The Stevie® Awards have announced the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards in The 2017 (14^th annual) International Business Awards, the world’s premier business awards competition.

Nominees in the 2017 IBAs were not able to apply for the Best of the IBA Awards directly. Winners were determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the IBAs with a Gold Stevie win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie for two points and a Bronze Stevie win for one-and-a-half points. 

This year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in The International Business Awards were announced on 10 August. The winners of the Best of the IBA Awards will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies at The 14^th Annual International Business Awards banquet at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain on 21 October. 

Winners of the 2017 Grand Stevie Awards are:

Most Honored Organization: With 120 award points earned by Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted by affiliated agencies and offices around the world, the global communications consultancy MSLGROUP is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Organization of the year. MSLGROUP earned Stevies for the work done by offices from Canada, China, India, Japan, the USA and other nations, for clients as diverse as home improvement retailer Home Depot, Chinese electronics giant Huawei, and Indian consumer goods manufacturer Marico Ltd., among others.

Most Honored Public Relations Agency: With a total of 77 points earned by Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted by their agencies and offices in Latin America, Spain and the USA, communications consultants LLORENTE & CUENCA is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Public Relations Agency of the year.

Most Honored Marketing Agency: With a total of 38.5 points earned by Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie-winning entries on behalf of clients, South Korean marketing agency HANAROADCOM is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Marketing Agency of the year.

Most Honored Interactive Services Agency: With 23.5 points for Stevies won on behalf of clients including L’OCCITANE, Sino Hotels and Watsons Water, Hong Kong-based PRIZM is the winner of the Grand Stevie Award trophy for Most Honored Interactive Services Agency of the year for the second year in a row.

Top 10: These are the top Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners among all other organizations honored in the 2017 IBAs. They’ll also be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies.

1. CallidusCloud—Dublin, CA, USA (84 points)
2. Telkom Indonesia—Jakarta (72.5)
3. Cisco Systems—worldwide (67)
4. ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller—Dubai, United Arab Emirates (56.5)
5. Deutsche Post DHL—worldwide (55.5)
6. Weber Shandwick—worldwide (53)
7. PT Petrokimia Gresik—Gresik, Indonesia (42.5)
8. PJ Lhullier Group of Companies—Makati City, Philippines (35)
9. Odea Bank A.S. —Istanbul, Turkey (31)
10. Ooredoo—worldwide (30 points)

“Of all the outstanding organizations and achievements that were recognized among this year’s record-breaking number of IBA nominations, these 14 organizations stand out as the ones with the widest breadth of achievement,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “The Best of the IBA Awards are intended to honor organizations that show an especially strong dedication to honoring the work of their employees, the commitment of their clients, and a sense of innovation, and we look forward to celebrating these firms with Grand Stevie Award trophies at our gala event in Barcelona on 21 October.”

The International Business Awards feature a wide variety of categories to recognize achievement in every facet of work life, including management awards, new product awards, marketing awards, PR awards, customer service awards, website awards and more.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements in the 2017 IBAs were determined by the average scores of more than 200 professionals worldwide in the three-month judging process.

For more information about The International Business Awards, including a complete list of all Stevie Award winners in the 2017 competition, visit www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

We all benefit when a child succeeds in school, when someone finds a job that will help them provide for their family or when more people are able to access quality, affordable healthcare. United Way Worldwide fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community.

United Way is the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit, supported by 2.8 million volunteers, 9.8 million donors worldwide and more than $4.7 billion raised every year. So it’s no surprise they received the Gold Stevie Award for Best Annual Report and for “New Product of the Year, Education, K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution” in The 2017 American Business Awards.

Anyone Can Help Everyone

Providing a platform to make a bigger, deeper difference is what Southerlyn Worsham, Director of Public Relations at United Way Worldwide, says is a top priority when getting involved with United Way Worldwide.

“We’re engaged in nearly 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories worldwide to create sustainable solutions to the challenges facing our communities.”

United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, nonprofits, government, civic and faith-based organizations, along with educators, labor leaders, health providers, senior citizens, students and more.

