Detailed list of 2014 Eddy Award winners

How appropriate, and clever, that Denso – an automotive supplier – used auto-related images and phrases. On a poster, “The fresh, clean scent of a comfortable retirement” is written on a car’s air freshener tree hanging on the rear-view mirror. “I (heart) my plan” is a car bumper sticker on a booklet. The conversion information was informative and clear. This entry also won in the service provider awards.

Service provider: Putnam Investments

Yes, the Mary Kay “pink” can be found in materials explaining the conversion. But there wasn’t as pink as we expected. Regardless, the information was appropriately branded. And the packet was comprehensive, easy to understand and looked clean. Judges liked that investment performance and fee information were in the same place. This entry also won in the service provider awards.

Service provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services

The theme, “Empower yourself, take care of your future” was a good choice for Harsco, an industrial services company, as was putting on the cover of most of its materials photos of employees at various job sites. The information was well organized, simple and clear.

Service provider: Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

This organization, which operates a county medical facility, consolidated its record keepers, so it wasn’t a complete conversion (but that’s the category where Eddy judges placed the entry). Still, the consolidation required complex messaging, which made the choice of imagery critical. To grab these health-care professionals’ attention, Hennepin wisely and cleverly used teddy bears with “owies” and children play-acting as medical professionals, both so cute they elicited “aws” and “ohs” from the judges.

Service provider: Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

This conversion campaign overcame two obstacles while the materials were being developed: The entire organization went through a rebranding; and the system announced the DB plan was closing. Despite the need to change gears twice, Carolinas HealthCare developed comprehensive materials, giving employees all the information they needed and featuring real employees. The communications and messages were well timed, too. This entry also won in the service provider awards.

Service provider: J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services

“The only place better than the starting gate … is the finish line” is the tagline for this one-piece special project that is totally customized for the racing venue, complete with a dramatic photo of two horses racing almost neck and neck. The easy-enroll mailer with a stamped, addressed postcard is ideal for one set of participants targeted in the program: seasonal employees who have to re-enroll every year and don’t necessarily know that. This entry also won in the service provider awards.

Service provider: MassMutual Retirement Services

This is a classic special project by a company that knows its audience and plays on its corporate culture. Red Bull’s video, “Chad Saverson Scores a Perfect 10,” features wonderfully clever dialogue. It uses a skateboard competition theme to educate participants about such topics as maximizing the company match and increasing deferral rates. What makes it even better: Red Bull has a skateboard court at its headquarters.

Service provider: Transamerica Retirement Solutions

MGM took a novel approach toward increasing enrollment and deferrals. Each property chose its own theme, and each had its own giveaways, raffles and events. “Dance your way to retirement,” for example, had scan radio giveaways, a karaoke machine raffle and a dance contest. Results were great: 50% of non-participant attendees enrolled; more than 40% of attendees increased deferrals.

Service provider: Prudential Retirement Services

The booklet and postcards were completely branded to Plexus, and were fresh, new, simple and clever. Each one featured a large picture of someone from U.S. currency, but with a twist: The one of Ben Franklin, for example, showed him wearing a helmet with the tagline, “It’s a wild ride for 401(k) investors. We provide protection.” This tied for second in the service provider awards.

Service provider: Francis Investment Counsel

To improve the retirement readiness of participants, Averitt Express sent highly personalized mailers titled, “Is your retirement bucket filling up?” The mailer listed age, salary, contribution rate, account balance, projected savings by 65 and other information. It estimated what percentage of retirement income the person would have and graded them, such as “great job” and “making progress.”

Service provider: Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust

“Retirement Rex,” an ant (rather than a dinosaur as judges expected), was the mascot of LA County’s program targeting several segments of the employee population, including non-contributing participants, those 50 or older, and eligible non-participants. Several vehicles were used to convey the messages, including a cute, one-minute video featuring an animated Rex.

