‘Dear Skippy …’

Realizing the limitations of its basic letterhead appeal, the school partnered with Venice, Fla.-based direct-marketing firm One to One Gulfcoast and New York-based software provider XMPie to create a variable data direct-mail campaign that incorporated personalized letters, postcards and phone-a-thons. The new strategy mined a database rich with information on the students, their families, their families’ giving histories and even students’ nicknames.