The Importance of Celebrating Lasting Change

It’s hard to quantify the value of helping people around the world, especially at United Way’s scale. But lives being changed for the better can be acknowledged and celebrated with awards that represent the hard work people do day in and day out. Southerlyn enjoys sharing these stories as testaments to the difference that communities can make when we come together to create lasting change.

“Our team is awed by the awards and the double victory. Our entire office is so proud of the two awards and have been congratulating each other. It has been amazing for morale and pride. These victories have reignited our passion to fight for the health, education and financial stability of every person in every community.”

The Gold Stevie Award in The 2017 American Business Awards for Best Annual Report was given to United Way Worldwide for their multi-media annual report about their efforts and results, including 1,800 locations, 40 countries, six continents, served by 2.8 million volunteers and 9.8 million donors. The annual report details individual efforts, collective results and large-scale impact in childhood success, youth success, financial stability and access to healthcare.

The Versatility of Giving

Giving money to fuel community solutions, volunteering your time or lending your voice to a cause that matters to you are just some of the ways people can get involved. United Way also allows people to gift stock with stock transfer instructions provided.

In keeping with the times of constant innovations for sending money, you can now even donate using Bitcoin, by giving to the United Way Worldwide’s Innovation Fund. The Innovation Fund drives the development of new technology and new strategies to expand their reach and impact in communities around the world. Also, every year, millions of employees around the world launch campaigns to support local United Way solutions that improve education, financial stability and healthcare.

Do a web search for custom signage, and you’ll find a multitude of businesses from which to choose. Needless to say, it’s an industry where separating oneself from the pack can be a difficult proposition.

Since its inception in 2012, the management team behind Signs.com has believed an unparalleled level of customer service is a big part of the answer. From the beginning the company has guaranteed 100% satisfaction to its customers, many of them individuals and small businesses.

By 2015, the Salt Lake City-based organization decided to take things a step further. Internally, the team posed a central question: “If we had the best customer experience in the world, what would we do?”

The answer to that question was creating a new mindset that put the customer experience front and center. In order to help make that happen, the customer service department was renamed the “customer experience department.” Instead of focusing on individual interactions, the staff would focus on the entire consumer relationship.

Shortly thereafter, the company hired Madison Page, its first Customer Experience Officer, to oversee the department and make that transformation a reality.

A Recipe for Success 

Among the new key decisions was opting to use live agents for its customer interactions, rather than following the trend for automated solutions. That approach made it easier to provide consumers with the level of service they sought.

To maintain a customer-first philosophy, the company has also formulated four habits for success that its team tries to uphold:

1. Easy

“Nothing is worse for our customers than going through a hard, cumbersome process to order signs,” says Page. “The customer experience department tries to make things as simple as possible so customers want to keep coming back.”

2. Helpful

One of the team’s priorities is consistently providing accurate, useful information. Representatives logged more than 50 hours of training in 2016, even learning about graphic design so they can aid clients on the fly with basic design issues.

3. Fast

Page has helped Signs.com achieve a company-wide chat response time of less than 10 seconds and an email response time of about 2.5 hours. That’s more than seven times faster than the industry average.

4. Friendly

“Part of giving clients a great Signs.com experience includes being kind and friendly no matter what outlet you’re using,” Page explains.

One of the keys to staying upbeat is maintaining a close-knit team that doesn’t take itself too seriously. After weekly meetings, for example, staffers can be found playing games like trying to eat donuts from a string or playing a fierce game of Spoons. The group even has gold and silver medals that get handed to the winner.

High Customer Satisfaction

The result of that emphasis on the consumer experience has led to overwhelmingly positive feedback on social media that helps attract even more customers. Of the 27,000 reviews it tallied as of December 2016, the average reviewer gave the company a 4.7 out of 5.

The company’s philosophy reflects a growing body of research suggesting that better customer care leads to increased loyalty, thereby lowering the cost of customer acquisition. For example, the research firm Access Development found that as many as 79% of customers would shop elsewhere within a week of receiving subpar customer service. 

At Signs.com, a consumer-centric strategy has clearly helped fuel the company’s rapid growth. Last year, Signs.com earned the No. 6 spot on the Utah Venture Entrepreneur Forum’s list of the top 25 companies in the state under five years old.

