Press Release
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Joanne Veto
joanne.m.veto@usps.gov
ph: 202-268-3118
Deliver® Magazine Announces Winners of ‘Top Picks’ Contest
Personalization and Direct Response Earns Marketers Top Honors
Washington, D.C. – Marketers who demanded and achieved increased audience response rates through direct mail marketing were the winners in the first annual Deliver Top Picks contest, a competition created by Deliver magazine, the custom publication from the U.S. Postal Service.
The contest, announced in September 2006, garnered entries from marketers across the country and across industry spectrums whose projects demonstrated the success and benefits of strategic direct marketing campaigns. The winner and two runners-up were announced in this month's issue of Deliver magazine, distributed to more than 350,000 readers, as well on as Deliver's new Web site www.delivermagazine.com.
"We were amazed not only with the number of entries, but the variety and the sophistication with which these marketers produced their campaigns," said Cathrine Moriarty, Deliver’s editor.
The panel of judges included web blogger, Steve Hall of AdRants.com, Larry Kimmel, CEO of G2 Direct, a national direct marketing firm, and Patrick O’Connell, Deliver’s first editor.
Entries were judged on creativity and results of the direct mail campaign against stated objectives and within budget parameters, as well as the suitability of the campaign for future advertising and promotion purposes.
The winning entry came from Montage Graphics, of Ft. Collins, CO. On behalf of one of it's high-profile technology clients, Montage used the direct marketing strategy of personalization and tapped into savvy database programming that promoted the client's imaging and printing group and also allowed a high degree of personalization.
"It's no longer a marketing world where we can send a direct mail piece to 'occupant.' People today are smart about what comes to them in the mail. They are interested in and respond more to individual, relevant messages and offers," said Toby Gadd, president of Montage Graphics.
Charged to explore the purchasing power of administrative office assistants, the team at Montage designed a direct mail piece that featured an image of a frothy latte and included the recipient's name spelled out in chocolate sprinkles. A personal URL was included in the message, driving the responder from mail to web, a key tactic in today's mailing world. To create this level of personalization, Montage used a process called "PhotoTexting."
Top Picks runners-up are SwervePoint LLC, a Middleton, MA, promotional products company that produced a series of three mailers targeting event planners. Blue Ridge HealthCare, based in Morganton, N.C., created a Christmas card campaign to attract new members to its fitness facility to earn third place.
Deliver magazine is developed and directed from Postal Service headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is published by Detroit-based Campbell-Ewald Publishing.
Please note: JPEGs of winning entries are available by contacting Joanne Veto at 202-268-3118 or joanne.m.veto@usps.gov. Additional information on each of the top three winners can be found at www.delivermagazine.com.
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