2013 Eddy Award winner details

Sally adopted the slogan “Your future looks good on you” and presented a colorful, complete brochure that serves as a reference handbook to saving and investing. The program also includes enrollment forms and an easy step-by-step guide to enrolling. The graphics and use of white space are excellent. Judges liked the blurb at the end of the "do-it-yourself" section – if you're uncomfortable, keep reading.

Service provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services

Possibly the most difficult task faced by an Eddy award applicant was the Rhode Island treasurer's office effort to educate participants about a pension reform law that replaced a traditional defined benefit plan with a hybrid system that combined a smaller DB plan with a mandatory defined contribution plan.

Service provider: TIAA-CREF Financial Services

Superb branding alone would have made this entry a winner. Then again, an amazingly engaging 401(k) rock song custom-designed for the plan would have done the trick. But so would the video of the "savologist" explaining investment education in an entertaining, accessible way. Not to mention, participation increased four percentage points; auto rebalancing, 10 points; and auto escalation, 18 points.

Service providers: PartnerComm Inc. and Welch Hornsby & Welch

Petco used its own industry to brand its materials, and it worked splendidly. For example, diversification was explained by photos of different breeds of dogs and cats. Headlines were great, such as “Bury it now, enjoy it later! How many bones will you need to retire?” Petco was able to take dry information and write it simply and cleverly.

Service provider: Lexmond Communications

Omni's materials looked upscale and classy, so they fit with the brand, and were well thought out. Giveaways included a luggage tag and nice notepad. Plus, the properties competed to have the largest enrollment increase and the largest deferral increase; the prizes were $2,500 for employee 'experiences.'

Service provider: Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

Judges lauded the San Francisco Deferred Compensation Plan for graphics used in materials designed to educate participants about the 457 plan's new target-date fund lineup. Photos of such landmarks as the Golden Gate Bridge and cable cars clearly branded the brochure and newsletter. Especially appealing was the use of a camera – think "focus" – and camera lenses to provide statistical data.

Service providers: Russell Investments, Great-West Retirement Services

New York City's “E-mercial” is an interactive, easy-to-use web experience that features topics ranging from enrolling to withdrawing and varying in length from 30 seconds to three minutes. Judges especially liked the module on top things to avoid (such as loans) and the explanation of the fund's IRA.

Service provider: Great-West Retirement Services

Interesting images (like the county's shoreline) and good graphics are hallmarks of this entry. The redesigned fund data brochure is one of the most readable judges had seen. The full-page participant fee schedule was a nice touch, as was mention for each option of who is likely to choose that investment.

Trustees of the Teamsters-National 401(k) Savings Plan highly customized their print campaign by using tons of pictures of members. The materials – distributed at onsite meetings in 14 locations in the first half of 2012 – featured good graphics and good use of white space. And, enrollment rates among those attending the sessions ranged from 27% to 74%.

Service provider: Prudential Retirement

This very targeted approach featured three print mailings and went to a group that doesn't use e-mail and isn't especially proactive at managing its profit-sharing-only plan. The campaign had several specific objectives – for example, union officials wanted to decrease withdrawals, and indeed, they decreased 8% over the previous year.

Service provider: Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

Amex's virtual fair – complete with amusement park-like rides – was a wonderfully clever idea that was perfectly executed. Plus, it was a cost-effective way to engage participants in a highly creative, yet guided experience. The fair, part of the company's Smart Saving program, attracted 26.1% of participants involved in the initial rollout, with the average visit lasting a whopping 45 minutes.

Service providers: Towers Watson, Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

Judges said UPS had a noble goal with its customized video. It "microtargeted" two classes of employees – those who stopped contributing and those who had never participated. The video was promoted through simple, but entertaining postcards, such as one saying, “Your retirement income won't just appear by magic.”

Service provider: ING U.S. Retirement Services

This food warehouse store chain used good branding and sharp graphics of bowls of fruit. Tag lines ranged from “Smart & Fruitful” for enrolling, “Smart & Frugal” to promote saving and “Smart & Flavorful” for increasing diversification. Judges also liked the lunch bag (filled with coupons) giveaway.

Service provider: Diversified

“Lose something recently?” participants were asked in an easy-to-read mailer with a single message. The piece was personalized, specifying how much the person was losing by not contributing the full match. A tear-off response card made it easy to take action.

Service provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Services

Another winning special project for Mortenson! When judges were asked, “What do you like about this?”, The answer was unanimous: “Everything.” The financial bucket-list concept was targeted to the construction industry, and the execution was cohesive, unified and just plain fun. It used incentives to drive action, including an intranet bucket-list contest to gain entries to iPad raffles.