Service provider: Great-West Financial

This special project threw back at employees common excuses (or what Texas called “excu$es”) for not participating or for not saving more. “I’ll save when I’m older … Older than what?” was one. Judges lauded the “in-your-face” approach. The messages — given 20 different ways — were practical, yet clever. Giveaways at meetings were neat – reusable grocery bags and “koozies” that insulate drinks.

Service provider: Great-West Financial

Beacon’s well-thought-out campaign — “Make your retirement sing” — used a music theme that included a free song download. Incorporated into the communications were song titles, including “I Want to Take You Higher” and “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.” Each week there was an action to take and a reward for doing so. Results were impressive: 2,500 employees attended at least one event; named beneficiaries increased 5.3%; and use of the web portal increased 34%.

Service provider: Transamerica Retirement Solutions

“Save the planet while you save for retirement” was the tagline for Daughters of Charity’s campaign to inform participants that the organization would start using e-mail for some retirement plan communications. A darling photo of a little girl hugging a globe also was featured. Judges said the special project was simple and effective, and used good imagery.

Service provider: Transamerica Retirement Solutions

Judges said they liked Baptist Health’s entry because it was creative and different, and expanded on the holistic approach the not for profit already was taking. The organization staged a “Physically & fiscally fit day” that featured a 4.01k walk. (Get it?) Signs with retirement-oriented information were posted along the route.

Service provider: Transamerica Retirement Solutions

Sure, there have been football-themed education campaigns, but this one was amazing. The union held a meeting — in the clubhouse of Gillette Stadium. The first 50 people to sign up got a stadium tour and attended an autograph session with a retired New England Patriots player. All of the materials leading up to the meeting were customized and really played to the participants. The approach produced 50% higher attendance than past meetings, and 35% of attendees took action.

Service provider: MassMutual Retirement Services

Starting with the two-tone silver envelopes and the “Know your numbers” slogan, judges found the campaign “classy and enticing.” Because the information was mailed home in such an appealing package, judges felt recipients would be more likely to open it. Once open, the information was “very comprehensive, personalized and easy to read,” one judge explained

Using a three-phase approach providing education, guidance and tools, Rackspace took a long-term and comprehensive view of retirement readiness. The Rackwealth Money Minute campaign offers quick tidbits of personal finance and financial planning information that ties in well with its financial fitness challenge and other ongoing financial education efforts.

Service providers: HelloWallet, Educated Investor

The detailed essential expenses worksheet, the checklist and comprehensive workbook all coordinate to give the Essentia Health staffers 50 and older tools to prepare them and their spouses for the transition from work to retirement. Judges said the detailed, easy-to-use documents gave participants what they really needed to plan for retirement.

Service provider: Transamerica Retirement Solutions

Using a short video, together with an e-mail and postcard that focused on themes and imagery specific to its industry, truck manufacturer PACCAR sought to increase participation in its 401(k) plan. The “Rev it up” campaign resulted in a more than 10 percentage point increase in participation across all company locations and an increase in salary deferral levels.

Service provider: Fidelity Investments

Kimberly-Clark created a 401(k) month to get employees thinking about investing for retirement. A series of printed yellow memo notes to target different types of investors and a series of easy-to-follow videos on different themes related to retirement savings and investing reinforced the message over the course of the four-week campaign.

Service provider: Aon Hewitt

In a yearlong program, General Motors used in-person and online workshops, with homework, and branded e-mails focused on increasing the financial health of salaried employees. Employees were divided into 18 different learning paths based on their age and other factors so information on their “Destination: Retirement” was tailored to their circumstances.

Service provider: Fidelity Investments

Judges praised the campaign for using images and slogans that reflect the company’s uniform supply and linen business — juxtaposing lab coats and Hawaiian shirts — to creatively get across the message of saving for retirement and the importance of contributing to the company’s 401(k) plan. The 19% year-over-year increase in plan participation was impressive. This entry also won in the service provider awards.