In February, the company added to its plaudits by grabbing the Gold Stevie^® Award for “Customer Service Department of the Year” in the 2017 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. In addition, Page received a Silver Stevie for “Contact Center Manager of the Year.”

“It is so nice to win, but it reminds and motivates us to keep innovating, helping and serving our customers,” Page says.

Stevie® Award Winners to Be Revealed at Event in New York on September 22

Finalists in the 2017 (second annual) Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, an international competition, were announced today. The awards recognize the world’s best employers and the human resources professionals, teams, achievements and HR-related products and suppliers who help to create and drive great places to work.    

A diverse group of organizations and individuals around the world are among those recognized. The leader among finalists is Migros Tic. A.S. of Istanbul, Turkey. A leader in the Turkish retail sector, the company has 14 finalist nominations, including 10 for individual training programs or media.

Another Turkish organization, the Istanbul Gas Distribution Co. (IGDAS), is close on their heels with 12 finalist nominations. ej4, the American video e-learning company, is next on the list with seven.

Organizations with four finalist nominations include Arkas Holding (Turkey), Ceridian (USA), GSoft (Canada), Merchant e-Solutions (USA), Samsung Electronics Turkey, TOFAŞ (Turkey) and Turk Telekom (Turkey).  Those with three finalist entries include BenefitMall (USA), Creative Lodging Solutions (USA), Eczacıbaşı Holding (Turkey), Ford Otosan (Turkey), G&A Partners (USA), Genentech (USA), INNOVA BILISIM COZUMLERI A.S. (Turkey), McAfee (USA), New World Development Company Limited (Hong Kong), Roth Staffing Companies (USA), Tata Consultancy Services (USA), UST Global (USA) and VESTEL (Turkey).

For a full list of finalists by category, visit www.StevieAwards.com/HR.  

All finalists will ultimately be named Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award winners. The placements will be revealed during a gala event on Friday, September 22 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Tickets are now on sale. The presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

More than 500 nominations from organizations around the world were evaluated in this year’s competition. Winners were determined by the average scores of more than 50 professionals worldwide, acting as judges. The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

•     Employer of the Year
•    HR Achievements
•    HR Individual Awards
•    HR Team Categories
•    Solution Provider Awards
•    More than 50 New Product & Service Categories

Stevie Award placements in the 35 Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blending of the ratings of professionals and the votes of the general public. More than 29,000 votes were cast by members of the public for their favorite employer this year.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious International Business Awards and American Business Awards.

Business Awards Program to Celebrate Excellence Worldwide at Barcelona Event

High-achieving organizations and executives around the world have been recognized as Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in The 14th Annual International Business Awards, the world's only international, all-encompassing business awards program.

Nicknamed the Stevies from the Greek word "crowned," the awards will be presented at a gala event on Saturday, 21 October at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain. Tickets for the event are on sale now at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

See the full list of Stevie Award winners here.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners were selected from more than 3,900 nominations received from organizations and individuals in 60 nations. All organizations worldwide are eligible to compete in The International Business Awards, and can submit entries in a wide range of categories, including management awards, company of the year awards, marketing awards, public relations awards, customer service awards, human resources awards, new product awards, IT awards, web site awards and more. 

More than 200 executives worldwide participated on 12 juries this year to determine the Stevie winners.

Among the top winners of Gold Stevie Awards are MSLGROUP, worldwide, with 13; Cisco Systems, worldwide (10); Weber Shandwick, worldwide (nine); CallidusCloud, Dublin, California USA (eight); Telkom Indonesia (eight); LLORENTE & CUENCA, Madrid, Spain (seven); and Deutsche Post DHL, worldwide, with six.  Winners of five Gold Stevies include PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies, Makati City, Philippines; Property Exchange Australia Ltd, Melbourne, Australia; PT Petrokimia Gresik, Gresik, Indonesia; Thai Life Insurance, Bangkok, Thailand; and Yapi Kredi Bank, Istanbul, Turkey.