Service provider: Strategic Graphic Design

Extraordinarily catchy tag lines, great typography and a video by snowboarder Louie Vito all add up to ultra-customized messaging for Red Bull's workforce. Phrases such "cat food in retirement sucks” and “ka-ching” and “ka-chup” introduce increased deferrals and catch-up contributions and other topics.

Service provider: Diversified

Noting that Oregon has a huge Shakespeare festival, judges said everything about the “Much Ado About Roth 457” special project was a hit. From the type font to the drawings, from the sayings to the wax seal graphic, the theme was carried out consistently and with class. They loved the last line found on the back of the brochure: “Nothing is rotten in the state of Oregon!”

Service provider: ING U.S. Retirement Services

Kentucky officials designed a clear and simple program to focus on hard-to reach state employees – garage and road workers across 120 counties. The “Taking Care of Your Road to Retirement” effort resulted in a 6% increase in participation. Plus, 9% increased their contributions.

Service provider: ING U.S. Retirement Services

This entry is proof that a single message can be effective. The UWMF sent participants a very funny birthday card suggesting they give themselves the gift of an increased deferral to the DC plan. More than 10% of participants increased their deferrals to 9% from 5.3%.

Service provider: Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

Judges said the “Dream Machine” campaign and Deluxe urging employees to “Dream like you mean it … Save like you want it. (and) Live like you planned it” were thoughtful, logical and methodical. The goal is to get employees to have 90% income replacement at retirement. Within the campaign, employees were enticed to take educational quizzes to better understand the plan with a chance to win a Visa gift card.

Service provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Services

Detailed newsletters walked participants through thorough, step-by-step discussions of how to “Fund your Future.” The documents presented sample retirement scenarios for staff in different stages of life and different parts of the organization and made the substantial volume of information accessible. Highlighting with vivid yellow on the front cover was a simple but effective way of calling attention to the most important material.

Service provider: Diversified

Sometimes the graphics make the difference, especially when there's lots of information to present. Judges felt the use of color coding and creative typography enabled “good graphic communication” that helped MGM clearly spell out what 401(k) plan participants needed to know about the conversion to a new record keeper. Graphics helped explain how the investments were blended to make model portfolios.

Service provider: Prudential

Using icons and a slogan of “Retirement SYMplified,” Symantec offered easy-to-follow information to educate and excite its plan participants about the change in plan providers. The graphics used the same color schemes that the company uses in its public marketing campaigns, giving it continuity to the rest of the company's branding.

Service provider: Putnam Investments

Judges weren't surprised at how graphically oriented and image-centric this entry was, since Heidelberg is a printer. Using terms from its business, Heidelberg developed the highly creative “CMY 401K” theme in its “Color Your Retirement” campaign. The materials highlighted information about retirement savings levels and investing options that were clear and easy to read.

Service provider: Putnam Investments

Henry Ford Health officials did a good job explaining to participants what they had to do during the conversion to a new record keeper. The materials used images that reflected the diversity of the employee base, and the brochure was punctuated with attractive type. Judges called the materials thorough and comprehensive. The use of white space in the design made it easy to read and digest.

Service provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services

Judges praised this entry for being very targeted and appropriate for a university audience that can be sensitive to change. The materials included a series of four newsletters and direct e-mails from university leadership. Images of the campus accompanied detailed information that judges said “covered all the bases,” including the rationale for the change, actions needed, and investment options.

Service provider: Diversified Retirement Corp.

The MoneySmart program used interactive tools to help employees set savings goals by considering a variety of cost drivers in retirement beyond living standards. IBM specifically highlighted the costs of medical and long-term-care insurance, which no other entries did. The program encouraged participants to look beyond the IBM plans to include Social Security and other sources of income in their calculations.

Service providers: The Ayco Co. LP, Fidelity Investments, Financial Engines

Excellent branding is what sets this entry apart. Beck designs and constructs buildings, so T. Rowe used a “Building a Better Retirement” theme that fit perfectly. Plus, the gorgeous photos were of buildings that Beck had worked on. The materials were well-laid-out, clean and easy to read. Most impressive: This great campaign was for only 429 participants.

Client: The Beck Group

Bluespire did a great job in creating an investment education program for members of the California Teachers Association. The materials are tailored to the members, and are very comprehensive. “The content is what drew me,” one judge said. Judges also liked the information on how to pick a financial adviser, something they said they hadn't seen before.

Client: California Teachers Association

“My Retirement Workshop,” Mercer's investment education website, uses a home improvement theme with cute icons like tools for the section “get to work” and a hard hat for the section “learn from the pros.” The site is easy to use and contains simple messages. Judges liked the interactivity with basically every click and the quick polls.

