Next Generation Campaign Awards Finalists & Winners for 2018–19
USPS® awarded the 2019 Grand Champion and Innovative B2B Campaign winners at the National Postal Forum on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. See all of this year's noteworthy campaigns and read about the results they reported below.
The 2020 contest will open later this fall. Stay tuned for more information.
The Next Generation Campaign Awards™ recognize mail owners, agencies, and printers that produce engaging and interactive mail campaigns.
The Grand Champion Award
The 2019 Grand Champion Award winners are The Standard Group and Frederick Yocum.
This category was reserved for campaigns with interactive Informed Delivery® Ride-along content.*
*Informed Delivery enables campaigns to generate even more consumer impressions, interactions and insights by sending consumers a daily email with a digital preview of their mail.
The Paper Rodeo Invite
Mail Owner: The Standard Group
Agency: Frederick Yocum
Printer: The Standard Group
This mailing attracted attention immediately and over time. Its large, transparent envelope displayed a personalized fold that was designed to sit on the recipient’s desk and remind them of the event.
Innovative B2B Campaign Award
The 2019 Innovative B2B Campaign Award winners are UviaUS, BillingTree, and SG360º.
All B2B campaigns, including mailpieces that did not include Informed Delivery content, were eligible for this category.
5 Senses
Mail Owner: SG360°
Agency: SG360°
Printer: SG360°
This campaign showcased SG360’s ability to generate innovative direct mail that appealed to all five senses with vibrant images, texture, scent, music played via an NFC chip, and a tasting sample of spices.
BillingTree Locked Case Account-Based Marketing Campaign
Mail Owner: BillingTree
Agency: UviaUs
Printer: UviaUs
This campaign drew decision makers’ attention using a Pelican case locked with a combination lock. The 60 percent of recipients who called to get the combination and opened the case received an Amazon gift card and a video-enhanced print message.
The Grand Champion Award Finalists
Harry’s Mardi Gras
Mail Owner: Harry's Seafood Bar & Grille
Agency: Kessler Creative
Printer: Kessler Creative
This campaign drove a high Informed Delivery click-through rate and an even higher in-person redemption by including colorful images of available meals and a discount coupon.
Hunt Direct Self-Promotion
Mail Owner: Hunt Direct Agency LLC
Agency: Hunt Direct Agency LLC
Printer: Sun Solutions USA
This campaign attracted attention in both the mailbox and in Informed Delivery with a uniquely shaped, colorful envelope, accentuated with foil.
Scratch-Off To Win – The Sooner You Scratch the More You Save
Mail Owner: Quality Plus Automotive Service, Inc.
Agency: AccuZIP
Printer: Scratch Off Systems
This campaign featured a postcard with multiple scratch-offs that revealed a code that could be redeemed on the campaign landing page for a discount.
Honorable Mentions — Grand Champion Award
2019 Top 10 Prom Book
Mail Owner: Top 10 Prom
Agency: Top 10 Prom
Printer: Sun Solutions USA
This campaign successfully added digital features to its mailed catalog. The mailing significantly increased website traffic through an above average Informed Delivery click-to-open rate. Additionally, it connected recipients to a digital catalog, allowed recipients to respond to the mailpiece by SMS text, and enabled future digital retargeting efforts.
Fill the Hive. Feed the Child.
Mail Owner: Heifer International
Agency: Eidolon Communications
Printer: Production Solutions
This campaign had engaging Informed Delivery Representative and Ride-along Images that connected recipients directly to the donation page. The digital marketing effort helped the organization far exceed campaign goals.
MoneyPlay
Mail Owner: Rapid Capital Funding
Agency: Communication Graphics, Inc.
Printer: Communication Graphics, Inc.
This campaign generated engagement with an interactive CK Black Kard and a peel-off sticker. The mailing was supported with an eye-catching envelope and interactive Informed Delivery Ride-along Image.
Save the Children Year End Campaign
Mail Owner: Save the Children
Agency: Direct Point Group, Inc.
Printer: Production Solutions
This campaign featured consistent imagery of children in need and clear calls to action across the mailing envelope, Informed Delivery Representative and Ride-along Images, and the landing page.
Honorable Mentions —
Innovative B2B Campaign Award
80’s Mix Tape: Holiday Card
Mail Owner: Imbue Creative
Agency: Imbue Creative
Printer: Digital Dog Direct
This holiday card encouraged recipients to repeatedly open it by playing snippets of 80’s songs. Customers were directed to a landing page where they could hear full versions of the songs.
Academic Writer Librarian Toolkit
Mail Owner: The American Psychological Association
Agency: The American Psychological Association
Printer: The Kelly Companies
This box drove 40 percent of recipients to spend over 30 minutes on the organization’s web page by opening up to look like a laptop running the company’s software. Product information and swag gear were included inside the box.
Bonsai!
Mail Owner: The College Board
Agency: o2kl
Printer: Unimac Graphics
This mailer generated a response rate three times higher than that of previous College Board campaigns. Recipients found the message about new curriculum on a card wrapped around a living Bonsai tree.
Operation PB & J
Mail Owner: UviaUs
Agency: UviaUs
Printer: UviaUs
This mailpiece created stickiness and a 20 percent response rate by looking like a personalized brown paper lunch bag on the outside. Inside was a handwritten note and a PB & J-themed video player that looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
New Year, New Ideas
Mail Owner: Suttle-Straus
Agency: Suttle-Straus
Printer: Suttle-Straus
This folded New Year’s card had 10 pockets with a different marketing resolution in each pocket. Suttle-Straus’s creative mailer drove 33 percent of its customers to donate to charity.
Contact Us
If you have questions about the contest, please contact nextgenaward@usps.gov.
Read the Next Generation Campaign Awards Terms & Conditions.