Service provider: Putnam Investments

The official bird of New York state, the eastern bluebird, and a “friendly” cartoon owl are the mascots of a campaign that judges called fun. The two birds figure prominently on stationery, stickers, lapel pins and other program materials, along with the tagline, “Tell a friend,” which was intended to use word-of-mouth advertising to get non-participants to join the plan.

Service provider: Nationwide Retirement Solutions

Judges enjoyed what one called the “pig with attitude,” the center of Ohio’s “Please Your Pig” campaign featuring a piggybank. The pig educated plan participants about their retirement needs and urged them to increase savings. Newsletters featured the pig in different settings with taglines like “Do these retirement savings make me look fat? Good.” to get people to pay attention to the topic.

Research done by the Washington board when redesigning the plan and communications strategy found that members had a strong affiliation with TIAA-CREF, record keeper since 1970. Thus, the decision was made to use the plan’s new logo and the TIAA-CREF logo in materials to avoid creating confusion and to communicate the investment menu change.

Service provider: TIAA-CREF

How appropriate, and clever, that Denso – an automotive supplier – used auto-related images and phrases. On a poster, “The fresh, clean scent of a comfortable retirement” is written on a car’s air freshener tree hanging on the rear-view mirror. “I (heart) my plan” is a car bumper sticker on a booklet. The conversion information itself wasn’t presented particularly creatively, but it was informative and clear. This entry also won in the plan sponsor awards.

Client: DENSO Corp.

The campaign for this small Texas bank used posters, printed cards, pamphlets and workbooks featuring the maroon and gold of the bank’s branding. Calendars, a timeline and a quiz helped educate plan participants about the move to a new provider and the benefits of auto enrollment and auto escalation. Plan participation initially rose to 91.75% from 66.15% and then rose again to 97.26%. Participant contributions increased 64% and employer matching contributions increased 66%.

Client: Broadway Bank

Yes, the Mary Kay “pink” can be found in materials explaining the conversion. But there wasn’t as much pink as we expected. Regardless, the information was appropriately branded. And the packet was comprehensive, easy to understand and looked clean. Judges liked that investment performance and fee information were in the same place. This entry also won in the plan sponsor awards.

Client: Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc.

This conversion campaign overcame two obstacles while the materials were being developed: The entire organization went through a rebranding; and the system announced the DB plan was closing. Despite the need to change gears twice, Carolinas HealthCare developed comprehensive materials, giving employees all the information they needed, and featuring real employees. The communications and messages were well-timed too. This entry also won in the plan sponsor awards.

Client: Carolinas HealthCare System

Judges liked the color-coded materials in English and Spanish that unified a campaign for blood banks that had merged. The slogan “Your future. Make it count.” is used throughout and makes it clear that the employees can take action to increase their retirement savings or diversification. Information on important dates, fee levels and account access information is highlighted and easy to find.

Client: OneBlood

“The only place better than the starting gate … is the finish line” is the tagline for this one-piece special project that is totally customized for the racing venue, complete with a dramatic photo of two horses racing almost neck and neck. The easy-enroll mailer with a stamped, addressed postcard is ideal for one set of participants targeted in the program: seasonal employees who have to re-enroll every year and don’t necessarily know that. This entry also won in the plan sponsor awards.

Client: Churchill Downs Inc.

OneAmerica’s “Provide for your future” campaign was customized – including employee photos – and tailored to the employees of a supermarket chain whose customers are first- and second-generation Hispanic nationals. “Every day you work hard to help provide for the community you love. Now is the time to give back to yourself,” one poster said. Results were excellent: 86% of employees attending one-on-one meetings took action; 21% of those attending group meetings did so.

Client: Northgate Gonzalez Markets Inc.

“Is one investment enough?” was the title of a four-sided brochure designed to decrease the number of participants invested in only one fund. Each fund was listed, with a sticky note underneath the name. The participant then was asked to take action by getting educated on the choices and then moving some of the sticky notes to a “Build your own portfolio” page.