Other organizations with 10 or more Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie wins include, among others, ASDA'A Burson Marsteller, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; FIS, St. Petersburg, Florida USA; Jeunesse Global, Lake Mary, Florida USA; Marico Ltd, Mumbai, India; Odea Bank A.S., Istanbul, Turkey; Ooredoo Group, worldwide; and PRIZM, Hong Kong. 

“We received a record number of nominations in the IBAs this year, and the judges were astounded by the inspiring stories of workplace success from all over the world,” said Stevie Awards founder and president Michael Gallagher.  “We look forward to honoring the Stevie winners who join us in Barcelona on 21 October, and to sharing their stories with the world throughout the coming year on the Stevie Awards social media channels."

During the week of 21 August the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards, five best-of-competition prizes, will be announced.  Winners will be determined by a tally of the total number of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevies won by organizations, and will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies in Barcelona.

For high-resolution photos of the Stevie Award trophy or International Business Awards logo, visit http://stevieawards.com/iba/photos-and-logos. Other information and resources for press are available at http://stevieawards.com/iba/media-inquiries-news-service-list

Fauth Gundlach & Hübl wins the Gold Stevie Award at the 2017 German Stevie Awards in the category “Communications or PR Campaign / PR Program of the Year – Low Budget (under €10,000).”

Fauth Gundlach & Hübl is an owner-operated communications agency based in Wiesbaden, Germany. The sport of golf is firmly established in the Hessian capital, and that might be one of the reasons why the agency was given the lead in regional media relations work for the Final Four of the German Golf League (DGL).

It is much more likely, however, that Fauth Gundlach & Hübl impressed its customer, Deutsche Golf Sport GmbH, a subsidiary of the German Golf Association (DGV), with its core competency. Managing Director Lars Hübl explains: “We identify the subject matter and create suitable content for it, so that our customers can effectively communicate to their specific target groups. We provide consultation, bring ideas to life and implement them, and offer continuous support for communication-related questions. In doing so, we cover six competency fields: public relations, social media, content marketing, sponsoring communication, CSR communication and brand communication.” Among Fauth Gundlach & Hübl’s customers are international companies from various industries, companies from the Rhein-Main region and sports organizations.

In the public eye, golf in Germany continues to eke out an existence as a niche sport. The German Golf Association (DGV) represents 847 member clubs and facilities, with over 643,000 registered amateur golfers. With the KRAMSKI German Golf League presented by Audi (DGL), the association has had an attractive team competition system since 2013. Each year teams from the men’s and women’s top national league compete in a five-day Final Four tournament at a neutral golf course for the title “German Team Champion.”

The assignment for Fauth Gundlach & Hübl: use the Final Four 2016, in order to generate broader media coverage of the league. Lars Hübl: “In order to be able to generate broader media coverage, we had to considerably increase the basis of the media channels to be reached. Therefore, in addition to the classical golf media, our approach was to reach out to the sports desks of the regional and local media concerning the locations of the golf clubs that had qualified for the Final Four 2016.” To make the topic more interesting, the agency offered the editorial offices personalized stories about the respective teams. In addition, the editorial offices received written topic suggestions and were subsequently contacted by telephone.

“We have clearly achieved the goal of expanding the media coverage of the DGL’s Final Four with the campaign. Altogether more than 100 clippings – for example print, online and radio – were achieved in regional and local media,” summarizes Hübl. “Despite the low budget, Fauth Gundlach & Hübl has helped to increase the media coverage of the Final Four tournament by working with regional media outlets. The regional references and the storytelling approach have contributed significantly to the media success. At the same time, we have established contacts that can be used for coverage of future golf events. The basic approach can be used over and over again, even for changing participants and venues.”

As a reward for the project “Hole-in-one: regional media relations for the Final Four of the German Golf League,” the company won a Gold Stevie in the category “Communications or PR Campaign / PR Program of the Year – Low Budget (under €10,000).” The Gold Stevie Award arrived just in time for the agency’s 10^th anniversary. What began in 2007 has grown within ten years into a motivated and harmonious team of 12 employees.

More on the Internet: 

See Managing Director Lars Hübl in an interview after the German Stevie Awards ceremony in Hamburg:  https://youtu.be/OaONyOFkDxg

Read the gold-winning application from Fauth Gundlach & Hübl here.

