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John Hancock Funds - Creative Team

Company: John Hancock Funds, LLC, Boston, Massachusetts
Company Description: John Hancock Funds is a market leader in mutual funds and asset allocation portfolios. By leveraging ongoing product innovation, knowledge and experience and our strong brand, we are continually seeking to better serve our customers. John Hancock is the U.S. division of Manulife Financial Corporation, a highly esteemed global enterprise based in Toronto, Ontario.
Nomination Category: Creative Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Creative Team

Nomination Title: John Hancock Funds Best Creative Services Team


  1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since January 1 2007 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

    The Creative Services team at John Hancock Funds helped propel the company to 
    its greatest sales year in its history. Creative Services embraced the
    company’s vision and provided the most effective solutions to market the suite
    of John Hancock products. Fueled by forward-thinking, creative individuals, the
    Creative Services team continued to perform at a high level in all of its
    divisions, including creative, financial publishing, print procurement,
    literature fulfillment and the document center. To support a growing need,
    Creative Services increased its multimedia capabilities during 2007.

    Our aggressive 2007 sales goal provided Creative Services an opportunity to
    showcase a diverse range of talents. One of the many highlights was the
    company’s launch of the award-winning Proposal Builder system. Creative
    Services worked closely with the E-Commerce team to design the web-based, data-
    driven, printed proposal. In conjunction with this product launch, Creative
    Services created an integrated advertising campaign featuring direct mail,
    print collateral, web-site ads and e-mail blasts.

    Creative Services collaborated with Marcom to produce marketing material for
    the Closed-End Fund launch, the Investment Executive workshop, the Create
    Clients for Life kit and the Large Cap flash. During 2007, John Hancock Funds
    was awarded the Marcom Gold Award for its IRA Rollover Campaign in the
    Marketing and Promotional Campaign category. Our Financial Publishing and
    Graphic Design divisions embarked on a Prospectus Redesign project during the
    year, taking our consolidated fund prospectuses and designing and transitioning
    to unbundled prospectuses.

    The team also provided all design and execution for major company events
    including the “Rethink Reality” Roadshow, the Signature Board Top-Producers
    Meeting, the National Accounts Conference, the National Sales Meeting and the
    Texas Sales Meeting.

    In an effort to reinforce our strong brand, Creative Services developed a
    successful graphic system to streamline our mutual fund launch collateral. The
    benefits are two-fold; a consistent, recognizable brand with an efficient
    production cycle.

    In addition to providing marketing support for John Hancock Funds, Creative
    Services manages all creative and production services for the John Hancock
    Funds College Savings division. College Savings launched memorable campaigns to
    increase awareness about its product including the Back to School kit featuring
    a genuine lunch box and the 529 Gift Card Program, as well as a suite of
    children’s items such as a coloring book, a calendar and a growth chart.

    One of the technical advances made during 2007 was the launch of a project-
    tracking and reporting system called CreateOne. This web-based system was
    designed by Creative Services to manage and analyze 3,000+ annual projects to
    assist John Hancock Funds in identifying opportunity for efficiencies.

    The Creative Services team had the great opportunity to support non-profit
    organizations, such as Horizon’s for Homeless Children, Pan-Mass Challenge,
    Boston Public Schools and Rosie’s Place.

    What sets the John Hancock Funds Creative Services team apart from the
    competition is an unparalleled enthusiasm and passion for excellence in every
    part of the business. John Hancock Funds continues to prove how an internal
    creative group can support the company’s vision and play a major role in its
    success.

  2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

    Link to a PDF of the 2007 Creative Services Portfolio:

    http://www.jhfunds.com/CMS/DownloadableItems/HTMLEmails/CreativePortfolio.pdf

  3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

    The John Hancock Funds Creative Services team is led by Assistant Vice 
    President, Dan Rollins. Prior to joining John Hancock Funds in 1994, Dan worked
    as an art director and general manager at Creative Publishing Corporation. Dan
    began his career as a printing press operator and later received his degree in
    Advertising & Graphic Design. Dan is a member of AIGA and is on the advisory
    boards for the Boston Print Buyers and Print and Media Buyer Magazine.