Email Marketing Creativity

Best Use of Dynamic Email Content

AARP Local Email — Spring 2019 by AARP for AARP

AARP sends seasonal emails three times a year, encouraging subscribers, both members and non-members, to enjoy the season and their community. Personalized by zip code, the messages offer dynamic content tailored to the area, listing events, volunteer opportunities, restaurants, movies and other features of local life. AARP avoids sending the emails to areas recovering from natural disasters. The campaign pulls 128% higher click rates and 148% higher click-to-open rates than other AARP email efforts.

Affiliated Agency: Trendline Interactive | Full Service Agency

Credits: Gareth Evans - Director, Email Marketing - AARP Maeve Bracken - Email Marketing Manager - AARP Matt Chullin - Email Marketing Manager - AARP Beth Mazur - Sr. Advisor - AARP Karin Miller - Sr.Adv, Community Engagement - AARP Megan Barrett - Marketing Manager - AARP Jason Keaveny - Online Marketing Manager - AARP Heather Kieser - Account Director - Trendline Interactive Abbi Maynard - Account Manager - Trendline Interactive Andrea Campbell - Creative Director - Trendline Interactive

NFL Season in Review Email by Epsilon for NFL by NFL

The NFL sends This Season in Review emails to fans who attended a game, played fantasy football or engaged in one other activity over the past year. The rich dynamic content is personalized by behavior—recipients get a review of what they bought and did—and by team. The campaign has raised NFL revenue by 15% while drawing 6,000 fans who wanted to know when their team’s season tickets went on sale, and 2,000 interested in attending the NFL Draft in Nashville.

Credits: Christine Hua, Sr. Director of Fan Centric Marketing | National Football League Alex Reffsin, Sr. Manager of Fan Centric Marketing | National Football League Lawrence Kung, Sr. Manager of Growth Marketing | National Football League Allie Woodford, Creative Director | Epsilon Jason Kertz, Lead Art Director | Epsilon Cindy Hamilton, Associate Creative Director | Epsilon Courtney Clark, Copy Editor | Epsilon Pat Parker, Client Account Director | Epsilon Polina Slavin, Account Director | Epsilon Adam Beaudreau, Account Manager | Epsilon

Seasons 52 - Hello Spring 5: Weather Email by Epsilon for Seasons 52

This campaign featured content tailored to an unusual variable—weather. The wine bar and grill Season 52 included a live weather module in its Hello Spring 5 emails and tied it to appropriate starters. Split Pea and Kale soup was featured in locations with temperatures of 60 degrees or less, and Strawberry and Spinach Salad In warmer places. There were 10 weather icons, birthday banners and a strong call to action—i.e., reserve now. The campaign pulled a 19.12% open rate and 155,024 unique clicks.

Affiliated Agency: Moveable Ink

Credits: Jennifer White, Brand Manager | Seasons 52 Mimi Wilson, Associate Creative Director | Epsilon Alana Goldman, Senior Copy Writer | Epsilon Topaz Williams, Senior Art Director | Epsilon Courtney Clark, Copy Editor | Epsilon Lilia Arsenault, Group Client Account Director | Epsilon Lauren Guskin, Senior Account Manager | Epsilon

Best Email Newsletter

Sailthru Refines Success with Refinery29 by Sailthru for Refinery29

Refinery29 wanted to improve efficiencies, optimize email engagement, serve readers relevant content, and reduce opt-outs. It used personalization to mix recommended and curated content in its newsletters, reformatted and tested different email templates and designed a template optimized for generating page views, automated weekly sends, and generated new suppression lists for its newsletter sends. Results: an +86% increase in engaged user base and a +2% increase in open rates for its "Today on R29" newsletter. Sailthru clearly refined success for its client!

Credits: Stacey Harrington, Audience Development Manager at Refinery29 Preeya Shah, Senior Customer Success Manager at Sailthru Brooke Hamilton, Senior Delivery Manager at Sailthru Janet Chan, Select Support Engineer at Sailthru Shawn Benk, Director of Client Strategy and Optimization at Sailthru

Marriot Bonvoy Traveler Newsletter by Yes Marketing for Marriott

Marriott Traveler's monthly newsletters feature seasonally relevant and destination-based content and destination-based content. The “Namaste” edition of the newsletter included travel ideas for mindfulness, healthy-living, and relaxation. Results: The mindfulness edition generated the highest revenue and number of opens since 2018, and the highest number of website visits in one day since the newsletter launched in 2017. In addition, this email had the highest session duration and pages-per-visit in 2019.

Credits: Sterling Crain, Art Director, Yes Marketing Jenna Bresnahan, Senior Designer, Yes Marketing Jen Tabbal, Senior Content Director, Yes Marketing Erica Huntley, Senior Marketing Strategist, Yes Marketing Diana Prado, Marketing Strategy Analyst, Yes Marketing Kaitlin Seger, Account Manager, Yes Marketing

Rider Recap by Uber for Uber

Uber sends monthly emails in a modularized template customized by local marketers. Its design and copy toolkit comes with guidance on style, images, etc. Templatizing reduced Uber's workload by 40%, bringing efficiency in execution and giving its development and deployment partners more time on the data backend. The Rider Recap is a great way to keep track of how often we use the service and to get tips for ourselves!

