June 2008– The Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association (PDMA) bestowed a prestigious "Benny" award—the Benjamin Franklin Award for Direct Marketing Excellence—to Schultz & Williams Direct (S&W Direct) at the Association’s annual awards ceremony on June 4.

This year’s category: "Direct Mail; Acquisition; Nonprofit Award" was received for the Wildlife Conservation Society’s metro acquisition mailing, which Schultz & Williams Direct designed, wrote and produced. The four-color, 6x9 direct mail package featured the compelling image of a lemur family on the carrier envelope and boasted the benefits and value of joining the Society and enjoying free admission to five wildlife destinations in and around New York City.

The direct mail campaign aimed to acquire new members to WCS at the highest price point possible and to substantially improve response and net income of previous years’ campaigns through an enhanced offer, improved creative, aggressive testing and strategic targeting of prospect lists. The list strategy for this mailing was crucial since the wildlife destinations that make up WCS are located in the largest metro area in the United States. Thorough audience profiling and list research informed S&W Direct’s list strategy and resulted in WCS reaching their target family demographic effectively and efficiently.

The campaign achieved a 143% increase in response rate over the previous year’s campaign and the most net income from a membership direct mail acquisition in the Society’s history. In addition, more than 78% of new members chose the upgraded membership level and this award-winning campaign generated a 281% ROI—triple the 2006 ROI—for the Society.

Founded in 1987, Schultz & Williams is a national consulting firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today S&W works with nonprofits throughout the United States and continues to exemplify its legacy as one of the first firms in the country to combine the principles of development, management and marketing into our consulting services—an approach that proves successful for nearly every client challenge.