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Let's Talk About Stuff.
Our Blog
Our goal in posting our blogs is three fold: To introduce timely industry news that is relevant to our clients; to post items we find interesting and entertaining, and finally, to give you a glimpse of TSW US “Behind the Curtain”. We take the business aspects of what we are doing very seriously, but we like to have fun, hopefully that shines through here.
Our Blog is a puzzle being assembled. Sometimes the individual pieces of the puzzle don’t look like the whole picture once completed – You have to keep adding pieces one at a time to make the image clear. We hope you keep coming back to see how the TSW US puzzle takes shape.
✈️ Next stop: New York.
Our own Richard Downey will be in the city next Tuesday and Wednesday (Sept 23rd and 24th) and is looking forward to connecting.
If you’re an advertiser eager to reach highly engaged, purchase-minded audiences through our exclusive media opportunities, or a retailer exploring how to monetize outbound packages as a powerful channel, Richard would love to meet. (We just crossed $85 million in incremental revenue generated for our retail partners!!!!)
Let’s talk about how we can turn everyday customer touchpoints into measurable growth.
📩 Drop Richard a message to set up time while he’s in town. (RichardDowney@exactconnections.com)
3 reasons why it is best to launch a package insert program with one agency partner
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Different sales teams going to market with the same program causes confusion, duplication of work, and often leads to lower yields as potential advertisers can simply play the multiple sales agencies off against each other.
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Any revenue expectation or targets set by the retailer become impossible for an agency to be measured against if one team is not fully responsible for all the campaigns and revenue generated.
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The retailer themselves has more work to do! Rather than just dealing with one partner agency, they will have two or three times as many contacts and interactions. And the more of those they have the less time the retailer has to focus on their core areas of focus.
Package Insert Survey Part 3: Drive action
📦 Do package inserts drive action? Absolutely.
In part 3 of our survey of US Consumers: nearly 1 in 2 consumers say they always or often take action on promotional content found inside a package. Whether it’s scanning a QR code, redeeming an offer, or exploring a product, this is high-intent engagement.
That’s not just awareness. That’s conversion-ready attention right at the moment of unboxing.
Print media isn’t old school. It’s effective. In a cluttered digital space, it’s tangible, targeted, and trusted.
If you're not tapping into package-based media, you're missing a direct line to action.
Want to turn boxes into brand-building moments? Let’s connect.
If you interested in the full survey data contact Ryan Rager.
Package Insert Survey Part 2: Trust and relevance
Part two of our survey reveals how US consumers feel about package inserts compared to traditional direct mail.
Consumers trust what feels relevant — and package inserts deliver that trust.
In our latest survey, over 80% of shoppers said they find a printed offer from a brand they just purchased from trustworthy and relevant. This includes 55% who chose it outright and another 28% who rated it as equally trustworthy.
By contrast, only 10% favored generic direct mail.
That’s the power of context.
📦 When an offer arrives inside a package, it’s tied to a brand experience the shopper already trusts.
💡 It doesn’t feel like advertising — it feels like a reward.
🚀 And it converts, because it reaches consumers at their most receptive moment: unboxing.
For brand managers, package inserts are a smarter alternative to direct mail:
✅ Built-in credibility
✅ Targeted by recent purchase behavior
✅ Delivered at scale through premium ecommerce partners
Direct mail interrupts. Package inserts connect.
If you’re looking to invest in channels that consumers actually welcome, it’s time to own the unboxing moment.
Package Insert Survey Part 1
How do people really feel when opening an ecommerce package?
Connections recently conducted a national survey of US consumers to understand emotional engagement at the exact moment a package is opened.
The headline?
74% of consumers said they feel excited.
Not neutral. Not distracted. Excited.
Compare that to traditional direct mail—often lost in a stack of bills or non-relevant mail—or digital ads that are a scroll away from being forgotten. Package insert media reaches people in a moment of joy, when they’re highly engaged and emotionally open.
This data reinforces what our partners already know:
If you want attention, go where the excitement lives.
This is part 1 of a 5 part survey series to share our findings around Package Inserts.
💍 Big news from the Connections team — we’ve just welcomed David’s Bridal to our portfolio of retail partners!
New Retailer Alert: Petco Joins Connections Portfolio of Exclusive Programs! 🐾
We’re thrilled to welcome Petco as our newest—and exclusive—package insert partner.
For brands looking to engage high-intent shoppers at home, this is a powerful moment: Petco packages are landing in the homes of devoted pet parents who spend with purpose.
