2009 Eddy Award Winners

Using the theme, "What's your game plan?" Dean Foods captured employees'

attention and held their interest through a colorful, engaging, fun and creative

campaign. The information was very well-packaged and complete. One judge said

the company did "everything you can do to get someone to participate."

Service Provider: The Hartford and PartnerComm

Delaware North's initial education package stayed true to its road-trip theme, "The

Right Direction." Among the clever components were "roadside assistance" and a

guide resembling a Triptik from the American Automobile Association.

Service Provider: The Hartford

From magnets that looked like luggage tags to nicknaming the plan, the "Super

Saver 401(k) plan," American Airlines did an excellent job branding its materials

with a flight theme. In addition, they were clean, clear and easy to follow.

Service Provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services

Los Angeles renamed its deferred comp plan "Premiere", and used a movie premiere

theme to reintroduce the plan. The "movie" was "Attack of the Investment Anxiety

Robot, paralyzing you with indecision." The information presented was excellent,

highlighted by cool graphics like stacks of popcorn and movie reels.

Service Provider: Great-West Retirement Services

The entry from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, featuring photos of Boston

and the countryside, was visually appealing. At the same time, the information was

presented in a way that was basic, straightforward and easy to read and follow.

Service Provider: Great-West Retirement Services

Judges were struck immediately by the quality of the design of Thermo Fisher Scientific's

brochure, including higher-quality paper stock and crisp, clean writing. Included was a

monthly calendar in a CD-like case that sported investment education on the back.

Service Provider: T. Rowe Price

2nd Place

"Gorgeous" and "beautiful" were among the words judges used to describe Arctic

Slope Regional Corp.'s colorful and attractive entry. The photos of Alaska were

simply breathtaking and fit with the theme, "Your future - no boundaries."

Service Provider: The 401(k) Company, A Charles Schwab Company

Kwik Trip took a highly effective straightforward approach during a conversion that

included adding 401(k) features to its profit-sharing plan. Identification with the plan

sponsor was excellent, including photos of employees and a theme that is part of the

corporate mission statement, "Making a difference."

Service Provider: Wachovia Retirement Services

The campaign of almond cooperative Blue Diamond Growers was called "Establish,

Grow, Harvest." One smart move: Every printed piece had photos of almonds at

each of the three stages of growth.

Service Provider: Diversified Investment Advisors

Two different creative devices that did a superlative job of targeting the audience

made this a crowd pleaser: good imagery (lovely photos of the architectural angles

of the Metropolitan Opera building); and lingo employees could relate to ("Bravo" and

"Preparing for Act II").

Service Provider: Diversified Investment Advisors

This New York City union chose the theme, "The Plan That Never Sleeps" because it's a

takeoff of New York's slogan, "The City That Never Sleeps." Graphics of New York City

at night were alluring, and the content was thorough and easy to read.

Service Provider: Putnam Investments

Bemis used a tennis theme to educate employees about the company match.

Materials said "Join the team" and "Game, Set, Match," with a photo of a tennis

ball about to be served. Judges loved the postcard with a fuzzy (really) tennis ball

encouraging participants to increase their deferrals.

Service Provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services

From the cover of the first mailing, where the employee's name looked like an

election campaign sign, El Paso Corp.'s "Decision 401(k)" materials were highly

personalized. Partisanship was avoided: A piggy bank replaced the donkey and the

elephant.

Service Provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services

Good use of color and imagery were hallmarks of Meijer's entry. The year-long "Blue

Skies Ahead" campaign to encourage diversification worked: The average number of

funds per participant increased to 6.1 from 3.2. 

Service Provider: The 401(k) Company, A Charles Schwab Company

Judges liked Pepsi Bottling's holistic approach that was so comprehensive it even

touched on financial planning. Materials were clean and easy to use. The company

went the extra mile to make sure the worksheets would be valuable to participants.

Service Provider: PricewaterhouseCoopers 

Yeshiva University's campaign to educate participants about fund changes and plan

changes was totally branded, featuring its own employees and the same colors as the

school itself. The information was solid and complete. And, kudos for warning people

about the negatives of taking loans. 

Service Provider: Prudential Retirement

This entry was fun and engaging. "I've never seen anything like this," one judge said

of the wooden Scrabble-like tiles that were the centerpiece of Parsons' separate

mailings to increase deferral rates and move participants into target-date funds.

"You have to take it out and mess with it," another judge said. 

Service Provider: Wells Fargo Retirement Plan Solutions

Here is a company going to unusual lengths to promote its benefit plans.

Mortenson distributed wallets containing a fake check - signed by the CEO and

made out to the participant - showing the individual's profit-sharing contribution

for the year. 

