MAXI Awards Highlights
On Wednesday evening, the Direct Marketing Association of Washington presented its annual MAXI Awards on the eve of the 2011 Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md.
DMAW President Kristin McCurry kicked off the presentation ceremony, then turned things over to the tuxedo-clad, wise-cracking team of Patrick Frame, a principal of Key Acquisition Partners, and Charlie Cadigan, senior vice president of PEP Direct, to present the awards.
"It's no secret, direct marketers for the last decade have been dealing with a marketing revolution. Our customers, clients and donors are talking back. We are in the era of 'engagement,' and the number of tools available to us continually grows," McCurry said. "We are told we have to meet our audience where they are, and they decide to do business with us based on their experience with us. So our campaigns are becoming increasingly multichannel and strategic in their development.
"Bottom line, we are still responsible for trying to figure out the best way to get people who receive our communications to do something, and then we have to measure their response to plan the next step," she added.
The DMAW presented 80 awards in five channels: Direct Mail, Multichannel, New Media, Telemarketing and Workhorse. Following is a synopsis of the Gold MAXI winning entries.
DIRECT MAIL: NONPROFIT ACQUISITION-PROSPECTING
Fundraising Strategies
for Operation Care Package
Patrick Frame: "We are gathered here tonight as seasoned direct-marketing professionals. When we are sending out thousands of pieces of mail at a time, it's often easy to forget how meaningful a single piece of correspondence can be. This winning entry asks you to imagine what it's like to be thousands of miles from home serving your country, and when mail call finally arrives, there is nothing for you. That compelling message on the envelope, which carried a lumpy surprise, ensured there was no way the package was not going to be opened. The lump was a sock, and this 'Sock It To Me' campaign to help troops through Operation Care Package had a response rate of 6.17 percent with an overall gift of $32."