Credits: Mikaela Flynn, ACD, Uber Rosa Chou, ACD, Uber Kira Reed, Designer, Uber Jay Marsh, Lead Copywriter, Uber Nori Hara, Art Director, Uber Madeline Chen, Associate Designer, Uber Eriel Tayo, Copywriter, Uber Jeff Racheff, Copywriter, Uber Jeff Loibl, GCD, Uber

AI/Machine Learning/Data Driven Marketing

General Assembly Aces Email Automation with Sailthru’s Lifecycle Optimizer by Sailthru for General Assembly

General Assembly wasted to build awareness of its services to drive leads. Prioe to working with Sailthru the process was manual. Automated the system with artificial intelligence helped to stop a drop in cancellation and withdrawal rates. The campaign improved lead generation by improving targeting to people who viewed and browed pages. As a result, product marketing has improved, increasing leads for their highest-value full-time career accelerators by 12%.

Credits: Greg Mortimer, Director, Email Marketing & CRM at General Assembly Preeya Shah, Senior Customer Success Manager at Sailthru Janet Chan, Select Support Engineer at Sailthru

Harley-Davidson Nurtures Riders and Drives Results with Data and AI by Oracle for Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson plans to add two million U.S. riders and launch 100 new motorcycles by 2027, so it partnered with Oracle Marketing’s Strategic & Analytic Services to develop four custom ML models that inform newsletter content and targeting. This campaign used email response data and dozens of HD customer attributes based on Predictive Activity, Motorcycle Purchase, Product Category, and Motorcycle Recommender. It generated 36% lift in engagement, 27% lift in revenue per email, and 60% lift in engagement on content driven by category recommendations.

Affiliated Agency: Oracle Marketing Cloud's Strategic & Analytic Services

Credits: Chris Wilson, Strategic Director, Oracle Katie More, Strategic Analyst, Oracle Jennifer Key, Senior Strategic Director, Oracle

Coach Strengthens Customer Connections with 1:1 Email Messaging by Epsilon for Coach

Coach wanted to cultivate more personal relationships with customers. So it launched an eight-week pilot. The goal was to help understand the impact of a personal email experience. Personalization of inbox content resulted in a 9.5% lift in site visitors, 3.1% lift in revenue per recipient and a 3.7% lift in AOV across both online and offline conversion. Professionals, Men and Home Creative sectors drove about a 15% lift over the control for open rate and an 18% lift over control for click-through rates.

Credits: Bradley Breuer, Senior Director, Global CRM, Coach Roshni Shah, Epsilon Chloe Dukes, Epsilon Cindy Hamilton, Epsilon

Content Marketing

Olive Garden - New Year by Yes Marketing for Olive Garden

Olive Garden connected with consumers who wanted to eat healthier as they headed into the new year with help from Yes marketing. Subscribers were invited to discover Italy’s lighter meals with Olive Garden’s Tastes of the Mediterranean menu items, each under 600 calories. The email linked to content—data and videos—offering more information to help consumers meet their New Year’s goals. This campaign hit the Olive Garden’s program goals with an open rate 55% higher than the industry average.

Credits: Matt Caldwell, SVP Worldwide Creative, Yes Marketing Katherine Jankovic, Creative Director, Yes Marketing Kelsey Vigh, Content Director, Yes Marketing Eda Lam, Art Director, Yes Marketing Diana Strandberg, Account Director, Yes Marketing Nathan Sinnamon, Account Manager, Yes Marketing Kailtin Seger, Account Manager, Yes Marketing Dina Touchon, Email Manager, Yes Marketing Jun Ueno, Email Developer, Yes Marketing Bryan Finke, VP, Client Experience & Communication Strategy, Yes Marketing Kimberly Snyder, Senior Marketing Strategist, Yes Marketing Jenny Wilson, Associate Brand Manager, Olive Garden Lauren Wilkinson, Manager, CRM, Olive Garden Elena Strouthopoulos, CRM Data Strategist, Olive Garden Jennifer Sifrit, CRM Campaign Specialist, Olive Garden

AARP — March Age Proof Career Webinar Email Campaign by AARP for AARP

AARP’s mission to empower people to choose how they live took a twist when the organization tapped ThomasARTS to develop an email campaign for subscribers. The campaign sported content focusing on how employed and unemployed consumers can “age proof” their careers. Some ideas included promoting podcasts and interactive tools and learnings, while others focused on an open format to discuss strategies with employment experts. The content showed how boost networking efforts via social media, and age proofing resumes and focusing on skills.

Affiliated Agency: ThomasARTS

Credits: Craig Davis, AARP Sr. Advisor, E-Programming Conrad Heibel, AARP Sr. Strategist, Integrated Marketing Helisa Whitley, AARP Email Marketing Manager Scott Anderson, TA Marketing Automation Manager Justin Stofferahn, TA Marketing Platform Architect Amber Keel, TA HTML Programmer and QA/Deliverability Engineer Parker Trowbridge, TA Account Manager Gary Sume, TA Creative Director/Sr. Copywriter Damon Rasmussen, TA Sr. Art Director

Chobani Gimmies Swag Drop by Chobani for Chobani

Chobani relaunched its kid-yogurt platform by creating merchandise-inspired characters, giving away limited quantities daily to increase awareness and acquire more qualified parents to buy the product. A daily email would drop a teaser. Some 23,000 new subscribers joined, with open rates exceeding benchmarks by 201% and averaged 54% across 14 days click-to-open rates. Items sold out in 64 seconds all 14 days with 120,000 site visitors. Chobani found loyal new subscribers after emphasizing one-to-one marketing. Its email list grew 1,000% since February 2018.

