MCI— The competition for this was a screamin’ check mailing offering $50 in cold cash. By comparison all I had to offer was bonus miles. Since the miles were so much cheaper than the cash, MCI would have been happy if this had done half as well as what it was being compared to. But by romancing the living hell out of the ultimate purpose of the miles, I actually beat the control package (by a full .1% or something). As well as every other acquisition mailing done by MCI’s seemingly endless roster of agencies that season. As a result, this became the new control package for 1997—and won Rapp Collins millions in subsequent MCI assignments.