A menagerie of animal imagery, a string of sports themes and a warehouse full of brand-name products played significant roles among winning entries in the 20th annual Eddy Awards, sponsored by Pensions & Investments.
An owl, a bluebird, horses, an ant and a pig with attitude each con-trib-uted to defined contribution plans' investment education cam- paigns. The awards — which recognize DC plan sponsors and service providers for best practices in investment education to plan participants — were presented March 3 at P&I's annual Defined Contribution East Coast Conference.
Horse-racing, skateboarding and football provided the sports venues. Among the brand names, the makers of linen products and auto and truck parts used their products to drive home — yes, there were multiple transportation analogies — encouragement on saving for retirement.
This year's class of Eddy Award winners were 26 plan sponsors and 19 service providers, with some providers winning multiple awards. A complete list of winners can be found at www.pionline.com/eddywinners14.
Churchill Downs Inc., Louisville, Ky., not surprisingly chose a theme filled with horse racing photos and terminology.
“You can't reach the finish line without getting out of the starting gate,” says its mailer encouraging people to enroll in the 401(k) plan, which included a postage-paid enrollment card.
“The race is on for retirement” and the 401(k) plan “can have you off and running” are examples of other efforts to link horse-race lingo to retirement education materials. Churchill Downs tied for first place in the corporate special projects category.
“We have a lot of seasonal employees, and it's tough to get in front of those employees and convince them to enroll,” said Kristen Britt, senior director, human resources.
The latest campaign is “far more colorful and eye-catching” than previous efforts, and for the first time includes brand identity, she said.
As a result, participation rose to 30.7% from 27.7% in the year ended March 31, “a huge jump for a plan in our industry,” company officials said in their entry form.
MassMutual Retirement Services, the Churchill Downs service provider, also tied for first place in the corporate special projects category for service providers.