2020 Signature Award Winners - Events and Workshops

Some think that “if you build it, they will come” – but plan sponsors know it takes more. Entries in this category included actions to maximize participation/attendance at a live meeting, event, webinar, benefit fair, etc. with results including retirement plan metrics, participant behaviors, or any other measurement used to evaluate the impact and success of the program. Examples include 401(k) Day events, Train-the-Trainer programs, marketing promotions, benefits fairs, and other special events.

1st Place – Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. with Voya Financial
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. provides management and technology consulting and engineering services with 28,870 employees across the country.

The campaign’s goal was to encourage employees and spouses/partners to assess their financial wellness, set financial and savings goals, and create an actionable plan to meet their financial objectives. The PowerUp Financial Wellness Challenge was created to give a financial reward to participants who met with a financial advisor, with an additional amount if a spouse or partner joined the meeting. The materials used were an internal newsletter, self-assessment, web-based group presentations, direct mail, custom link on HR website, and a mobile app. As a result of the campaign, nearly a thousand people increased their deferral rate by 5 percent, 5,052 met with an advisor, 1,565 spouse/partners attended the advisor meetings, $2.6M in assets were rolled in from other plans, and 93 percent of surveyed employees felt they now knew where they stood in retirement. This campaign won because of the impressive number of employees who participated, and it was a nicely organized program with strong results. Plus, using an HSA contribution or paycheck credit was a smart incentive.

2nd Place – The University of Kentucky with TIAA
The University of Kentucky has 23,270 employees across its 16 colleges with very diverse backgrounds, education levels, and ages.  Of the total employees, 9,905 were targeted in this campaign.
The University wanted to increase participation in the voluntary plan and strengthen the partnership with TIAA, with stronger promotion of TIAA as one of the plan’s vendors. Their goal was having 25 percent of targeted employees attend an enrollment fair. The campaign had custom materials for each fair including flyers, quick enroll card, QR codes, raffle cards that doubled as consent-to-contact cards, customized Starbucks card with a call to action, TIAA ads on mobile devices, and geo-targeting for phones within 5 miles of campus. The results were 625 interactions, 125 booked appointments, and 212 enrollments in the voluntary plan with 239 in the other plan. They won a signature award because it was a comprehensive campaign with simple, and consistent messaging, the materials were colorful and easy to read, and the use of geo-targeting on mobile devices was interesting and smart.

3rd Place – Raymond James Financial, Inc. with Principal®
Raymond James is a multinational financial services firm with 8,100 financial advisors globally and 13,283 total U.S. employees.
The goal of the campaign was to amplify Raymond James as a key partner in employees’ retirement planning and increase employees’ awareness of, and engagement in, the company’s retirement offering. They leveraged National Retirement Security Week holding benefits fairs during that time. Prizes were given for downloading the Principal® mobile app and completing a plan appreciation quiz. Other materials used were intranet messages, posters, flyers, handouts, and virtual meetings. The campaign resulted in 25.3 percent completion of the quiz, 5.5 percent of employees downloaded or used the mobile app, 2.8 percent increased deferrals with an average increase of 5.6 percent, and 2.9 percent engaged with a planner. This campaign won because they used a comprehensive outreach with a strong message and good results; and, the quiz was a great way to educate interactively and the prizes awarded aligned with the corporate culture and were unique.