2020 Signature Award Winners: Provider Campaigns - Participant Education

This category acknowledges the work of service providers in developing broad-based campaigns that include communications to plan participants in a provider’s client base or a subset of their clients. 

1st Place – MassMutual
MassMutual wanted to use its annual campaign to educate and inspire participants to take positive action towards saving for retirement. They segmented participants into Starters, Jugglers, Day-to-Day, Self-Assured, and Well-Established. The messaging used a “today/tomorrow” theme in emails, letters, custom website landing pages, app notifications, and e-newsletters. The campaign reached 2.5 million participants and had a 1.7 percent response rate. MassMutual won because the targeting by personas made each email seem personal, rather than generic. The messaging was clear and concise with the today/tomorrow theme making a strong connection between the actions the participant takes today and their happiness tomorrow. The calls to action were clever and insightful, such as a birthday email that read "Today I'm celebrating me!"

2nd Place – Principal®
Principal® wanted to increase online engagement and usage of multi-factor authentication (MFA) for increased account security. They used Salesforce Marketing Cloud to trigger daily emails based on a person’s login history. The images were based on age group and the personalized call to action was determined by whether MFA was in place. Quarterly direct mail was sent to those without an email on file. The results were that accounts were secured by 6.6 percent of the targeted group. Additionally, some participants increased deferrals and designated beneficiaries. This campaign won because Principal® made good use of technology using real-time data to engage those who had not logged into their account in more than a year.

3rd Place – TIAA
The LiveSmart Program was created to provide unbiased education and guidance to retirees and those age 70 and older who may still be working. The campaign materials included a program overview, videos, personal URLs, a Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) resource center, phone calls, emails, direct mail, and a website. The messaging was data-driven. The campaign reached more than 400,000 participants. Emails had a 60 percent open rate with a 14 percent click through rate. The RMD page received 88,000 visitors and 14,500 people supplied an email address. TIAA won because they focused on an often overlooked and under-engaged segment of the participant population.