Credits: Lexi Sigesmund, Sr. Manager Digital & Content Eddie Revis, VP Marketing & Media Sylvana Caballero, Assistant Digital & Content Manager Marissa Frydman, Executive Producer, Digital Ally Taylor, Senior Producer, Digital Lauren Fein, Senior Producer Michael Ciancio, Managing Creative Director David Isaac, Head of Production Gabrielle Lamontagne, Art Director, Brand Design Julia Panek, Art Director, Brand Design Lauren Festa, Senior Brand Copywriter Dane Feldman, Editorial Services Manager

Best Use of Interactive Emails

Colonoscopy Site-of-Care by Aetna for Aetna

What does colonoscopy and humor have in common? Aetna’s Colonoscopy Site-of-Care campaign. In order to encourage its members to get a preventative screenings for colon cancer, Aetna’s Behavior Change Marketing team launched the campaign in May 2019 using personalized interactive email journey with direct mail. By educating members on low-cost locations using humor, Aetna team was able to drive behavior change and, as a result, saw a remarkable 8% incremental lift in colonoscopies (equivalent to 50 procedures), over a control hold-out population.

Affiliated Agency: None (all internal)

Credits: Phil Smith (Marketing Team Leader, Aetna) Miki Duruz (Marketing Strategist, Aetna) Joel Chavez (Creative Lead, Aetna) Roshni Mehta (Salesforce Cloud Architect, Aetna) Yung-Hsuan Hsu (Senior Data Scientist, Aetna) Esha Deshpande (Analytics Consultant, Aetna) Ved Sawant (Senior Data Engineer, Aetna) Dr. Dorothea Verbrugge (Medical Director, Aetna) Dr. Tania Elliott (Medical Director, Aetna) Danny Prefer (Marketing Operations Senior Specialist, Aetna)

Sprint stands apart with iconic Galaxy S10 launch by Zeta Global for Sprint

When Sprint wanted to increase customer engagement during the release of the new Samsung Galaxy S10, Zeta Global came up with a comprehensive, customer-first messaging strategy which instilling a sense of urgency in Sprint customers interested in stepping up to an iconic Android device and existing Samsung customers considering an upgrade. This was accomplished through pre-order reservation series and last-chance offers with a real-time countdown. For the entire Sprint’s Galaxy launch, Zeta drove a 21% increase in engagement over CTOR.

Affiliated Agency: N/A

Credits: Executive Creative Director: KRIS GEIST, Zeta Global Creative Director: CHRISTINE CUCUZZA, Zeta Creative Director: RICH PATTERSON, Zeta Creative Director: EMILY PRESTON, Zeta Junior Art Director: ANNABELLE SMOOT, Zeta Junior Copywriter: ARON LIEBIG, Zeta Account Manager: ALEX RECTOR, Zeta Account Manager: KAITLYN WORD, Zeta Account Director: SHELBY GARLOCK, Zeta Senior Traffic Manager: Amy Lee, Zeta

Cheetah Tap by Cheetah Digital for Neiman Marcus

Neiman Marcus teamed up with Cheetah Digital to try out a new kind of interactive email feature for its mobile users. Inspired by recent mobile UX, a flat call to action, the CTA button, was revitalized with an animated CTA overlay named named Cheetah Tap (CTAP). As the user begins to scroll, the animated CTAP buttons added to a number of products within the email prompt customers to take action. The new button exceeded expectations and, most importantly, generated more clicks.

Credits: David Kepets - Senior Director, Creative Services at Cheetah Digital Alejandro Zuniga - Associate Manager, Creative Services at Cheetah Digital Lilian Lee - Senior Client Success Director at Cheetah Digital Rachel Cowlishaw - Director of Personalization at Neiman Marcus Brittany Barbeau - Marketing Manager, Email Retention at Neiman Marcus
Mona Namavari, Channel Marketing Manager - Marketing Innovation | Neiman Marcus Group

Loyalty or Membership Programs

Sleep Number InnerCircle Rewards Annual Summary by Sleep Number for Sleep Number

A personalized email for Sleep Number InnerCircle Loyalty Program customers became an opportunity to thank consumers with tailored messages that includes the person’s first name, date they joined, numbers of activities completed, points they achieved, and more. The feel-good approach also includes a dynamic module would show if they donated any of their rewards to charity, people who face difficult challenges, rather than spend it themselves. It had to tally the numbers for the entire list of 175,000 InnerCircle members.

