2023 Engage B2B Awards: The Success Stories

Find out how the 2023 winners impressed our judges this year.

Last night, we held our annual Engage B2B Awards, celebrating the innovative marketing engagement strategies of companies from all over the globe. Our glittering Awards Ceremony took place at The Brewery in London, where the British comedian Suzi Ruffell delighted the audience and announced the 2023 winners.

Find out which companies received an award this year and what they did to impress our judges below.

MEET THE WINNERS

BEST CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVE – PORTMEIRION AND INTELLIGENT MOBILE

Portmeirion and Intelligent Mobile won the Best Customer Engagement Initiative award for developing “the world’s most engaging tour guide app”. The Portmeirion App has a number of features and modes, including the ‘Tour Guide Mode’ (a self-navigating, location-based audio and information system) and the ‘Explore Mode’ (which enables visitors to explore over 50 points of interest and 2 hours of audio over 85 acres).

The app further features accessible trail routes to cater for people of all abilities and is available in both Welsh and English. Unlocking thousands of facts and 100 years of history, the Portmeirion App sets a new benchmark for how tourist destinations can use technology to engage with visitors.

Portmeirion and Intelligent Mobile also received the Best Use of Marketing Technology award for the development of this app.

BEST EXAMPLE OF MARKETING ENGAGEMENT – SAS SOFTWARE LIMITED

SAS Software Limited received the Best Example of Marketing Engagement award for creating exclusive ABM hubs for its two banking accounts. The account-specific hub pages are fully personalised webpages exclusive to each account, with the content, look, feel and tone of voice customised to the customer.

This exclusive ABM hub is neither linked from the website navigation nor indexable on search engines; therefore, it is primarily marketed via innovative one-to-one personalised advertising on paid-social channels, ABM campaigns, and account networking sessions/events.

SAS Software Limited’s remarkable entry also earned them the Best Use of Account-Based Marketing (ABM) award.

BEST MULTICHANNEL CAMPAIGN – TRAVELPORT

Travelport received the Best Multichannel Campaign award for its 7 Wonders Challenge. With this campaign, Travelport sought to put its modern retailing platform to the test by sending Jamie ‘Adventureman’ McDonald to visit the 7 Wonders of the World in 7 days using only public transport, in a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ attempt.

To announce this campaign, Travelport first released a dramatic video teasing the challenge on social media before uploading the content on their hub. They then uploaded their hero video on social media, shared supporting videos explaining how their products supported Jamie’s travels, reached out to media contacts worldwide, and partnered with BuzzFeed and HuffPost to create a travel-themed quiz. Lastly, they hosted an exclusive screening of their hero video in a cinema in London, inviting customers, media and influencers.

BEST USE OF DATA & CUSTOMER INSIGHT IN MARKETING – CISCO SYSTEMS INC.

Cisco Systems Inc. won the Best Use of Data & Insight in Marketing award for modernising Cisco.com, making it simpler for customers. To do so, they moved away from technical jargon and towards more engaging, customer-friendly language with clear benefits and calls to action. Their vision was simple: to create a site that their customers and partners could use effortlessly.

Taking this further, they launched a new Customer Effort Score, which helped them persistently survey customers on their satisfaction. This led to further innovation using AI and allowed them to use their understanding of customers to create better content and experiences. Through qualitative and quantitative methods (such as interviews, testing, surveys, and optimisation), Cisco was able to deliver a modernised design system, future-ready technology, and simplified content and publishing.

BEST USE OF LIVE, DIGITAL AND/OR HYBRID EVENTS MARKETING – DP WORLD AND STARCOM

DP World and Starcom won the Best Use of Live, Digital and/or Hybrid Events Marketing award for breaking boundaries and opening up what was a previously exclusive event (WEF). In their awards entry, the winners explained that they sought a solution to two challenges: supporting business decision makers with tackling global supply chain issues and opening up WEF to a wider audience.

To tackle these challenges, they ran an audience segmentation project identifying the most valuable profiles for DP World and conducted a whitespace analysis identifying the topics that competitors were not addressing. Following this research, they built the ‘Trade in Transition’ report, exploring the factors influencing trade and global business decisions. Furthermore, they went against the grain and used LinkedIn Live Streams to connect their wider audience to WEF and support them with useful content.

BEST USE OF VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER – GLOBAL PAYMENTS

The financial services company Global Payments won the Best Use of Voice of the Customer award for incorporating genuine customer insights into their operating processes. To enhance their CX and incorporate the feedback they received, Global Payments used a listening tool to capture real opinions on services regarding specific pain points and inefficiencies.

They also launched surveys with a maximum of 7 questions to optimise completion rates, covering 3 key moments in an account’s lifecycle and setting triggering/sampling rules for continuous, wave-based outreach. In their entry, the award winners revealed that the work they put into designing these surveys resulted in higher response rates and a significant jump in their retention rates.

“From listening to our customers, we have been able to take positive action to improve our processes and the customer experience, for example developing our online functionality, help page content, email communication content and even our IVR decision tree and influencing product enhancements,” Global Payments shared.

GREAT PLACE TO WORK – LEDGER BENNETT

The marketing agency Ledger Bennett earned the Great Place to Work award for transforming their culture after changing their CEO at the start of 2022. The agency replaced more than half of their leadership team during the year, pushing for a culture shift that promoted diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As part of this, HR worked closely with Ledger Bennett’s new CEO to create as much stability and transparency as possible as new executives were being onboarded, allowing them to voice their work preferences, communication styles and expectations.

