Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Zzoomm plc
Where: United Kingdom
When: 22 October 2025
Law stated as at: 14 November 2025
What happened:
A broadband provider, Zzoomm, sent a direct mail circular in a brown, windowed envelope to consumers in June, July and August 2025. The text “Important notice. Disruption in your area” was visible through the envelope window. The letter inside revealed the following additional text “Not the disruption you were expecting…But it’s the best kind. Homes across your area are switching to faster, more reliable Full Fibre broadband from Zzoomm”.
Five complainants challenged whether the advertisement was obviously identifiable as a marketing communication and whether it was misleading because it implied that it contained an important notice about broadband disruption.
Zzoomm explained that the campaign was designed and distributed by a team that no longer worked with Zzoomm and, due to a recent merger, Zzoomm had no knowledge of the campaign and therefore did not review it. Zzoomm said that the intention was to create a positive disruption for consumers, rather than to mislead them, but appreciated that some consumers would have had a negative response based on their experience with civil engineering works associated with broadband installation.
The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct and Promotional Marketing (CAP Code) states that marketing communications must be obviously identifiable as such and must make clear their commercial intent if that is not apparent from the context. Marketing communications must also not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
The ASA considered that the text “Important notice. Disruption in your area” implied that the letter was official correspondence relating to an interruption to broadband services in the recipients’ local area, with the term “Important notice” providing a sense of authority. The use of a brown, windowed envelope also added to the overall impression that the circular was official correspondence.
Crucially, although the ASA acknowledged that the envelope contained the Zzoomm logo, it did not consider that the inclusion of branding alone made it sufficiently clear that the communication was commercial in nature, particularly when presented alongside wording suggesting an important service update. The ASA also understood that Zzoomm had previously carried out infrastructure improvements in the relevant localities. This added to the impression that the envelope contained a formal notice about broadband service disruption.
The ASA recognised that once opened, most recipients would understand that the letter was a marketing communication promoting Zzoomm’s broadband services. However, as that text was not visible without opening the letter, the ASA considered that it was not obviously identifiable as a marketing communication from the outset.
The ASA concluded that the ad was misleading and breached CAP Code rules 2.1, 2.3 and 3.1.
Why this matters:
This ruling reinforces the fact that simply including a brand logo on direct mail is insufficient to satisfy the CAP Code’s requirements for obvious commercial identification. Businesses using direct mail must ensure that the ad’s commercial intent is immediately clear from the envelope itself, not just its contents. The decision is particularly relevant for telecoms, utilities and financial services sectors where consumers may expect official service notifications. Envelope design, wording and presentation must work together to make clear from the outset that it is a marketing communication.