Credits: Adam Reynolds - Sr. Manager Loyalty & Email Marketing Sean McGonigal - Senior CRM Email Development Analyst Andy Hauck - Senior Graphic Designer Rose D'Acquisto - Senior Brand Copywriter

Sailthru Designs Winning Combination for JustFab by Sailthru for TechStyle Fashion Group

TechStyle Fashion Group, parent company of JustFab and Fabletics, wanted to further optimize its content strategies for its JustFab brand by personalizing emails. The test version of the email increased revenue per thousand emails by 11%. A personalized subject line for each individual in real time increased click-to-open rates by 4.2% and drove conversion-per-click rates by 9.6%. When initially deployed, JustFab saw a boost RPM by 19%. Streamlining messages drove a 33% increase in click-to-open rate and a 56% increase in RPM.

Credits: Monica Deretich, VP of Marketing and CRM at JustFab Erin Vitero, CRM Manager at JustFab Jason Grunberg, VP of Enterprise Marketing at Sailthru Emma Goodman, Senior Customer Success Manager at Sailthru Irina Gorelik, Select Support Engineer at Sailthru

Uber Rewards by Uber for Uber

Uber wanted to build excitement around its Uber Rewards loyalty program to get riders to sign up and choose to ride with Uber rather than its competitors. It focused on using colors and data to personalize content and match it with the reward program’s in-app experience. The copy highlighted key values in the subject lines and headlines, and clean copy to convey in the body of the email. The program used Partner, Gold, Diamond, and Platinum to distinguish levels, and developed a detailed FAQ page.

Credits: Mikaela Flynn, ACD, Uber Rosa Chou, ACD, Uber Lili Tawil, Designer, Uber Jeff Racheff, Copywriter, Uber Jeff Loibl, GCD, Uber

Lifecycle Programs

General Assembly Aces Email Automation with Sailthru’s Lifecycle Optimizer by Sailthru for General Assembly

Low-technology efforts to build awareness for a education company teaching technology skills seems like an obvious contradiction. General Assembly had been sending pre-course assignments to new students individually -- and manually. So potential full time career pros weren’t getting the message. It also looked improved leads targeting to people who viewed its pages. An AI effort personalized marketing elements on based customers previous histories -- and company increased its best career professionals leads by 12%. High Tech. Higher Ed.

Credits: Greg Mortimer, Director, Email Marketing & CRM at General Assembly Preeya Shah, Senior Customer Success Manager at Sailthru Janet Chan, Select Support Engineer at Sailthru

Caterpillar Preventative Maintenence by Estate Four for HOLT CAT

Selling big construction moving machines with small, to-the-point emails can have a big impact. A large Caterpillar dealership, focusing on maintenance of big track and steer loaders needed to do just this -- get customers committed to preventative efforts for equipment investments, positioning the email campaign more of a call to action with customer service alerts. Two versions were sent -- a text-only, and more designed big graphic message. The designed message boosted sales by 135% -- all helping bigger hauls.

Credits: Bryan Boettger, Principal + Lead Strategist, Estate Four Jason Smith, Sr. Director of Customer Engagement, HOLT CAT

Olive Garden Welcome Series by Yes Marketing for Olive Garden

Welcome to food. Olive Garden’s “welcome” offer series focused on four emails , personalized on subscriber data including location and birth date. Big time appealing visuals of dinner, lunch, and specials -- free appetizer and/or dessert -- juiced things up. It also included a “mobile wallet” offer, which could be redeemed via a tablet on table during check out. Emails generated a 23% average unique open rate and a 27% average unique click-to-open rate across all four touch points. Order and go eat.

Credits: Matt Caldwell, SVP Worldwide Creative, Yes Marketing Katherine Jankovic, Creative Director, Yes Marketing Kelsey Vigh, Content Director, Yes Marketing Eda Lam, Art Director, Yes Marketing Diana Strandberg, Account Director, Yes Marketing Nathan Sinnamon, Account Manager, Yes Marketing Kailtin Seger, Account Manager, Yes Marketing Dina Touchon, Email Manager, Yes Marketing Jun Ueno, Email Developer, Yes Marketing Bryan Finke, VP, Client Experience & Communication Strategy, Yes Marketing Kimberly Snyder, Senior Marketing Strategist, Yes Marketing Jenny Wilson, Associate Brand Manager, Olive Garden Lauren Wilkinson, Manager, CRM, Olive Garden Elena Strouthopoulos, CRM Data Strategist, Olive Garden Jennifer Sifrit, CRM Campaign Specialist, Olive Garden

Multiple Messaging

Aetna Wellness App Engagement & Loyalty Campaign by ListEngage LLC for Aetna Inc.

Aetna, seeking to promote wellness in members, developed the Attain app and promoted it with a multi-channel campaign based on a variety of data points, with the help of ListEngage.The effort began three months prior to the app launch with an email that encouraged eligible members to sign up for SMS mobile messages. Mobile was used to notify members when they could download the app. Email-to-SMS conversions hit 23% with SMS driving 81% of app downloads, resulting in lower conversion costs and increased customer engagement.

