Virginia Retirement System Receives Awards for Financial Services Marketing Campaigns
RICHMOND July 18, 2024 -The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) received two Communicator Awards for marketing and communications campaigns from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), which recognizes excellence, effectiveness and innovation across all areas of communication. For both winning initiatives, VRS partnered with its third-party record keeper, MissionSquare Retirement.
The Contribution Increase Campaign received an Award of Excellence, AIVA’s highest honor, given to groups whose ability to communicate positions them as the best in the field. The campaign included quarterly emails encouraging VRS Hybrid Retirement Plan members to increase voluntary contributions and save the maximum amount to receive their full employer match. Emails targeted participants in three groups based on their personal saving levels and resulted in high open and click rates well above industry benchmarks, meeting the campaign goal of increased participant engagement.
VRS received an Award of Distinction for its two-part “Start, Stop, Continue” fall email campaign, which promoted saving for retirement and avoiding impulse spending to help public service employees boost retirement savings. “Start, Stop, Continue” also identified participant career stages based on their visits to an interactive website and provided tailored information. The campaign recorded more than 5,100 online visitors. More than 350 employees participated in educational programs or account reviews as part of the campaign.
The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence in an annual competition for marketing and communications professionals. The awards are judged by AIVA, an assembly of professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of media.