All Female Entrepreneurs, Executives and Employees Worldwide Are Eligible

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued the call for entries for its 2017 (14^th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 85 categories, including: Best Entrepreneur, Best Executive, Mentor or Coach of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Women Helping Women, Employee of the Year, Woman-Owned or -Run Company of the Year and Innovator of the Year. All female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run, worldwide, are eligible to be nominated.

The final entry deadline is August 23, but late entries will be accepted through September 20 with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced on October 4, and the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be revealed at a gala awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on November 17, 2017.    

Most categories require the payment of an entry fee for the submission of a nomination, but several categories require no fee, including most of those honoring women in the non-profit and governmental sectors, Female Employee of the Year and the Startup of the Year categories.

Niamh Barker, founder and managing director of The Travelwrap Company in the UK, commented on the impact of her win. “Winning the Stevie Award was an enormous achievement for me and my business and continues to prove beneficial to our operations every day. I had no idea of the impact that winning this award would have on our business until I checked my email from my hotel room the next morning and online orders had flooded in from across the USA. We now have a growing and loyal customer base in America via online and retail outlets. The Stevie Awards have definitely helped elevate our U.S. presence.”

Winners of the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business include, among others: 

• Mina Lux, Founder and CEO, Meelo, New York, NY
• Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, President and CEO, Bank Leumi, Tel-Aviv, Israel
• Yvonne Mei, Executive Vice Chairman of World System Builder, World Financial Group, San Jose, CA
• Ellie Hollander, President and CEO, Meals on Wheels America, Arlington, VA
• Nyree McKenzie, Managing Director and Principal Consultant, Thought Bubble, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
• Astha Malik, VP of Marketing, PagerDuty, San Francisco, CA
• Teresa White, President, Aflac U.S., Columbus, GA
• TAPfit, Queensland, Australia
• Prelude, London, UK
• Humana Insurance, Louisville, KY
• Century 21 Real Estate, Madison, NJ

The 2016 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflected a diverse group of large and small organizations around the globe. The 2017 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will be judged by more than 200 leading professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to all of the judges’ comments and suggestions about their nominations: an invaluable resource.

In Germany, creditworthiness for end-customer transactions are worth 350 billion EUR per year. However, credit information is often incorrect, incomplete and in generally unhelpful. This leads to poor conditions for the consumer due to contract rejections. Bonify wants to fix this by offering consumers free credit checks and better transparency using a unique algorithm that helps match users with financial institutions that actually benefit them. This technique helped Bonify win the Silver Stevie^® Award in the Technology Startup of the Year category in the 2017 German Stevie Awards.

Dusting off Bad Credit

Ultimately, Bonify wants to educate their customers about the ills of bad credit. Elisa Thiem, content contributor at Bonify, speaks to the growing issues of bad credit and the lack of tools available in Germany.

“Surprisingly, few people know what credit means at all, when it’s relevant and what impact it has on everyday decisions. With our lively international team of 33 people, the financial world will be revolutionized. We not only offer free credit checks and clarify your credit ratings, but also exciting financial management tools to optimize your finances.”

An Algorithm Saved My Life

The way Bonify assesses someone’s options is by calculating their electricity, gas and DSL usage, then the “savings calculator” allows users to find the lowest and most convenient fares to use instead. Elisa says this makes adjustments a lot easier, “especially in the field of loans, it’s exciting to finally get registered users matched with tailored credit options and individualized offers.”

Bonify’s long-term goal is to integrate all consumer products where credit plays a role (insurance, mobile phone contracts, etc.) so everyone can easily understand the best options available to them.

Rewards for You, Rewards for Us

Bonify is grateful for opportunities that help them in their fight for transparency, and award recognition is no exception. The team is well aware of other companies who've been growing in their respective markets and who believe they belong in that league as well. Elisa relays the positive attention cast on their team and how they feel.

“We were looking forward to the technology startup of the year for the German Stevie Silver Award and are still very proud! We feel great joy and pride for all employees, customers, investors and friends. Excellent customer response and confidence are a great confirmation from the positive feedback so far.”

