at the Toolbox, we take news feeds (some daily, some weekly) from around 10 different overseas services that cover a multitude of marketing and business sources.

So, if things get busy in the "Fire Department" (ie we are putting out a "fire" in our real job) we can sometimes miss something at the time. But this one was worth the effort of going back to do some Spring cleaning of one of those "to read later" emails many of us have lurking in our In-box.

"The Dawn of the Digital Détente" by Al Urbanski was a short article that looked all the world to be an innocuous, self-serving comment by the US Postmaster General, Pat Donahoe to the effect that Direct Mail is as relevant now as it ever was.

Don Rodnitzky is the CEO and founder of digital agency 3Q. They look after tech leaders such as GoPro, Square and Warby Parker, to name a few heavy hitters.

One of his most important jobs is predicting what the marketing world would be 18 months into the future (notice how short the time frame is these days!).

And in his opinion "You are going to see more digital companies integrating their own marketing efforts with TV and direct mail," Rodnitzky says. "They've realized that it remains an essential way to reach customers."

It's certainly why in the local market retailers such as Howards Storage World maintains a considerable footprint in both digital and physical camps. And why this appears likely to be the most successful strategy for retailers of all stripes.