Credits: - Andrea Marx, Strategic Marketing Manager, Aetna - Guilda Hilaire, Senior Product Manager, Marketing Technology, Aetna (now Senior Manager of Product Marketing at Salesforce) - Anthony Modano, Head of Marketing - Apple Partnership, Aetna - Nick Holdren, Technical Lead, ListEngage - Altaf Shaikh, CEO, ListEngage - Rob Henry, Solutions Architect, ListEngage - Mark Mecke, Campaign Specialist, ListEngage - Jake Gibbs, Design Specialist, ListEngage

AARP — FWN Alert Newsletter and SMS Alerts by AARP Fraud Watch Network for AARP

Many scam artists target older people. Thus, AARP’s bi-weekly Watchdog Alert newsletter provides a valuable layer of protection in a time of growing fraud, both online and offline. In addition to highlighting new types of scams, the templated newsletter contains personalized support information subscribers can use to contact authorities or other resources. And it isn’t the only information source—readers can also opt in for more urgent SMS alert messages. Here is a campaign devoted to serving subscribers of all ages and preventing their victimization.

Affiliated Agency: ThomasARTS

Credits: Kathy Stokes, AARP Director, Fraud Prevention Program; Jeff Abramo, AARP Advisor - Fraud Prevention Program; Anita Bark, AARP Email Marketing Manager; Scott Anderson, TA Marketing Automation Manager; Garrett Chandler, TA Manager of Marketing Automation; Parker Trowbridge, TA Account Manager; Briana Boche, TA Sr. Account Coordinator; Damon Rasmussen, TA Sr. Art Director

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sales/Contests/Offers

Sprint LG40 LiveImage Test Email by Zeta Global for Sprint

It takes more than technical brilliance to sell a smartphone—you also need a compelling offer. So Sprint and Movable Ink, in a classic direct marketing exercise, tested two versions for its LG V40 ThinQ. Both featured a graphic of the phone and had the same headline: Picture perfect savings. But one offered $15/mo for a lease, and the other 50% off. The 50% off email won, and drove a lift in the click-through rate of up to 36.46%, with some customer segments hitting 2.55%.

Affiliated Agency: Moveable Ink for Live Image test functionality

Credits: Executive Creative Director: KRIS GEIST, Zeta Global Creative Director: CHRISTINE CUCUZZA, Zeta Creative Director: RICH PATTERSON, Zeta Art Director: SAM STONE, Zeta Senior Copywriter: COLLEEN ZAJAC, Zeta Account Manager: ALEX RECTOR, Zeta Account Director: SHELBY GARLOCK, Zeta Senior Traffic Manager: AMY LEE, Zeta

The Salvation Army Giving Tuesday Campaign by DEG, Linked by Isobar for The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army sent only one email for Giving Tuesday in 2017. In 2018, it sent two advance emails, inviting donors to “Save the Date,” and asking, “Can’t Wait? Give Today.” One version featured animation showing days falling off a calendar. On Giving Tuesday, two emails were sent with stronger asks and links to a page with matching opportunities. The campaign raised 85% more than the initial goal, and increased the number of donors by 800%. Profiling helped raise the median donation by 50%.

Affiliated Agency: DEG, Linked by Isobar – full-service email partner

Credits: Nicole Nicklin – Territorial Director of Digital Strategy, The Salvation Army Central Territory Piper LeJeune – Territorial Director of Digital Strategy, The Salvation Army Southern Territory Marika McKissick – Territorial Digital Strategist, The Salvation Army Southern Territory Brenda Jones – Territorial Director of Digital Strategy, The Salvation Army Western Territory Cory Gaudaur – Territorial Digital Operations, The Salvation Army Western Territory Andrea Hadel – Senior Account Manager, DEG, Linked by Isobar Travis McCan – Senior Relationship Marketing Strategist, DEG, Linked by Isobar Matt Yang – Designer, DEG, Linked by Isobar Cait Mahr – Copywriter, DEG, Linked by Isobar Julie Sikonski – Art Director, DEG, Linked by Isobar Patrick McCormack - Senior Copywriter, DEG, Linked by Isobar Katie Manring – Project Manager, DEG, Linked by Isobar

Olive Garden - Italian Classics offer by Yes Marketing for Olive Garden

Not everyone loves meat balls—some people prefer chicken parmigiana. So Olive Garden personalized Giant Italian Classic emails based on past purchase history. The emails, featuring mouth-watering graphics, addressed customers by their first names and featured enjoyable content like a visual comparing a meatball to a baseball. They also highlighted the specials starting at $12.95. The CTA simply said, “Join the wait list.” The meatball email pulled an open rate of 29%, the stuffed pasts 28% and the chicken parmigiana 29%, surpassing goals.

Credits: Matt Caldwell, SVP Worldwide Creative, Yes Marketing Katherine Jankovic, Creative Director, Yes Marketing Kelsey Vigh, Content Director, Yes Marketing Eda Lam, Art Director, Yes Marketing Diana Strandberg, Account Director, Yes Marketing Nathan Sinnamon, Account Manager, Yes Marketing Kailtin Seger, Account Manager, Yes Marketing Dina Touchon, Email Manager, Yes Marketing Jun Ueno, Email Developer, Yes Marketing Bryan Finke, VP, Client Experience & Communication Strategy, Yes Marketing Kimberly Snyder, Senior Marketing Strategist, Yes Marketing Jenny Wilson, Associate Brand Manager, Olive Garden Lauren Wilkinson, Manager, CRM, Olive Garden Elena Strouthopoulos, CRM Data Strategist, Olive Garden Jennifer Sifrit, CRM Campaign Specialist, Olive Garden

Transactional/E-Commerce

Sailthru Designs Winning Combination for JustFab by Sailthru for TechStyle Fashion Group

Online retailer Techstyle Fashion Group worked with Sailthru to harness data, identify segments and get ahead of anticipated actions by shoppers for its JustFab brand. It soon was able to field real-time personalized subject lines based on propensity to be interested in a category, in an effective use of automated email marketing. The brand generated an 11% increase in revenue per thousand emails sent. And the real-time subject line personalization led to a 4.2% hike in click-to-open rates and a 9.6% raise in conversion-to-click rates.