Not Changing is the Biggest Risk

The increasing digitalization of industry and business models provide opportunities in the field of risk and credit ratings for companies and customers. Bonify is always looking for new ways to streamline credit check processes. Elisa shares their enthusiasm in the wake of their success.

“We want to and have helped many people learn more about the topic of credit and how to improve it. From numerous personal conversations in customer service, we get a lot of interesting cases and are always glad to help. A personal credit history of our former employee, Philipp Hommelsheim, was rejected as a BKA official with a good salary and positive payment history due to its poor credit rating from DriveNow.”

Protecting Your Data

The positive customer responses, the constant support of friends and investors and the motivation and enthusiasm of their employees are encouraging. However, customer information is their top priority and a major reason why the company has been growing at such a rapid rate. Elisa wants to highlight their focus on this important matter.

“Bonify is working hard to continue improving even further so that topics such as creditworthiness and financial optimization or borrowing are communicated openly and transparently. We focus on data protection. We are aware that your data is sensitive, which is never passed on to third parties without being asked.”

Since the user is already prequalified based on the individual credit and financial situation for loans, manual processes for banks are shortened and more accurate. Bonify acknowledges that not everyone is aware of their credit decisions. With a free credit check and their financial optimization tools, individuals can look forward to their credit scores improving with the right information and tools.

A meat lovers pizza with absolutely no calories? If it sounds just a little too good to be true, it is.

But that’s how the Stevie-winning nationwide chain Villa Restaurant Group playfully marketed its new product topped with pepperoni, sausage, ham and bacon, labeling it the “#AlternateFacts” pizza.

The name, of course, is a direct reference to the phrase famously dropped by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. At the time, Conway was defending suggestions about the size of President Trump’s inauguration crowd.

Villa’s humorous take on the episode became a runaway success, garnering 85 news stories and raking in more than 230 million media impressions.

Offbeat Ideas that Work

Behind the restaurant’s cheeky campaign was BML Public Relations, a young New Jersey firm known for pulling out-of-the-box ideas to garner attention for clients.

It’s a company that once concocted the “The World’s Largest Mug of Hot Chocolate” in New York to draw awareness for the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council.

And when a competing fast food chain grabbed headlines by telling social media that a “hamburglar” was on the loose, it helped Wayback Burgers steal headlines by offering the villain a reward for giving himself up.

What made the #AlternateFacts campaign particularly novel was the client’s willingness to plug into one of the most highly-charged political climates in decades. That’s something a lot of companies have been hesitant to do, fearing blowback from their ideologically-diverse customers.

There are exceptions, but they’re relatively few and far between. For example, when ice cream maker Dippin’ Dots drew a number of slights from Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s on Twitter, the company offered to host an ice cream social at the White House.

BML’s CEO, Brian Lowe, believes the current environment provides a great publicity opportunity for corporate America, as long as they take a thoughtful approach.

“I think it is important for brands to be involved in conversations related to social and political issues, even if they are not taking a hard stance,” Lowe told NJBIZ, a New Jersey business publication. “There are a lot of eyeballs on the issues and, as marketers, our job is to put the brand in front of as many eyeballs as possible while being as careful as possible not to polarize our customer base.”

The marketing effort resulted in BML earning a Silver Stevie® Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Social Media Focused, which they received at the June 20 American Business Awards ceremony in New York City.

Plugging Into the Headlines

It’s no accident that one of the company’s most successful ideas came from the world of politics. Each day, Lowe and his mostly female team meet to talk about the stories that are grabbing headlines locally and around the country.

Then, they brainstorm how their clients can leverage those stories to grab some of the media spotlight for themselves. The firm tries to generate input from as many staffers as possible until they land on the most promising concept.

“The idea must be able to go around the room without making anyone feel like they are not on the same page,” Lowe told NJBIZ. “Then, when we have an idea that is strong, that we know will generate brand awareness and help our client develop core connections with its consumer, sometimes we have to go in and fight for the idea.”

The strategy is one that worked especially well for Villa Restaurant Group, which was able to ride a tidal wave of publicity because of its tongue-in-cheek product offering.

It was just as big a win for BML, which got plenty of attention of its own out of the campaign, not to mention the Stevie Award, its first major accolade as a company.