Service Provider: Wells Fargo Retirement Plan Solutions

It took the judges a few seconds to "get" M.A. Mortenson's very focused project

to increase deferral rates. It featured an in-your-face photo of a cow with the

words, "Can you give an extra 2%?" Once they got the joke, they loved it!

Service Provider: Wells Fargo Retirement Plan Solutions 

"Bold," "compelling to look at," "clever," "cool" and "very creative" all were used

to describe Ohio Deferred Comp's special project. The fund did a takeoff on My

Space - called "Smart Space" — to promote its Smart Plan to younger employees.

It looked authentic, down to the web banners.

Service Provider: Nationwide Retirement Solutions

North Carolina's was the only public fund to personalize its message. It included

the participant's salary and contribution, and combined data from multiple plans

(DB, deferred comp, Social Security) to give employees a complete snapshot.

Service Provider: Prudential Retirement 

Employees at Norton Healthcare in Louisville love the Kentucky Derby, so the

company capitalized on that with its "Race to Retirement" project. The effort went

way beyond photos to include a raffle ticket that looks like a ticket you get at a

betting window and a horse head key chain. No wonder it got first. 

Service Provider: Diversified Investment Advisors

St. Joseph's "Celebrate Retirement" campaign combined cupcakes and pigs, and

it worked. Among the gimmicks: raffles for piggy banks; pig-shaped balloons; and

cupcakes frosted the same colors as were used in the campaign. 

Service Provider: Diversified Investment Advisors

Using the simple tagline, "Who wants to retire?" Via Christi came up with a highly

visual campaign with one postcard and one poster. The picture: a Wheel of Chance.

The caption: "Don't leave your retirement income to chance."

Service Provider: Great-West Retirement Services

Coca-Cola Enterprises' video wisely was filmed in the company's offices and

warehouses, rather than in an impersonal studio It features footage of employees

and Coke bottles and cans throughout, giving it immediate and consistent branding.

Service Provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services  

"This is one-stop shopping: a website and video combined," one judge said of

Harrah's Entertainment's easy-to-navigate entry. It was slick and well-produced -

even the talking heads weren't annoying - and the investment education was great.

Service Provider: ING, vWise Inc.  

Our judges love gimmicks and give high marks for creativity, and New York Life's

program for Resorts - "Real Retirement, Real Employees, Real Fun" was loaded

with both. But some critical points were made, such as educating trainers to urge

employees to avoid loans, and only withdraw plan money after age 59 "You can

put any HR person into this and they could run a meeting," one judge said.

Client: Resorts Hotels and Casinos

Using the theme, "What's your game plan?" The Hartford, PartnerComm and Dean

Foods captured employees' attention and held their interest through a colorful,

engaging, fun and creative campaign. The information was very well-packaged

and complete. One judge said the company did "everything you can do to get

someone to participate." (This entry also won first place in initial education for

plan sponsors.) 

Client: Dean Foods

This initial education package from The Hartford for Delaware North Companies

stayed true to its road-trip theme, "The Right Direction." Among the clever

components were "roadside assistance" and a guide resembling a Triptik from

the American Automobile Association. (This entry also won second place in initial

education for plan sponsors.)

Client: Delaware North Companies Inc.

From magnets that looked like luggage tags to nicknaming the plan, the

"Super Saver 401(k) plan," J.P. Morgan and American Airlines did an excellent

job branding the materials with a flight theme. In addition, they were clean,

clear and easy to follow.

Client: American Airlines

Lincoln's "You Can Fly" program had a great hook (flying) to get participants

into it. Information presented was comprehensive, with a lot of investment

information. This was a full campaign, the way initial education should be. 

It can be tricky to provide participants with basic and complete materials

without making them suffer from data overload. Tri-Ad succeeded, though.

Judges especially liked the interactive worksheet.

T. Rowe Price apparently borrowed the type font from Hello Kitty to create

the engaging "Hello Retirement" campaign for Honda of America. The result

is colorful and easy to read, with a consistent message and consistent

graphics and strong identification with Honda. 

Client: Honda of America Moanufacturing Inc.

"Gorgeous" and "beautiful" were words judges used to describe the 401(k) Co.'s

work for Arctic Slope. The photos of Alaska were simply breathtaking and fit with

the theme, "Your future - no boundaries."

Client: Arctic Slope Regional Corp.

Mercer wisely incorporated the CBS "eye" logo into all of the graphics for "CBS & You."

The materials look like the company. Judges liked the mouse pad. "You'll always see it

and be reminded of the plan," one said.

Client: CBS Corp.

Danisco produces food ingredients, so T. Rowe Price capitalized on that by

using an agricultural theme. It was a beautiful campaign, and the information

had a nice flow. Branding was excellent, featuring carefully chosen words like

"cultivate" and "grow".