Credits: Monica Deretich, VP of Marketing and CRM at JustFab Erin Vitero, CRM Manager at JustFab Jason Grunberg, VP of Enterprise Marketing at Sailthru Emma Goodman, Senior Customer Success Manager at Sailthru Irina Gorelik, Select Support Engineer at Sailthru

Dynamic Crunchyroll Store Sales by Crunchyroll for Crunchyroll

Anime lovers demand authenticity. So Crynchyroll, an anime brand with 2 million subscribers and 50 million registered users, realized it needed to do more than send standard sales/marketing emails. It developed a dynamic email campaign featuring GIFS, bright colors, movement and strong calls to action. One version, headlined “Summer Mega Sale,” featured graphics and multiple calls to action: Shop All Sale, Shop Figures, Shop Apparel, Shop Accessories and Shop Sale. The campaign has generated a boost in traffic to the Crunchyroll online store.

Affiliated Agency: N/A

Credits: Liz Moothart, Sr. Director, Marketing, Crunchyroll Marina Lau, Director, Lifestyle & Product Marketing, Crunchyroll Kai Zheng, Manager, Lifecycle Marketing, Crunchyroll Linda Chao, Associate Manager, Lifecycle Marketing, Crunchyroll

Email Marketing Sector Campaigns

Entertainment

Pre Show Emails by The Madison Square Garden Company for The Madison Square Garden Company

Madison Square Garden Company – whose venues include New York’s Radio City and Beacon Theater, plus the Chicago Theatre -- enlisted Movable Ink to automate emails sent to ticketholders in advance of events. They now include such user-friendly features as a countdown clock for seating times, and info on weather, cellphone and bag policy, and which entrance to use. Automation decreased the amount of time to create emails 4,000%: 5 minutes versus 3.5 hours. Movable Ink also reports higher user engagement.

Affiliated Agency: Movable Ink

Credits: Tom Dinneny, Manager, Engagement Marketing , Madison Square Garden Jamie Perlin, Digital Designer, Madison Square Garden Brigid Humphrey, Director, Engagement Marketing, Madison Square Garden Aykut Donmez, Email Developer, Madison Square Garden

Xfinity’s Watchathon by Comcast for Comcast

Comcast’s Xfinity cable service experimented with various call-to-action (CTA) messaging to increase click-through-rates and have consumers discover new networks during Watchathon Week – when subscribers can watch add-on services like HBO for free. In one case, CTA changed from “Explore Watchathon," which linked to an informational landing page, to either “What can I watch?” or “Start watching,” the latter leading directly into a stream of the free content. The result: a +108% lift in Responder Rate.

Credits: Scott Lederer, Marketing Manager, Comcast Jennifer Maurer, Sr. Director, Customer Engagement Marketing, Comcast Patrick Colalillo, Associate Creative Director, Oracle Marketing Cloud Ana Jablonski, Sr. Strategy Consultant, Oracle Marketing Cloud Rachel Goss, Sr. Client Experience Manager, Movable Ink

Financial

MMDA Acquisition by Cheetah Digital for Santander

Santander partnered with Cheetah Digital to energize the design of an existing campaign promoting the bank‘s robust rates and the benefits of a Santander Money Market Savings account. The email marketing campaign mirrored a new direct mail campaign using new brand style guidelines. A LiveMap was added to the new design, providing customers with a geo-targeting tool to help locate the nearest Santander branch. As a result, the redesigned email significantly outperformed the previous one in targeting customers who didn’t have Money Market Savings accounts.

Credits: Jim Kelley, Director, Creative Services at Cheetah Digital Nicole Leonardo, Senior Creative Consultant at Cheetah Digital Ashley Williams, Marketing Manager at Santander Bank Christina Ferragamo, Email Marketing Manager at Santander Bank

U.S. Bank - Debit Card by Yes Marketing for U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank’s new email campaign encourages customers to get more perks when they use their debit card to pay for small purchases. That includes zero fraud liability, convenience factor and budget tracking. The newly redesigned campaign boasts clean visual, concise copy, and a fun graphic that imbued the campaign with personality and playfulness while respecting the iconic brand style. U.S. Bank’s debit card email campaign generated an open rate 73% higher than the average email within the industry and improved CTO rates by over 160%.