The 2018 American Business Awards will open for entries in October. Request the entry kit now and it will be emailed to you when it's availble. 

Bon Choix Couture is one of the leading costume shops in the United States, and increasingly, the world. So impressive is its roster of clients that many who see the list online stop short: Michael Jackson (including the iconic sequined military-style jacket and white glove); Tom Cruise; Rod Stewart; Kenny Rogers; Prince; Robert Downey, Jr.; Sheena Easton; Siegfried and Roy. Their client list is a who’s who of music, film, TV and show business in general.

In the 2017 awards year for which the Los Angeles-based company won The Gold Stevie Award for Company of the Year – Apparel, Beauty & Fashion (small) in The American Business Awards and The International Business Awards, along came Disney Theme Parks with an invitation to become the official licensed costume house for Walt Disney World Wide. Dubai World Parks followed— then the cruise industry: Norwegian Cruise Lines, Holland America Cruise Lines and Disney Cruise Lines.

But here’s where the real story begins: You’d never know from the superstar clients and fancy Bon Choix dressing rooms that until CEO and Creative Director Tagui Veronica Manoyan took over in the year 2000, the company was about to go under. 

Controlled at the time by Manoyan’s mother-in-law and husband, Bon Choix was stuck in the wrong field at the wrong time: producing fancy clothing when the world was moving to blue jeans and sweats. Manoyan, then a stay-at-home mom, took instant and full control of the company. “What else was I supposed to do?” she asks matter-of-factly.

Call it “being hungry,” but within 24 hours, Manoyan was training under her mother-in-law and was quickly labeled a “natural.” Manoyan excelled at deadlines (all are a.s.a.p. in performing); at overseeing details (“I saw the costumes in my sleep”); at budgeting and finance (notably choosing to cut back and bank cash to reinvest); at technology (Manoyan was considered brilliant at mathematics and cybernetics); at managing others; hiring; and at doing what many consider the key to employee loyalty—doing anything that needs to be done, including driving the trucks each time the company moved locations— numerous times in a decade.

And it was Manoyan who chose to shift from fancy clothing to costumes and who manned the phones contacting representatives for the nation’s superstars. One by one, these artists sampled the costumes; and one by one they signed on and one by one they returned. The client return rate at Bon Choix was and is now 100%.   

As Manoyan also explains matter-of-factly, doing the best work is the best business ingredient. She opted to always create costumes that are unique (a must); comfortable (“they must behave”); and that “meet every challenge.” Take, for instance, the costumes that light up for Disney’s blockbuster 2016 "Paint The Night Parade" or its 2016 large-scale musical of the animated film “Frozen.”

Or Rod Stewart’s request, as Manoyan described it, for “a traditional-looking jacket that also works when he moves around and sweats a lot.” Or a similar request from rapper Chris Brown who “does cartwheels and crazy moves!” As always, Manoyan broke industry norms by removing all construction; by using multiple fabrics; by traveling the world to find the finest high-tech fabrics that mimic traditional ones; and by printing patterns on the jackets so that they look like the real thing while operating like the best of dancewear.  

Manoyan made another crucial business decision that runs counter to the industry: Do all work in-house. That meant purchasing the best technology (equipment and software) for embroidery, patterns and cutting in addition to offering hand-beading, custom stoning and hands-on 3D construction. The company is famous for its ability to reproduce costumes directly from original sketches. It is the only one in the business that, as of 2017, makes its own shoes in-house.

In 2016, Manoyan doubled the company staff and moved into a spectacular new 10,000-square-foot workspace in order to give her celebrity following what they craved: separate fitting rooms in addition to separate rooms for embroidery, fabric, sequinning and stitching.

Ask Manoyan the key to success and you’ll hear this: “I learn quickly!”

Indeed, not a day goes by even today when this powerhouse of a CEO isn’t learning something new; isn’t working past midnight to perfect it; isn’t traveling the globe for additional research; isn’t coming up with a new investment strategy for the future.

As Manoyan says, “Anything challenging and exciting I take on.”

Learn more about Bon Choix at www.bonchoixcouture.com.