Pii ECHOs Again!
Innovative mail campaign takes Silver prize in DMA contest celebrating the year’s best in direct marketing.
Bloomington, Illinois (October 17, 2008) — For the second year in a row, Progressive Impressions International (Pii) stepped up to the podium as a winner at the International ECHO Awards. The awards ceremony, held October 14 in Las Vegas, featured some of the top names in marketing and advertising and entries from 23 countries.
Winners received Gold, Silver and Bronze awards in 12 categories of business.
Pii earned its Silver award in the Insurance category for an imaginative and highly successful Grow Your Retirement mailing for COUNTRY Financial. Targeted to an age range of 35 to 55, the campaign was built on a gardening theme with an attention-getting difference — a packet of five new pennies enclosed as “starter seeds.”
The outer envelope featured custom watercolor illustrations in a botanical style and lettering inspired by early 1900s seed catalogs. Inside, receivers found a warmly illustrated trifold, rather than a letter, to support a friendly, helpful, “easy to start saving” message.
Mail That Feels Interesting
“Anyone who receives this mailing knows right away it’s something special,” said Ron Drenning, Pii vice president of sales and marketing. “You can feel the pennies inside. You can hear them jingle. For direct mail, this was a whole new approach to customer experience.”
“Our partnership with Pii has allowed us to tap into their creative resources,” said Cherilyn Hardman-Sytar, vice president of marketing at COUNTRY Financial. “We constantly challenge each other to come up with the most artistic and effective ideas possible.”
Brand identity was another key to making the campaign a success, according to Brian Phipps, creative vice president at Pii. “The gardening concept was a natural fit with COUNTRY. Much of what lands in our mailbox these days is loud and demanding. Our concept delivers with contemporary ideas through retro catalog stylings.”
Second Year in a Row
The 2008 ECHO award comes on the heels of a 2007 ECHO award, which recognized another unforgettable campaign — a glossy mailer touched up with a blowtorch. That campaign promoted the importance of fire insurance.
To see components of the Grow Your Retirement campaign, click on the link on the Pii home page at www.whateverittakes.com.
About Pii
Pii, established in 1993, is a marketing company with expertise in personalization and targeted campaigns. More than half of Pii clients are in the Fortune 500, including seven of the top 10 insurance companies in the U.S. Pii’s flagship product is Conductor, a Web-based system that enables users to choose, personalize and send marketing campaigns to selected prospects and customers. Print products include newsletters, greeting cards and all forms of direct mail. Pii has headquarters and production facilities in Bloomington, Illinois, with additional offices in Pompano Beach, Florida.