Royal Mail and Matter Media are recruiting brands and services to feature in the next Matterbox promotional mailing service, due to go our late April or early May.

The Matter box has been designed to fit through a standard letterbox. It contains a range of branded free gifts which companies pay to have included, and the first commercial delivery, carried out in December 2008, saw 30,000 packs delivered to consumers who them by registering at www.matterbox.co.uk.

Brands which have used the service so far include Cadbury, Diageo, O2, Harper Collins, Sony, Nissan and Nintendo.

Royal Mail says the purpose of the Matterbox is to create a new channel which allows companies to put ‘brand representations’ into the hands of consumers, and claims it is a powerful engagement tool, rather than just another mailing or untargeted, unwanted samples.

There are now 85,000 people subscribed and the next box (the third in total, counting a pilot) will be delivered on a Saturday morning in April or May. Royal Mail is recruiting brands for the next mailing now, and is particularly keen to talk to film and video game companies about new releases around that time.

Royal Mail research found that nearly half of the consumers who received the last pack used one or more items, while 20 per cent gave items to friends or family.