New York Life's entry – a participant transactional website – isn't overly complicated and is easy to navigate. Judges liked the personalized information on salary, contributions, asset allocation, etc., and that the participant receives information on his/her monthly income stream.

This program featured three appealing brochures on asset allocation, portfolio rebalancing and diversification. Graphics and white space helped make them highly readable. The messages, one per mailing, were very targeted.

ING helped Hawaii's savings plan put on a live employee benefits fair with tables for investment providers. Participants got a flower stamp on a lei at each table; those who completed the lei got a multicolored pen/highlighter. The prize might not seem big, but 68% of attendees completed their leis – an awesome participation rate.

Client: State of Hawaii

Judges lauded ICMA for creating one of the few campaigns targeted to Generation Y – a nice change from old people on the beach or playing with their grandchildren. The video, narrated by “Katie,” provides a look at Katie's world as a young, urban professional. It's a good length and keeps viewers interested.

This “Go Green” campaign was unusual and effective. The Hartford partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation and its “project re-leaf” to plant a tree in an Oregon national forest on behalf of every plan participant among Hartford's clients who agreed to switch to electronic-only statements. Some 33,742 did so in a year.

“Put your heart into saving more” for Valentine's Day and “Declare your financial independence” for July 4 are two of the cute holiday-themed messages Diversified used to educate participants about saving more through its automatic deferral-increase service.

In conjunction with National Save for Retirement Week, The Hartford developed a superheroes theme, “It's in your power.” It used strong colors and bold graphics, plus downloadable ringtones such as “whoosh,” “yikes” and “wow.”

Judges called the PriceCheck&Save iPhone app “clever” and “cool.” Using the phone's camera as a barcode scanner, the app shows how making a particular purchase affects retirement income. If the participant wants to make the purchase at a certain outlet, the app shows where he/she can get it the cheapest; if the purchase is made, it allows immediate transfer of any savings to the user's retirement plan.

ING's STRUCT mobile game app for iPhone takes plan participants to a fantasy world of “risk and reward.” Players learn about investing concepts by building a “team” of animated characters representing investing styles; the team helps them to structure towers or “structs” made from different materials symbolizing different asset classes. The game shows that different choices can lead to different outcomes.

Judges found “The Way Forward” campaign educational and easy to understand. The colorful graphics were useful in explaining the difference between active and passive fees, as well as other fee issues. Judges said the program was impressive for “using few words to communicate concepts that others used hundreds of words for.”

Judges said the “Dream Machine” campaign urging Deluxe employees to “Dream like you mean it … Save like you want it. (and) Live like you planned it” was thoughtful, logical and methodical. The goal is to get employees to have 90% income replacement at retirement. Within the campaign, employees were enticed to take educational quizzes to better understand the plan with a chance to win a Visa gift card.

Client: Deluxe Corp.

Using the slogan “Plan today for your goals tomorrow,” T. Rowe Price's materials explained the differences between Sanofi's old and new plans. The brochure featured creative photography and typography to highlight the most important features of the new plan, as well as strategically using large type to call attention to the most important information.

Client: Sanofi

Lincoln Financial clearly communicated the necessary information about Meridian's conversion, and did so in an appropriately serious manner. Still, the materials managed to avoid being intimidating. They were colorful and clear. Judges especially liked the FAQ, with its table of contents showing the questions on the cover, because it made finding information easy.

Client: Meridian Health Systems

Diversified took full advantage of visuals from the guitar industry to communicate the conversion information An iconic Fender guitar and slogans “Shape your future. Build your legacy” and “Your retirement tune-ups” were used throughout, while a guitar neck cleverly provided the backdrop for the blackout period time line.

Client: Fender Musical Instruments Corp.

T. Rowe went for strength in appealing to and communicating with the physical performance-oriented workforce at Under Armour about the conversion. The slogans could have come out of the gym - “Control it.” “Save Hard.” “Time it.” “Choose it” – yet succeed in walking participants through the steps of the process.

Client: Under Armour

Speaking to the typical participant at CalTech, TIAA-CREF used color-coded workbooks, striking black and white photography and symbols that appeared to come off the Periodic Table of Elements to identify different concepts. Topics addressed went well beyond what most entries in this category covered, including home ownership, credit and tax planning.

Client: California Institute of Technology

Lincoln's Retirement Reality seminar series, branded under the slogan “You're in charge,” uses worksheets, questionnaires and a checklist to help participants evaluate themselves, their discretionary spending habits and living expenses, their retirement income needs and their investing style. Judges found the materials to be clear and concise.