Client: Danisco US

Wachovia took a highly effective, straightforward approach to educate Kwik Trip

employees about new 401(k) features in the profit-sharing plan. Identification with the

plan sponsor was excellent, including photos of employees and a theme that is part of

the corporate mission statement, "Making a difference".

Client: Kwik Trip Inc.

The back-to-school theme J.P. Morgan and Hospira used was cleverly executed.

The main brochure resembled a composition notebook. Judges laughed at the

teachers' names, such as Ivana Retire for economics. They also admired how every

piece mailed built on the previous one.

Client: Hospira

"Shape Your Retirement Your Way," the campaign Mercer did for Clark

Construction Group, targeted different age groups with different messages,

but everything was branded with Clark's corporate colors and was tied

together by a bendable figure wearing Clark's logo.

Client: Clark Construction Group LLC

The Hartford's bold and brash program featured catchy food posters, each

addressing a different behavior. One for example, showed a juicy burger and fries

with the question, "Are you eating up $130,037 of your retirement savings?".

Lincoln Financial's version was more gentle and subtle, using pastel colors and

much smaller pictures. It targeted only one behavior - increasing deferral rates.

"Objects in the future are closer than they appear." That's the theme of the campaign

chosen by employees at Advantage, a wonderful device Principal Financial Group

used to engage them before the campaign even began. Other highlights were terrific

giveaways for taking action, such as a backpack and an atlas.

Client: Advantage Sales and Marketing

This entry from Wells Fargo for Parsons was fun and engaging. "I've never seen

anything like this," one judge said of the wooden Scrabble-like tiles that were the

centerpiece of Parsons' separate mailings to increase deferral rates and move

participants into target-date funds. "You have to take it out and mess with it,"

another judge said.

Client: Parsons Corp.

"Start your engines" was the perfect tag line for J.P. Morgan to use with this

engine and school bus manufacturer to boost participation in the union plan.

There were good giveaways at face-to-face meetings: a little "stress" car and

t-shirts.

Client: International Truck and Engine Corp.

Boeing's special project done by ING was two postcards (one to non-savers, one

for low savers). The campaign was very simple, very targeted, featured total

identification with the plan sponsor, and had excellent results.

Client: Boeing Co.

It took the judges a few seconds to "get" Wells Fargo's very focused project to

increase deferral rates at M.A. Mortenson. It featured an in-your-face photo of

a cow with the words, "Can you give an extra 2%?" Once they got the joke, they

loved it!

Client: M.A. Mortenson Co.

Good giveaways strike again! In this case, they included a stadium cup and a

candy roll. The project was to promote 401(k) Day, and New York Life and Ingram

put together a simple, very focused campaign with bright colors that grab.

Client: Ingram Industries Inc.

T. Rowe Price and Intermountain Healthcare produced a fully customized project

with lots of giveaways. The judges' favorite: hand sanitizer with the remark,

"Enroll in the 401(k) and wash your worries away." Results were excellent, with

participation exceeding the target.

Client: Intermountain Healthcare

Nationwide has clients give away lunch bags to promote the idea of saving money

for retirement by packing lunch twice a pay period. "Food for thought," it said. The

message was simple, clear and targeted, and all of the components were connected.

"Where do you want to go?" was the tagline of Lincoln Financial's special project that

tackled changing jobs and approaching retirement. Judges were drawn to postcards

topped with clear plastic as if they were looking out the front window of a car.

The 401(k) Co.'s catchy and colorful entry focused on traditionally popular

games. "Retirement: one game you don't want to lose," it said. Most of the game

references were to Clue, but Boggle and Life also were featured.

Coca-Cola Enterprises and J.P. Morgan wisely chose to film this video in the

company's offices and warehouses, rather than in an impersonal studio It

features footage of employees and Coke bottles and cans throughout, giving it

immediate and consistent branding.

"You want to click on stuff to see what happens," one judge remarked about Wells

Fargo's totally interactive web-based program. "It forces you to make choices, but

in a painless way," by asking the user to choose whether he/she is a hip hop, disco

or waltzing kind of investor.

T. Rowe's animated flash e-mail to participants, launched in October, features

portfolio manager Jerome Clark. Yes, he's a "talking head," but he's unusually

personable as he discusses diversification and other investment topics.

New York Life and client Resorts Hotels and Casinos explain it better than I can: "This kit is designed for one purpose: to help you promote the

401(k) plan to employees. So put it to work - and have some fun with it," the trainers were told. In addition to a huge silver notebook of education

materials, trainers also got fun stuff to work with, from a casino table "shoe" filled with cards giving suggestions on how to promote the plan, to a

slot machine-like box filled with candy coins. Everything was totally branded and just plain awesome.

Client: Resorts, Hotels and Casinos