For the inaugural Caples Student Campaign of the Year competition, students were asked to create a direct marketing campaign using at least two different media — one of which had to be direct mail — to build awareness and increase purchases of Pentel’s Recycology line of products within the college-aged demographic. This year’s winning team was Daniel McCoy and Erica Swallow (pictured above), both students at New York University’s Stern School of Business. The team seized the challenge, producing a quality campaign.
The campaign, “Spin the Pen, Save the Planet,” featured four tactics that promoted the fun one can have with the product and its eco-friendly features.
The team retained the services of expert pen spinners, featuring their handiwork on a microsite. Postcards were mailed to on-campus environmental groups and distributed by hand to promote the campaign, and a Facebook page and YouTube channel promoted online conversation. The video of the pen spinners at work with Pentel’s Recycology products demonstrated not only the fancy finger-work, but also the functionality of the pens.
The honorable mention goes to Samantha Brewer, a student at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina, for her “Write the Future” campaign. Brewer created a targeted postcard leading students to a personalized URL where they could register to win a $5,000 college scholarship. A corresponding Facebook challenge invited entrants to compete to win a moped, considered a more environmentally friendly form of transportation.
Judges were impressed by the style of the mail piece, which was produced to look handwritten – a good message for a campaign focusing on pens. The competition also asked contestants to handwrite an essay describing their future goals.
The panel of judges included:
John Duch, Eastern Regional Manager, Pentel of America Ltd.
Elizabeth Hellman, VP, Corporate Marketing, Alloy Media + Marketing
Andy Belth, SVP, Direct Marketing, Alloy Media + Marketing
Lauren May, Corporate Marketing Coordinator, Alloy Media + Marketing
Lauren Murphy, Advertising Account Executive, Columbia Chronicle – student judge
Cara Wood, Editor-in-Chief, DMNews
Julia Hood, Editorial Director, DMNews
Patrick Fultz, President, John Caples International Awards