Client: W.R. Grace

The booklet and postcards were completely branded to Plexus, and were fresh, new, simple and clever. Each one featured a large picture of someone from U.S. currency, but with a twist: The one of Ben Franklin, for example, showed him wearing a helmet with the tagline, “It’s a wild ride for 401(k) investors. We provide protection.” This entry also won in the plan sponsor awards.

Client: Plexus Corp.

This Main Street video game allows Staples’ employees to earn points by clicking on hotspots and watching videos that teach about personal finance and retirement. Players move into buildings to learn about retirement planning or get information on spending decisions, paying down debt, college savings, estate planning and more. A leaderboard tracks the competition.

Client: Staples Inc.

“Be the squirrel with the nut” was the tagline Fidelity chose to help Progressive develop separate pieces for non-participants, participants deferring less than needed to get the full company match and those deferring at the match rate or higher. The imagery was simple, colorful and bright. Each piece came with a short, easy-to-read checklist of actions to take.

Client: The Progressive Corp.

To launch New Jersey Transit’s redesigned website, Great-West designed a campaign that featured the transit system’s route map on many of the pieces, as well as photos of buses and trains in the fleet. The site had lots of new features, such as a retirement income panel. But judges kept coming back to the clever use of the route map. Their favorite: a computer screen wipe with the URL for the website and, of course, the route map in the background.

Client: New Jersey Transit

ING developed a “Wizard of Oz” campaign called “The wonderful wizard of retirement savings” to educate San Bernardino County employees about a Roth option added in April 2013. Seminars, e-mails and brochures were used to spread the word. The graphics were delightful and the catch phrases engaging: “Welcome to the yellow-brick road!” and “Looking over the rainbow for your retirement dreams?”

Client: County of San Bernardino

In an effort to reach those employees who were not contributing at all to their 403(b) plan, Lincoln Financial worked with UF Health Shands on a campaign targeting more than 2,500 people. A personalized mailer gave recipients two easy ways to take immediate action and access the plan and their employer match.

Client: UFHealth Shands

Wonderful animation and an original song and lyrics make MassMutual’s video a standout. The goal was to educate participants without them feeling they were being taught — and it worked. The topic was asset allocation, One of the cutest parts was the lyric, “Don’t let your assets get lazy” along with a picture of money relaxing in a recliner with a drink.

ICMA’s three-part video series on saving for retirement, intended for 457 plan participants, is informative without being dry and boring. The concept uses a whiteboard, on which hands put on and take off sayings and graphics. Explaining diversification, for example, the hands attach a scale, and then put risk on one side and return on the other.

Prudential’s booklet for employees of St. Joseph Medical Center, who were being integrated into the university medical system’s plan, was well designed and easy to read. It had to be, because employees could not be auto-enrolled, but rather had to make a series of choices. The materials contained no gimmicks, just nice medical graphics, some basic investment education and clear actions St. Joseph employees needed to take.

Client: University of Maryland Medical System

Judges called “clean” and “very visually appealing” the campaign materials that Vanguard used to help FedEx plan participants increase savings, diversify investments and reduce hardship withdrawals. A pamphlet sent to plan participants with all of their assets in a single fund opened on images of a black dog and a white dog with the slogan “Investment decisions dogging you?” On the back was a Dalmatian and the slogan, “It’s probably time to create a new mix,” encouraging diversification.

Client: FedEx

After data showed that Freescale employees not using managed accounts had lower investment returns than those who did, GuidedChoice and Freescale launched a campaign to get more people into managed accounts. Judges said the e-mails that compared non-managed account holders’ rates of return to those with managed accounts drove home to participants that they could do better.

Client: Freescale Semiconductor

Large, stylized graphics of railroad switches, the slogan “Switch to a more comfortable retirement,” as well as other imagery of trains and equipment from the railroad industry all helped make Vanguard’s campaign effective. The strong use of color and bold images made very visually appealing the materials aimed at encouraging low- and non-saving salaried employees to contribute enough to take full advantage of the company’s match.

Client: Norfolk Southern Corp.

