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                    Experian Marketing Services’ CheetahMail® developed a new Pinterest email functionality late last year that has produced significantly higher both open and click rates for emails with the functionality, while also enabling retailers’ products to go viral. Several retailers, including Ballard Designs, have seen significant increases in click-to-open rates, Pinterest followers and pinboard activity by incorporating the capability into their email campaigns. Specifically, the Pinterest feature allows brands to incorporate “Pin It” functionality within their promotional emails, so that consumers can link products they like to specific pinboards. Email recipients are able to easily share the products featured within the body of the email with friends and followers simply by clicking on the “Pin It” icon — the power of which is word-of-mouth product awareness. The feature is easy to implement, and the CheetahMail team provides the strategy and guidance on how to integrate Pinterest into campaigns, as well as the kinds of campaigns that are best suited to leverage the channel. “We recognized the viral value of Pinterest early and recommended the ‘Pin It’ functionality to clients to help with customer engagement,” said Yara Lutz, vice president of Client Services at Experian CheetahMail. “The emails with the ‘Pin-It’ functionality have consistently delivered increased click-to-open rates and helped our clients, such as Ballard Designs, expand their presence on this valuable social networking site.” Ballard Designs “Spring Favorites Campaign” With the help of its Experian CheetahMail account team, Ballard Designs launched a Customer Spring Favorites promotional email to consumers. The email included six individual products with “Pin It” icons and delivered excellent results. Specifically, Ballard Designs saw: A 2.8 percent increase in click-to-open rates More than 15 percent increase in Pinterest followers within the first week of deployment A 33 percent increase in pinboard activity “Knowing our brand well, Experian CheetahMail proactively reached out to help us strategize and execute the new ‘Pin It’ in email functionality,” said James Pope, director of public relations and social media for Ballard Designs. “It was very easy, and we are extremely pleased with the results of our first ‘Pin It’ campaign, which enabled six products to be ‘pinned’ separately from within the email, increasing click-to-open rates, Pinterest followers and pinboard activity. The functionality has now become an integral part of our ongoing email campaigns.” Pinterest campaigns create higher open and click rates Looking at brands currently sending ‘Pin Us’ campaigns, Experian CheetahMail found that ‘Pin Us’ mailings are generating higher open and click rates when compared to other mailings from the same brands among Experian CheetahMail clients. Pinterest mailings overall are generating 11 percent higher open rates and 25 percent higher click rates than other email campaigns between January 2012 and March 2012. For more information about how Ballard Designs used the Pinterest feature to its advantage, please read the full Ballard Designs case study and view the Social Media’s Hot Trends Webinar.

Theyyyy’re baaack! They once graced American televisions singing witty lyrics about their personal credit woes while waiting tables in pirate costumes, living out of the in-laws’ basement and getting snubbed by women because of their lackluster car. Now, after a two-year hiatus, The Original Band is back by popular demand. Freecreditscore.comTM today unveils a new creative campaign featuring the likable trio in new roles: beneficiaries of success due to credit education. The Original Band’s first run generated a huge groundswell of fan support, and the story continues that like many artists, they needed to recharge their creative batteries. Now flush with success, they decided it was time to listen to their fans and get back to doing what they do best: rockin’ the microphone. “Our company has consistently received requests to bring back The Original Band,” said Ken Chaplin, senior vice president of marketing for freecreditscore.com. “There is an incredible fan base, and it’s apparent that they struck a chord with America. We’ve seen it play out in pop culture as online spoofs, as well as on popular television shows such as Saturday Night Live and Glee.” Music has always been important to the brand’s success. Members of The American Secrets, voted the winning band in the 2010 freecreditscore.com Band Search, have been its most recent musical ambassadors. The power of freecreditscore.com’s commercials has continued to capture the attention of consumers while educating them about credit. Consumers love the infectious music and memorable lyrics, and the three new commercials scheduled for the coming months promise to deliver catchy tunes and a great musical experience. “This is a great example of a client that listened to what customers were saying; there’s still a lot of love out there for these guys,” said Steve Sage, creative director for The Martin Agency. “It’s an iconic campaign and we look forward to this next chapter with our old friends. If you look closely, there are several reminders of the past to be found in these commercials. Stay tuned." In addition to the commercials, fans can follow the band on our social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as on the fan-inspired http://www.freecreditscoreband.com Website, where information, behind-the-scenes videos and images will be housed. Check them out:

Experian Marketing Services, a leading provider of data, analytics and marketing technologies, today announced an expanded relationship with Adrea Rubin Marketing, Inc., the life and health insurance marketing leader. This relationship makes Adrea Rubin Marketing a preferred provider of Experian Marketing Services’ ChoiceScore to the life and health insurance vertical. ChoiceScore helps marketers identify and more effectively market to underbanked consumers. Using the most comprehensive array of noncredit data available from Experian, including consumer demographic, behavioral and geo-demographic information, ChoiceScore’s custom models offer users the ability to select specific consumers based on potential risk. “Experian Marketing Services is a long-time, trusted partner. Their richness of data is excellent, and they have valuable predictive tools that help marketers in the insurance vertical be successful,” said Adrea Rubin, chief executive officer, Adrea Rubin Marketing. “Expanding our relationship with Experian will help us better serve the life and health insurance industry to reach underserved consumers with new products and services.” Adrea Rubin Marketing has worked with more than 30 different insurance carriers selling life, health, and property and casualty products. These carriers market via direct mail, outbound telemarketing, and digital and alternate media channels. Adrea Rubin Marketing’s experience enables insurance carriers to reach the most profitable segments of the Choicescore database as well as their own policyholder file. The firm’s ability to optimize the data as it applies to each individual carrier engagement is unparalleled. “Adrea Rubin’s presence in the insurance industry makes this expanded relationship a natural fit,” said Rick Erwin, president of Data and Analytics, Experian Marketing Services. “This next step will increase the availability of a leading marketing product designed to help marketers reach consumers who may not otherwise be reachable.” Learn more about Experian Marketing Services. Photo: Shutterstock