The agency further shrunk the gender pay gap they discovered, putting more women in senior roles and transforming their hiring process. Furthermore, they launched numerous initiatives designed to enhance employee engagement by introducing an employee recognition programme, a volunteering scheme, mentorship opportunities, flexible and remote working, unlimited annual leave, and more.

“This work has had the desired results as our employees tell us they feel engaged, and beyond that have a sense of trust, purpose, and unity,” the winners wrote.

INBOUND MARKETING PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR – NOVENTIQ (LATIN AMERICA)

Noventiq, a global provider of IT solutions and services, received the Inbound Marketing Programme of the Year award for its comprehensive 360° digital strategy. The award winner was recognised for building a powerful ecosystem of social networks, marketplace, emails, corporate website, webinars, blogs, and podcasts.

In addition to this, Noventiq developed a content strategy offering a wide range of educational resources, knowing that people make better decisions by learning new skills. As part of this strategy, Noventiq share tips, videos, and interviews that inspire and empower their community.

“We are a global company, with local knowledge. By creating unique communications, we achieve effective marketing that goes beyond reaching customers and understanding their cultural diversity. We embrace 3 regional dialects, celebrating Latin America’s unique richness while resonating with people on a personal level,” the award winners wrote.

MARKETING TEAM OF THE YEAR – ANTERIAD

The full-funnel marketing solutions provider Anteriad won the Marketing Team of the Year award for putting together a team that drove growth for a newly launched company and created a marketing strategy matching the sophistication of the B2B marketing capabilities it offered clients.

The established marketing team launched numerous initiatives, creating awareness for the new company brand ‘Anteriad’, generating inclusion in analyst research, upgrading marketing technology, and establishing ABM and demand generation centres of excellence. The team further built out data-driven best practices and combined activities including performance marketing, content, PR, events, and branding across the marketing organisation to create a cohesive vision.

“It’s not every day that a marketing team is at its absolute best after three M&A events, Covid and a rebranding. Rather than buckle from seismic changes, Anteriad’s remote and global marketing team took the opportunity to tackle a total restructuring of employees, technologies and processes,” Anteriad shared.

OUTBOUND MARKETING PROGRAMME OF THE YEAR – TWITCH ADS

Twitch Ads won the Outbound Marketing Programme of the Year award for its ‘Generation Twitch’ B2B campaign, targeting Millennials, Generation Z and Generation Alpha. As part of this campaign, the winners conducted a global research study featuring a combination of semiotic analysis, online community research, surveys, and a virtual focus group. This enabled them to better understand how they can add value and maximise their impact amongst the bulk of their audience.

Following their research, Twitch Ads identified 5 key preferences that distinguished Generation Twitch; that is, they value raw content, spontaneous and interactive content experiences, inclusivity, collaborative communities, and purpose.

Using its insights, the winners introduced Generation Twitch through branded content series, a teaser deck at the Cannes Lions, display ads, and over 70 event keynotes.

REBRAND/RELAUNCH OF THE YEAR – CONNEX ONE

The omnichannel customer engagement platform Connex One earned the Rebrand/Relaunch of the Year award for transforming its brand. According to their entry, the winners sought to move ‘from a brand that looked like a startup’ to one that now feels like a robust, dependable provider of CX software.

To establish itself as an iconic brand and outshine the competition, Connex One emphasised its visual appeal and creatively leveraged its software’s intuitive user journeys by incorporating them into branding. What is more, they opted for new and unique logos as well as distinct colour palettes for each feature in their suite of CX products.

“Our rebranding story isn't about just a new look; it's about aligning our image with the revolutionary technology we offer. We didn't settle for "good enough"; we aimed to set new industry standards. Our marketing and product teams envisioned a brand that speaks innovation fluently, and we've achieved exactly that,” Connex One shared.

BEST OF – INDUSTRY TRAILBLAZERS UNDER 30 – NINA HUMPHREY (HYMANS ROBERTSON LLP)

Nina Humphrey, Digital Marketing Executive at Hymans Robertson LLP, was recognised in the Best Of – Industry Trailblazers Under 30 category for raising the company’s profile on LinkedIn and building engagement with its communities. When she first started, Nina set up an Employee Advocacy Programme, which began as a 3-month pilot with just 20 people and now features nearly 130 consultants.

Despite this being Nina’s first full-time marketing job, she has successfully helped the company build the confidence and skills of their consultants, enabling them to use LinkedIn effectively. She has further demonstrated the value of social media to the business and increased engagement via their people (rather than the brand).

“Nina is an incredibly effective marketer. She has wrapped her head around an incredibly complex business, has driven forward a programme that our people weren't receptive to initially and made it into a huge success. We have people approach her to join the programme. She has transformed how we use social media and has helped us raise the profile of various parts of the business,” Hymans Robertson revealed.

Considering that the Engage B2B Awards received a record-breaking number of entries this year, we would like to extend our congratulations to the award winners once more!

Over the coming weeks, we will be conducting interviews with the 2023 winners and sharing their success stories.

Those interested in entering the 2024 Engage Awards can do so from January 22nd.

Editorial queries and correction requests can be sent to editor@ebm.uk.