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Print Media Isn’t Dead. It’s Evolving Into a Strategic Brand Asset in 2026

• Trust and credibility: Print builds stronger brand trust than most digital channels (B).
• High-value ROI: Print delivers measurable results, especially when integrated with digital campaigns (C).
• Consumer engagement: Print cuts through the clutter, offering a moment of focus and emotional connection (D).

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at Connections

This season, we’re celebrating the incredible partners who make what we do meaningful. To Carters Inc., Shutterfly, Enfamil, Lifetouch, Rent The Runway, Similac, and so many others, thank you for your collaboration, creativity, and trust throughout the year.

Working with such passionate and forward-thinking teams reminds us why partnership matters. Together, we’ve created work that inspires and connects with customers in real and lasting ways.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season filled with warmth, rest, and celebration.

We look forward to achieving even more together in 2026.

💜 The Connections Team

🤝 Connections. A trustworthy and collaborative partner to all media agencies.

Connections has significantly increased the amount of business it does in partnership with media agencies over the last few years. Working alongside agency partners to ensure that their clients' package insert campaigns are delivered effectively and efficiently.

Our records show that we have partnered with over 50 agencies over the years to facilitate package insert programs.

We’re proud of the reputation we’ve earned as an agency partner that can be trusted to fully respect the relationship between the agency we’re working with and its advertisers.

We understand that collaboration and transparency are the keys to long-standing partnerships, and the relationships we’ve built with key agency partners in the package insert space are testament to that approach.

As we go into 2026, we’re also keen to start working with more agencies from outside the package insert world. We know that marketers and brands are becoming more interested in retail media generally and package inserts specifically. If you or someone you know works at an agency that specializes in channels outside of package inserts, we’d love to help you facilitate test campaigns either as a fully transparent partner or on a white-label basis.

📬 You may even receive a newsletter from Connections soon, designed to demystify the world of package inserts for interested agencies and account managers.

Please do get in touch if you’re interested in hearing more or would like to receive our agency newsletter.

Partnership Spotlight: L'eggs x Rent the Runway

We’re thrilled to announce a new partnership between L'eggs® and Rent The Runway, now live this December.

Through Connections’ ecommerce media program, L’eggs is reaching fashion-forward, confident women right where they live, shop, and make decisions in the home.

This collaboration brings together two iconic brands that truly understand their audience: women who balance style, comfort, and self-expression every day. Inside Rent the Runway packages, L’eggs delivers a moment of discovery, creating an in-home experience that feels personal and perfectly timed.

A special thank-you to Reina Govindarajan from Rent the Runway for helping bring this partnership to life. Your collaboration and vision made this possible.

We’re proud to help make this connection happen. ✨

P.S. Here's the link to the discount page if you are looking for some great legwear this winter! https://qrs.ly/aqh2y4g

Why you should package insert programs to help you hit your end of year customer acquisition targets

Q4 is the biggest time of year for almost every retailer - at Connections, we do actually have some advertisers for whom January is bigger than December in terms of sales, wonder if anyone can guess which brand and sector I am referring to? Let us know in the comments if you think you do.

But for the majority of our online retail partners and advertisers, Q4 and, of course, the period between Black Friday and the final deadline for delivery in time for Christmas, specifically Q4, can make or break a year.

However, from an advertiser's point of view, this provides an enormous opportunity. Greater volumes, customers in a spending mood and often with bigger budgets than at other times of the year.

To capitalize on Q4, marketers really should start their planning in the summer time so that space can be secured, creative can be tested, and printing can be done. Because even though December has only just begun, we all know how quickly the next Q4 planning period will come around! 

Giving Thanks to the Connections That Keep Us Moving

This Thanksgiving, we’re feeling grateful for the incredible retail partners who make what we do possible every single day.

To our partners at Carters Inc., Rent The Runway, Similac, and Shutterfly, and to all of our other amazing retail partners, thank you for your continued collaboration, creativity, and trust. Working alongside teams that share our passion for delivering meaningful customer experiences is what makes this industry so rewarding.

