Campaign & GTM

Horizon Choice Rewards

Letting Customers Choose Their Own Goal for Horizon Distributors

Horizon Distributors·2022-2023

Sub-Brand

Parent Brand

Horizon Distributors

Years

2022-2023

My Role

Creative Director, hands-on design

The Business Challenge

Horizon Distributors is one of the largest landscape and irrigation suppliers in the United States, serving green industry professionals across the country.

They wanted a special promotion that would motivate, engage, and drive incremental sales across their entire customer base — from standard performers to their biggest accounts.

The problem with a single, fixed target is that it rarely fits everyone. Set it too low and top performers coast. Set it too high and everyone else gives up.

The question became:

How do we give every customer a goal they actually believe in?

Strategic Insight

People commit more deeply to goals they choose themselves.

Once someone makes a choice, they feel ownership over it — and they work harder to follow through.

Rather than handing customers a target, we let them pick one. Choice became the motivation.

A post-program survey later confirmed it: 75% of participants said they would rather select their own goal than be given one.

Strategy

Horizon was the first customer to launch our team's goal-choice program — a new approach built on behavioral economics.

During a goal selection period, each participant picked one of three personal goals:

"Don't Rock the Boat" — 2 points per dollar "Push Your Limits" — 4 points per dollar "Shoot for the Stars" — 8 points per dollar

Bigger goals paid bigger rewards — but it was all or nothing. Miss your goal and you earn no points. Don't choose, and you're placed in the lowest goal.

That structure kept payouts lower for standard performers while pushing top customers to new heights. Every dollar of growth was incremental.

Building a Connected Brand Experience

Like every program I build, Horizon Choice Rewards couldn't live in a single email or a single website.

I designed the logo and a full design system so that every touchpoint — in the branch, in the inbox, and on the phone — felt like one connected experience.

The strategy was new. The marketing toolkit followed the same proven model: one brand system, carried everywhere customers interacted with Horizon.

Physical Brand Experiences

Branches were where customers made buying decisions, so they became a key part of the campaign.

Branch launch kits
Point-of-sale branch materials
Counter mats
Goal Period and Earning Period posters
"Coming Soon" teaser flyers
Print mailers — brochures and two cards

Digital Customer Experience

The digital experience guided participants from choosing a goal through redemption.

Logo & program theme
Goal selection platform experience
Goal payout comparison tool
Message pop-ups & web sliders
Account activation emails
Progress report eStatements
Email campaigns & workflows
Text messaging campaigns
e-Course quizzes
Redemption countdown emails
Program videos (produced by another designer)

Behavioral Marketing Framework

The whole program came down to three moments:

Choose. Commit. Climb.

Each one was designed to turn a personal decision into lasting motivation.

Choose

Put the customer in control.

Three clearly named goal levels
A payout comparison tool showing what each level could earn

Commit

Make the choice feel personal.

All-or-nothing rewards that raised the stakes
Goal Period messaging that built anticipation before earning began

Climb

Show progress every step of the way.

eStatements and progress tracking toward each goal
Email, SMS, and branch reminders through redemption

Brand & Design System

I built the Horizon Choice Rewards identity and the design system our team reused across every touchpoint — so each new piece stayed on-brand and moved faster.

Parent Brand

Horizon Choice Rewards was built as a sub-brand of Horizon Distributors. The parent mark appears across branch kits, emails, and statements, so customers always see the program as part of Horizon.

Color Palette

Horizon Gold

Charcoal Black

Goal Blue

Goal Green

Goal Red

Typography

Bold condensed sans-serif headlines in gold on black, paired with clean sans-serif body copy — built for at-a-glance readability on branch counters and posters.

Patterns & Graphics

The three-diamond goal mark became the program's signature pattern — one diamond per goal tier, reused as bullet markers, badges, and background texture across every piece.

My Role — What I Designed

I created the Horizon Choice Rewards brand from the ground up — the logo, the full design system, and the branch kits — and creatively directed how it came to life across every channel. Program videos were produced by another designer using the system I built.

Logo design
Brand & design system
Branch kit design
Creative direction
Behavioral marketing
Campaign architecture
Customer journey design
Email & SMS campaign creative
Print mailers & cards
Web sliders & pop-ups
Cross-functional collaboration
Team leadership

2023 Results

Goal earners nearly doubled their purchases from Horizon. Customers who chose the biggest goal grew the most: 126% over the prior year. Of 2,836 activated participants, 1,131 selected a goal and 558 hit it. Emails reached about 23,000 inboxes with an 8% click rate, and more than 1,000 text messages were sent.

$18.3M

Incremental Sales

1,041%

Return on Investment

95%

Net Sales Increase ($19.3M → $37.6M)

126%

Growth — Shoot for the Stars Earners

Reflection

People work hardest for the goals they choose.

This program reminded me that the strongest motivator isn't a bigger prize.

It's ownership.

When the brand, the strategy, and every touchpoint reinforce that choice, a promotion becomes a commitment — and a commitment drives growth.

Being the first to bring this program to market, and watching it nearly double sales for the customers who earned their goal, is still one of the projects I'm proudest of.

Campaign Gallery