Today is my birthday, and before I rush off to enjoy a day of untrammelled treats and delights, I thought I'd just quickly report back on the contents of my birthday mailbag.

I am the grateful recipient of a fine selection of cards from family and friends, none of whom would dream of sullying my inbox with a hated e-card. Inspection reveals that 80% are printed in the UK.  

Aside from the genuinely handwritten items, the gold star for data mining and clever print-based birthday-centric marketing goes to.... Matalan.

As marketing technology becomes (supposedly) more and more sophisticated, I like to keep a close eye on who's actually using my info and how. My personal details must reside in umpteen retailer databases, but Matalan has actually done something clever and print-based with the info.

Matalan's mailing features a personalised birthday card (with my name on the front cover and inside), which arrived in an envelope with the address details printed in blue ink in a sort of faux handwriting typeface. Inside the card is affixed a laminated credit-card size money-off voucher, and this is also personalised. So an apparently simple offering actually involves three entirely separate personalised pieces. What a difference in terms of complexity to the one-piece mailers I was lauding a few weeks back.

All that's required for my birthday joy to be unbounded is for someone to provide the perfect gift for a print anorak by telling me who does them, and how.