Credits: Sterling Crain, Art Director, Yes Marketing Harry Pallick, Senior Account Manager, Yes Marketing Nina Bohl AVP, Marketing Operations – Portfolio Retail Payment Solutions, U.S. Bank Kerry Hope, Vice President I Consumer Card Marketing Strategy, U.S. Bank

Synovus Credit Card Application Campaign by BrightWave for Synovus

Synovus, a modern finance company with deep roots in its local communities, recently launched a credit card promotion with deeper rewards and more enticing cash back options. BrightWave helped Synovus drive credit card account openings through simplified and highly visual creative compelled the audience to take action. The campaign brought Synovus impressive results. Within the first 2 days of deployment, the email saw a 31.6% open rate and 3.02% CTR, as well as 794 applications received from email.

Credits: Melissa Riiska - Account Director, BrightWave Laura Sullivan - VP, Creative Director, BrightWave Jessica Ginburg - Sr. Strategist, BrightWave Jennifer Jackson - Sr. Project Manager, BrightWave Allison Defer - Technical Campaign Manager, BrightWave Gaby Fanizzi - Account Supervisor, BrightWave Andy Daniels - Lead Technical Architect, BrightWave Chad Polstra - Sr. Front End Developer, BrightWave

Political

State-Level Election Highlights by The Democratic National Committee for The Democratic National Committee

The Democratic National Committee found a way to build on its big 2018 midterm election results -- but in a more personalized way. For what resulted in a successful 2018 midterm election, it sent out an emails focused on state-specific election information and a personalized donation history for recipients. All this wrapped around a strong, colorful infographic-style helped make the case. As a result, the Democrats grabbed back a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. What comes next? 2020, of course.

Affiliated Agency: Movable Ink (intelligent creative)

Credits: Jessica Porter, Deputy Email Director at Democratic National Committee

Bernie 2020 Year in Review Email by Aisle 518 for Aisle 518

Asking for big political donations is easy. But noting a personal history of one’s efforts around a candidate or cause can embolden political donors with a somewhat indelible legacy. Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign reminded his contributors not only their donations but whether they hosted an event, attended rallies, or signed a petition for say “medicare for all”. Recent polls have shown Sanders is now a top candidate, in a virtual three-way tie with Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.

Credits: Robin Curran, Vice President of Digital Strategy - Aisle 518 Michael Whitney, Digital Fundraising Manager - Bernie 2020 Madeleine Valley, Art Director - Aisle 518 Kendall Stark, Digital Associate - Bernie 2020 Sean Kivlehan, Digital Associate - Bernie 2020 Bianca Marquez, State Email Manager - Bernie 2020 Tim Tagaris, Founder - Aisle 518

Retail

Sailthru Designs Winning Combination for JustFab by Sailthru for TechStyle Fashion Group

Ecommerce accessories brand JustFab used Sailthru’s AI marketing capabilities to harness the power of data collected on customers for highly customized emails.  In one test, subject lines were personalized for everyone in real time based on their propensity to be interested in a specific category — which increased click-to-open by 4.2% and drove conversion-per-click rates by 9.6%. Change in the abandoned cart template led to 33% increase in click-to-open, 56% increase in revenue per thousand emails sent.

Credits: Monica Deretich, VP of Marketing and CRM at JustFab Erin Vitero, CRM Manager at JustFab Jason Grunberg, VP of Enterprise Marketing at Sailthru Emma Goodman, Senior Customer Success Manager at Sailthru Irina Gorelik, Select Support Engineer at Sailthru

Sprint stands apart with iconic Galaxy S10 launch by Zeta Global for Sprint

To increase customer engagement during the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S10, Sprint sent out a 10-touch campaign with well-integrated interactive elements and animation, and a design that let the device be the focus. The campaign progressed with an increasing sense of urgency, beginning with initial pre-order reservation (with real-time countdown clock), then a scratch-off offer, and a last-chance offer and sweepstakes. Result: 21% increase in engagement for click-through-to-open rates.

Affiliated Agency: N/A

Credits: Executive Creative Director: KRIS GEIST, Zeta Global Creative Director: CHRISTINE CUCUZZA, Zeta Creative Director: RICH PATTERSON, Zeta Creative Director: EMILY PRESTON, Zeta Junior Copywriter: ARON LIEBIG, Zeta Junior Art Director: ANNABELLE SMOOT, Zeta Account Manager: ALEX RECTOR, Zeta Account Manager: KAITLYN WORD, Zeta Account Director: SHELBY GARLOCK, Zeta Senior Traffic Manager: AMY LEE, Zeta

Hallmark Baby Rocker Promotion by DEG, Linked by Isobar for Hallmark Baby

To help boost summer sales, Hallmark Baby and DEG created a four-day promotion on the brand’s rockers. The emails highlighted multiple aspects of the merch—exclusivity, ability to personalize, shipping fully assembled—and included positive consumer reviews. The brand also created a two-week refer-a-friend sweepstakes. Campaign boosted sales within a small window and increased average order value for the week. It also brought in 357 new advocates, and average advocacy rate jumped 3 percentage points.

