2016 Gold Award Winners: Direct Mail—Acquisition
Fall 2015 Member Acquisition
North Carolina Museum of Art
Submitted by Daniller + Company
The Numbers
Recipients: 124,457
Response Rate: 2.59 percent
Total Cost: $83,015
Income Generated: $240,342
Average Gift: $74.66
Cost to Raise a Dollar: $0.35
Why It Won
This membership effort faced two significant challenges and met each well. First,
it found commonality between two artists—Leonardo da Vinci and M.C. Escher—and was able to communicate how the works of both provide glimpses into their extraordinary minds. Second, it repeated the benefits of membership throughout every element of the package—outer, letter, brochure and reply form—including an insert that spelled out what members receive and broke down specific levels.
The letter, and to a lesser extent, the brochure, noted that both exhibitions are rare and exclusive—a powerful emotional driver. Given the museum’s reach, some regional or state pride may have played a role in the mailing’s success.
The final results are impressive. Compared to the previous benchmark of Fall 2014, there were big increases in many metrics. Net revenue increased by a whopping 378 percent, and the uptick in response rate to 2.59 percent shows that the campaign resonated with donors compared to the previous effort. Well done all around.
See the complete list of 2016 winners here.
