With the deadline looming for SIPAwards entries—you can’t win if you don’t enter!—it’s a good time to list some of the profiles I wrote on 2019 honored entrants. The SIPAwards are a total win-win-win entity, especially in these challenging weeks. Great efforts get recognized and applauded, members read about them, we celebrate (virtually) at SIPA 2020, and helpful times are enjoyed by all.
Here’s a rundown of a few profiles that I wrote of 2019 winners, with links to the full stories. Except for one in-person event, they are all initiatives that can be executed during our current climate.
In 2018, the Informa Pharma Intelligence editorial and marketing teams collaborated on the release of its annual white paper analyzing the evolution of pharma R&D for the past year. But this wasn’t your typical medical or scientific report. It was more music to their audience’s ears. “Using the evolution of music as the backdrop for the 2018 report, the team set the trends… against everything from present day pop charts to the birth of jazz,” they wrote on their 2019 SIPAward-winning entry.
“Education Week Online Summits are an ideal way for busy educators to access timely information about a range of critical issues in K-12 education easily by using their phones or desktops and integrating their learning directly into their usual workflow,” wrote Matthew Cibellis, director of programming, live & virtual events, for Education Week, in his 2019 SIPAward-winning entry last year.
“Gas station owner Mike is struggling to keep up with the times, and not just in his wardrobe.” Thus begins one of the many OPIS animated videos featuring Mike, here wearing a psychedelic shirt and headband. This 98-second marketing video is one of many in the OPIS RetailSuite Video Series starring the buyer persona (but not Oscar-nominated) “Mike the station manager.” This campaign helped produce 600+ closed sales in 2018, and drove a 17% YOY increase in sales revenue for the retail segment of OPIS business—and won a SIPAward.
The original trial sign-up page for Money-Media’s Life Annuity Specialist looked a bit intimidating. It had several boxes to fill out, a password to create, enter and re-enter, and many asterisks which usually isn’t good. Then there was a testimonial, a confirmation box, “privacy and cookie policies,” and finally the Sign Up button at the bottom. Whew! But then a new trial sign-up page was created, and success followed—and a 2019 SIPAward for Best Success Story.
Talk about a win-win initiative. In 2018, Connectiv member Putman Media’s inaugural Influential Women in Manufacturing (IWIM), a recognition program honoring women who are creating and leading change in the manufacturing and industrial production space, honored 22 women and won a coveted SIPAward. Along with that came new social media channels, an awards breakfast at their annual Smart Industry event—shown here with Putman’s three IWIM creators—a new sponsorship, webinars, a podcast series, and, oh yes, 27 more honorees in 2019.
“Mapping out the email content for the entire marketing campaign from the first to the last email enabled me to really put myself in the attendee’s shoes and think, ‘what is my customer’s journey’?” That quote is from Sarah Plombon, marketing manager for Access Intelligence, in her 2019 SIPAward-winning entry for Best Success Story. For their 2019 Nuclear Deterrence Summit, she created an automated email marketing campaign that drove an 18% increase in year-over-year attendee revenue.
“Data shows that 39.4% of people who view this quiz are completing it, 49.7% of people who begin the quiz are completing it, and 99.2% of people completing the quiz are entering their email addresses,” wrote Megan Sigg, marketing coordinator for Access Intelligence’s PR News, in her 2019 SIPAward-winning entry for Best Lead Generation/Nurturing Campaign. “Overall results of this lead-generation campaign have exceeded expectations bringing in more than 700 total leads…”
Again, here is the link to the 2020 SIPAwards. There’s still time to enter, win and be included in this column next year!