Judges praised the campaign for using images and slogans that reflect the company’s uniform supply and linen business — juxtaposing lab coats and Hawaiian shirts — to creatively get across the message of saving for retirement and the importance of contributing to the company’s 401(k) plan. The result was a 19% year-over-year increase in plan participation. This entry also won in the plan sponsor awards.

Client: Mission Linen Supply Co.

The ComPassion website — that Prudential designed to provide PinnacleHealth retirement plan participants with ongoing plan and educational information — was recognized by judges for having all its education material available outside the password-protected area. The organization of the site, which gives users the option of finding information based on their age or by life events, makes it clear up front that it offers advice and tools on a variety of savings, investing and personal finance topics.

Client: PinnacleHealth System

Judges liked the GuidedChoice Resource Center because the videos used clever animations and cute, humorous presentations, instead of talking heads, to explain topics from the basics of investing to why it is important to save for retirement. The modern graphics made the materials approachable and appealing to younger employees.

The “Uncover the numbers” website, which is optimized for mobile and for social media sharing, uses a fun game-show format to get people to videos offering information on topics like preparing for retirement and investment diversification. Judges said the bold colors make you want to click and see what comes next.

Judges thought the savings estimator wheel (offered in English and Spanish), retirement investing message notepads and other information pieces offered a modern twist on generic materials. The images were updated and, while not specific to any one company, did not appear to be overly generic or impersonal.

A comprehensive workbook with worksheets was part of a three-step program tailored to help employees over age 50 effectively plan for a comfortable retirement. Judges were impressed with the completeness of the information covered in the assessment, workshops and workbook; including multiple sources of retirement income, distribution strategies, investment education, health-care costs, other insurance and estate planning.

Client: Black Hills

The retire section of the interactive Realize Retirement website provides information on retirement spending, Social Security, health care (including Medicare and long-term care insurance) tax and estate planning, and record keeping to help public employees prepare to retire. It offers checklists, worksheets, calculators and other tools plan participants can use to review their own information and determine how prepared they are for retirement.

The CoRI Retirement Index is an easy way for people over age 55 to determine if they are on track in their retirement savings by calculating how much annual income their current savings would provide. Judges praised the system’s ease of use and speed, plus its connection to linked information making it easy to incorporate information from multiple accounts in the planning process.

The Retirement Income Control Panel offers people nearing retirement a one-screen view of their income sources — including Social Security — and estimates monthly income based on current benefit and savings levels. Judges liked that the tool enables users to see how a change in salary deferral rates or in asset allocation affects retirement income.

This tablet app is part of Boulevard R’s Retiremap offerings that included iPad-based workshops branded with the slogan “We C.A.R.E. about your future” to tie into Forrest General’s overall customer service “We C.A.R.E.” campaign. The app is easy to use and offers information on 10 financial and retirement topics. Users first determine their financial goals through a customized retirement readiness assessment. Judges thought it was an app that was worth downloading because it is something to which plan participants would refer often.

Client: Forrest General Hospital

The Retirement Outlook Estimator app is a tool — promoted through social media — that anyone can use on his/her phone or tablet to check progress toward retirement goals. It is easy to personalize with age and investment information so people can use the app to forecast how much of their retirement goal they have met. It also offers specific steps they can take to get closer to their goal.

Vanguard uses a well-organized newsletter with tables and plain language to explain the outcome of National Grid’s effort to lower costs for plan participants by unbundling the cost of plan operations from the cost of investment management. The newsletter also explained a shift to lower-cost share classes of the plan’s 12 target-date funds and elaborates on how lower expense ratios benefit plan participants over time. Judges found it simple, clear and focused.

Client: National Grid

The campaign used stock Zen stone imagery in posters, postcards and fliers and the slogan, “Simplify your investment decisions,” to get participants to re-enroll, improve investment diversification and implement a QDIA safe harbor of target-date funds. The share of participants using target-date funds rose to 97.5% from 10% and the share of assets in those funds rose to 76.9% from 17%.

Client: Strategic Products & Services