We’re also giving special thanks to the distribution center teams behind the scenes. Your precision, consistency, and hard work ensure our package insert programs run smoothly and reach customers at just the right moment, inside their homes where meaningful connections are made.

From all of us at Connections (US, Canada), thank you for being such an essential part of our story. Wishing you and your teams a warm and happy Thanksgiving. 💜💙

Package insert programs – more than just a DR tactic 📦✨

Package insert programs have traditionally been thought of as a valuable direct response strategy. And when the right advertiser is matched with the right retailer, that’s absolutely true ✅.

The matching of an offer for a product such as KiwiCo, Inc. to an audience of Carter's Moms, for example, cannot be beaten and is a recipe for outstanding response. Or putting an insert for jewelry in front of the Rent The Runway audience would yield more outstanding results.

We at Connections are confident in saying that because we manage both the Carter’s and Rent The Runway package insert programs—along with many more.

However, package insert programs can also play a very effective role in brand building 🌟.

Research has shown that physical media inserted into e-commerce deliveries not only has an outstandingly high level of consumer recall of the insert, but by extension, the brand itself is often kept for a significant period of time once the product has been delivered.

Whether the ad is pinned to a fridge or resides on the coffee table, that longevity in the advertising message is a dream come true for brand-building marketers 🏡.

When you stop thinking of package inserts as just a DR play, their potential benefits increase even more.

Category Exclusivity – a key component of Package Insert Programs 🔑📦

For any advertiser that is focused on direct response, the issue of category exclusivity is always an important one.

You can have the best creative and the most enticing offer in the market, but if your target audience is also exposed to an offer from one of your category competitors, your message will inevitably be diluted.

At Connections, we take the issue of category exclusivity very seriously. For us, it is important in two key ways:
1️⃣ Maximizing advertiser ROI – ensuring that our advertisers get the most from their investment, whether that means new subscribers, app downloads, or hitting KPIs.
2️⃣ Protecting retail partner experience – consumers love receiving offers with their e-commerce deliveries. It makes them feel valued and rewarded. Multiple brands in the same category dilute that feeling.

If you are interested in trying package inserts as a new acquisition channel in 2026, get in touch with Connections – we’d love to help you make that happen!

Package Insert Programs - The original retail media!

The topic of retail media has been one of the topics discussed over recent years. With first-party ad networks from companies such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and many more, utilizing their enormous user bases to generate huge sums of ad dollars. As well as offering advertisers the chance to influence the purchasing decision-making at the most opportune time.

But the idea of advertisers buying into a particular retailer's audience goes back a lot longer than the digital retail media networks, the likes of which are mentioned above.

Smart, response-focused advertisers have been placing their ads into complementary retailer packages for decades now.

The level of targeting that this type of activity provides is a marketer's dream. If you are a brand looking to target Moms of babies and young children, then placing your advertising literature, or product sample, into Enfamil, Similac or Carters packages is as targeted as you can get. There aren't many people ordering from those companies that aren't Moms!

Similarly, if you are looking to target pet owners, putting your brand into the hands of Petco shoppers as they receive their order guarantees next to zero wastage.

All of the retailers mentioned above, and many more besides, are exclusively available through Connections.

Get in touch and let's see how the power of package insert campaigns can benefit your business.

Holiday season. The perfect time to launch a package insert program.

For most retailers Q4 is the biggest time of the year for sales. 

Whether that be in store or online. The introduction of complimentary, non competitive inserts into ecommerce packages gives these retailers more opportunity for revenue generation and their customers access to exclusive offers that are often best in market.

Connections is the US's leading agency when it comes to the launch and management of package insert programs (PIPs) we handle the full process from revenue forecasting, proactive sales outreach all the way through to the back end logistical set up.

Connections commercial and sales teams work with all of the leading brands and agencies that are active in package inserts and are ready to bring brands like Wayfair, HelloFresh, DoorDash and Uber to your packages!

Revenue generation in 2025 is still possible, but if you are a retailer that delivers over 100k packages per month and are looking to add some meaningful incremental revenue to your year-end, then you will need to move fast.

And if there is not enough time to introduce inserts into your packages in 2025, get in touch and let's talk about how Connections can help you make 2026 your most profitable year yet.