Affiliated Agency: DEG, Linked by Isobar – email strategy and campaign management

Credits: Mark Strickland, Director of Business Strategy & Operations, Hallmark Baby Julie Tozier, Director of Merchandising & Marketing, Hallmark Baby Marie Goodwin, Creative Director, Hallmark Baby Amanda Dinkel, Designer, Hallmark Baby Laura Madden, Senior Relationship Marketing Strategist, DEG Linked by Isobar Kate Lenz, Account Supervisor, DEG Linked by Isobar Caitlin Fletcher, Account Coordinator, DEG Linked by Isobar Colleen Groener, Campaign Manager, DEG Linked by Isobar

Travel/Tourism

HVCB: Explore Oahu Newsletter and Landing Page Redesign by Zeta Global for Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau

The refreshed newsletter showcased Oahu’s beauty and culture — on all devices. By engaging travelers with a clean layout and content that was rich, rather than overwhelming, the images guided the experience. The landing page used UX elements like "hide and reveal," so users could find the specific information that appealed to them, then clicked to learn more. Click-through rates more than doubled in just four months, while open rates were up by nearly 10%. Aloha!

Affiliated Agency: N/A

Credits: Executive CD: KRIS GEIST, Zeta Global Creative Director: CHRISTINE CUCUZZA, Zeta Art Director: BECKY GREGORY, Zeta Senior Art Director: JUSTIN HALE, Zeta Creative Director: EMILY PRESTON, Zeta Account Manager: KEVIN BOYLE, Zeta Senior Traffic Manager: AMY LEE, Zeta

Ritz-Carlton May Newsletter by Yes Marketing for Ritz-Carlton

The Ritz-Carlton personalizes each hotel experience for luxury travelers, touting its own amenities, as well as its destinations — from Chile’s fishing villages to Montreal’s racing to Virginia’s wine country. The hotelier’s newly designed newsletters reads like a bucket list, promoting special elements of each locale with alluring photography. There is even an Instagram hashtag to encourage users to share their #RCmemories. The May edition generated an open rate of 20%, surpassing the industry average.

Credits: Sterling Crain, Art Director, Yes Marketing Jenna Bresnahan, Senior Designer, Yes Marketing Jen Tabbal, Senior Content Director, Yes Marketing Erica Huntley, Senior Marketing Strategist, Yes Marketing Diana Prado, Marketing Strategy Analyst, Yes Marketing Jocelyn Zobitz, Senior Account Manager, Yes Marketing Kaitlin Seger, Account Manager, Yes Marketing

Leader’s Club Account Statement by The Leading Hotels of the World for The Leading Hotels of the World

To ensure its loyalty emails were data-driven, Leading Hotels of the World, which represents more than 400 luxury hotels in 80 countries, revamped their email account statements. Each member’s name and personal information is accompanied by points, upgrades and a data visualization showing monies spent. The email is visually attractive and clear, translating the campaign into six languages. The refresh clicked, with an 18% increase in open rates and a 157.6% increase in membership renewals.

Affiliated Agency: Movable Ink (intelligent creative)

Credits: Allison Bishop, Manager, Lifecycle Marketing at The Leading Hotels of the World Ricki Steiner, CRM Specialist at The Leading Hotels of the World

Wildcard

Sailthru Refines Success with Refinery29 by Sailthru for Refinery29

Refinery29’s Money Diaries newsletter was popular with millennial women. But the brand felt it could do better. Over 10 years, it worked with Sailthru to deploy artificial intelligence, automation and personalization technology. It now sends emails with customized content, subject lines and send times, based on the user’s behavior and preferences, balancing technology with editorial control. In an example to other publishers, Refinery29 tested different email templates and generated new suppression lists. The result: It grew its active user base by 86% in one year.

Credits: Stacey Harrington, Audience Development Manager at Refinery29 Preeya Shah, Senior Customer Success Manager at Sailthru Brooke Hamilton, Senior Delivery Manager at Sailthru Janet Chan, Select Support Engineer at Sailthru Shawn Benk, Director of Client Strategy and Optimization at Sailthru

La-Z-Boy Albuquerque Email by Valassis for La-Z-Boy

Furniture retailer La-Z-Boy launched a Father’s Day email campaign in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area, designed to complement its offline advertising. Working with Valassis, the company sent emails that resembled print ads, resulting in a cohesive multi-channel message. The emails, promoting a Father’s Day sale, stated “Limited Time Only,” and featured four test subject lines and pre-headers. Readers could scroll down to view furniture and prices. The online effort generated an above-average open rate of 7.82% and click to open rate of 8.06%.

Credits: • Kelsey O’Rourke, Account Executive, Valassis • Joanne Munekawa, Account Manager, Valassis • Violet Presnell, Account Operations Manager, Valassis • Kelly Onusko, Campaign Manager, Valassis • Brian Woolslare, Graphic Services, Valassis

AARP’s The Girlfriend 2 Year Anniversary Email by AARP for AARP

Subscribers to The Girlfriend, a weekly AARP newsletter targeting Gen X women, were in for a surprise. They received an email showing an animated cake and candle, celebrating the newsletter’s two-year anniversary. The email addressed them by name and told many other subscribers were in their community and how many were reading it at the same time. The CTA, “Visit Facebook,” drew a 150% lift in Facebook followers over typical organic growth. And 70% of the readers spent more than 15 seconds ion the email.

Affiliated Agency: Movable Ink (intelligent creative)

Credits: Leah Hopke, Sr Advisor, Email Marketing, AARP Kai Flick, Digital Marketing Manager, AARP Trendline Interactive, Agency Movable Ink