PebblePost: Old-school meets new-school

PebblePost, a startup for “programmatic direct mail”, recently raised $15 million in Series B funding. The company aims to send consumers customized mail (physical mail) based on their online activity. The premise of the company is that it is becoming more and more challenging to engage consumers via digital advertising and that following up with printed mail creates a different type of dialogue with their target audience.

While an innovative concept, it will be interesting to see how consumers react to receiving customized direct mail based on their recent online activity. People are generally used to being targeted online, but the company risks crossing the line into ‘creepy’ territory if consumers are uncomfortable being reached at their home address.