📬 Why it matters:
Petco buyers are emotionally invested. They’re purchasing essentials for the furry (or scaly) members of their family. That moment of delivery? It’s joyful, intentional, and distraction-free—exactly when your brand should show up.
✨ Package inserts are:
• Hyper-targeted—based on real purchase data
• High-impact—directly in hand at the point of unboxing
• Trusted—endorsed by a retailer the shopper already loves
• Efficient—delivering ROI at scale across 1B+ packages annually
🎯 Great Fit for Petco’s Package Insert Audience:
• Subscription meal kits (for humans!)
• Home cleaning & organization brands
• Fitness & wellness programs
• Insurance providers (home, life)
• Travel & pet-friendly lodging
• Lifestyle boxes and gifting services
• Credit card and financial services
• On-demand delivery & convenience services
If you're looking for meaningful engagement and a strong conversion driver, Petco just became your next best channel.
Let’s talk about owning this in-home moment.
Target Media Solutions, Inc. and Connections announce merger to create family lifestage retail media marketplace.
We’re excited to share the press release below announcing our merger with Target Media Solutions.
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Target Media Solutions, Inc. and Connections announce merger to create family lifestage retail media marketplace.
The combined business represents some of the most-loved life- stage retailers, spanning bridal, pregnancy, young and growing families. This merger brings together two of the most established and respected players in the offline media, and in particular, the package insert sector into one united team harnessing many years of category experience, contacts and know how.
Richard Downey, SVP of Connections, says “We are beyond excited to announce this merger. We have been working with the TMS team for many years and have always admired their knowledge, tenacity, and helpful nature. Earlier in 2025, we started tentative conversations about joining forces, and those early conversations have led us to this fantastic conclusion. The whole Connections team looks forward to getting to know the TMS client and customer base, and we are honoured to get the chance to work with great people such as Ingrid Brown and Joe Fitzgerald.”
Connections is an Atlanta, Georgia-based business specializing in the management and monetization of retail media programs for companies such as Carters Inc., Shutterfly, and Saks OFF 5TH. The merger with TMS adds the retail programs of Similac, Petco, David's Bridal and many more to the united portfolio making the collection of programs the largest collection of Mom and family focused retail programs to be found in North America.
Joe Fitzgerald, EVP Operations & Business Development of Target Media Solutions, says, “We couldn't be more excited about our merger with Connections, another respected leader in the lifestage marketing space. This strategic union enhances our capabilities in insert media and allows us to leverage additional innovative ideas and cutting-edge technology.
Having collaborated closely over the past several years, it became clear that we are stronger together than as separate entities. By combining our advertiser and marketing program relationships, decades of industry expertise, and technological strengths, we are creating a more powerful, synergistic organization—one that will deliver even greater value to our clients.”
The merged agency, operating under the name Connections, is eager to engage with retail programs interested in generating significant incremental revenue by leveraging their e-commerce or digital inventory through complementary, non-competitive advertising partnerships.
Please reach out to Richard Downey at richarddowney@exactconnections.com
Your Next Best Customer Already Shops DTC - Are You in the Box?
When someone buys from a direct-to-consumer brand, they’re not just making a purchase. They’re demonstrating behavior. Intent. Trust.
That’s the moment Connections helps brands capture - by placing offers and product samples inside ecommerce packages from over 50 premium retailers.
These high value consumers have already proven they’ll buy from brands beyond Amazon and Walmart. They’re opt-in, online-savvy, and ready to engage again.
By advertising in the packages of other DTC brands (Carters Inc., Shutterfly etc) you’re tapping into a network of high-value, high-intent buyers — in-home, distraction-free, and in the mindset to purchase.
It’s targeted. It’s scalable. And it’s built on data that ensures you’re not wasting media dollars on anonymous scrolls or unproven clicks.
If your brand is selling DTC, you should be advertising with other DTCs. Let’s talk about how we help make that happen.
Monetizing your audience post checkout
One of the most common and obvious third-party advertising relationships that retailers enter into is the post-checkout ad format.
This is often in the form of a pop-up ad unit that is served immediately after the customer has completed their online order. It is usually a selection of relevant and algorithmically selected advertiser offers.
These partnerships generate a significant amount of incremental revenue for the retailers that host them, and AdTech companies such as Rokt and Uptick are among the fastest-growing in the sector.
Retailers can block specific advertisers and/or verticals that they believe do not align with their audience, or are brands and categories with which they do not wish to partner.
If you are a retailer looking to take your first steps in the area of post-checkout monetization, or if you are a retailer already seeing the benefits of a partnership such as this and are looking for additional, complimentary, non competitive ad partnerships reach out to us here at Connections and we would love to answer any questions you may have.