German Stevie Award Winners Celebrated at Ceremony in Munich

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, May 09, 2019 @ 09:35 AM

The atmosphere was festive when Michael Gallagher, founder and president of the Stevie® Awards, and the well-known news anchor Leslie Nachmann, in her role as MC of the evening, presented the winners of the German Stevie Awards with their Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevies last Friday, May 3, at the Munich Hotel Four Seasons Kempinski. More than 160 guests were present when high-ranking representatives of more than 50 winning companies from all over Germany received their awards on stage.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the two Grand Stevie Awards.

GSA 2019 ceremony

The Grand Stevie Award for the highest-rated nomination was presented to the production company for image and advertising films twosyde media from Leipzig with its client Marketing Dresden for the best image film of the year "Liebes Dresden". No other of the approximately 400 nominations received a similarly high average rating. "It's not just the award that makes us grateful, it's the fact that something - born of our hearts and minds - has been able to persuade the people behind to give it to us," says Andreas Schmidt, CEO of twosyde media GmbH is delighted.

The Grand Stevie Award for the Company of the Year was awarded for the second time in a row to CROWDCONSULTANTS 360 from Berlin for their multiple Stevie Award wins. The crowd-based corporate and personnel consultancy won big again at the 5th German Stevie Awards. The company won five Gold and four Silver Stevies.

Founder and Chairman Damiano Albrecht and his team received the Gold Stevie Awards from Michael Gallagher for Company of the Year Awards for Business Services, Diversified Services, and Internet & New Media, and Management and Founders Teams for the Year. The Silver Stevies went to CROWDCONSULTANTS 360 for the most innovative company, the best B-2-B service, and the HR department and HR team.

Exceptionally successful at the German Stevie Awards 2019 was Werner Schmid GmbH from Fulda. The leading supplier of metal and plastic parts received a total of four Gold Stevie Awards as Company of the Year (Production & Manufacturing) and the best Corporate Social Responsibility program. The two managing directors Matthias and Joachim Hauß received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for their achievements. The former managing director and shareholder Monika Hauß-Schmid accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.

"I am very happy about these awards. Especially the award for my life's work means a lot to me personally. During my time as an entrepreneur and as a volunteer for Perspektiva and IHK (Chamber of Commerce), I experienced profound changes; to work in the way, but also in the way social issues such as inclusion are dealt with. In the face of constant change, I have always been guided by what I consider necessary and important - economically as well as socially. It fills me with pride that the jury sees this as worthy of recognition, “ says Monika Hauß-Schmid.

Paysafe Pay Later from Munich was pleased to receive three Gold Stevie Awards. The white label payment solutions provider has been recognized as Financial Services Company of the Year and the Best New Ecommerce Solution. Managing Director Claire Gates was named Manager of the Year for Financial Services.

Other multiple award winners include Blacklane (Berlin), Communication Consultants GmbH Engel & Heinz (Stuttgart), Deutsche Telekom Service Europe (Cologne), Pfeiffer Medienfabrik (Hersbruck) and promio.net (Bonn).

Great news for the future of the German Stevie Awards reported Michael Gallagher. In his opening speech, the president and founder of the Stevie Awards announced that the German Stevie Awards would be open to all German-speaking European countries for next year’s edition starting in Fall 2019: "We invite all German, Austrian, Swiss, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Belgian business makers and innovators, to compete with their achievements and successes and to face an international German-speaking competition.“

The German Stevie Awards were launched in 2014. At that time, the initiators deliberately chose the name "German Stevie Awards" because this name signals that the German Stevies are more than just a national prize. "This reflection of that time is being implemented today in full consequence" adds Gallagher.

Any changes, from logo, to terms and conditions and to the website, will be made until the opening of the 2020 awards in September. A preview of the new logo is already available on the awards website: https://stevieawards.com/gsa/photos-and-logos-.

Further Information

Photos of the awards ceremony are available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevieawards/albums/72157691258298783.

Offstage videoclips with interviews of the winners and jury are available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J369eo41IHM&list=PLxZrTaLFgyEKJ31YMMm4ct1yjRp7qT-TV

An overview of all winners of the 2019 German Stevie Awards is available at https://stevieawards.com/gsa/2019-gewinner-der-german-stevie-awards

Topics: German Stevie Awards, german business awards

Stevie Awards Issue Call for Entries for the 2018 German Stevie Awards

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Oct 05, 2017 @ 10:53 AM

The 4th annual German Stevie Awards is now accepting entries. Companies and organizations from all industries can now enter nominations free of charge for their best projects and achievements, to compete for the coveted Stevie Awards trophies.

Early-bird entrants will benefit from a reduced winners fee until December 6, 2017.

Since the founding of the International Business Awards in 2003, the Stevie Awards have become firmly established in the global economic world. Since 2014, the German Stevie Awards have been offering companies operating in the German market a competition platform for national benchmarking.

German Stevies April 2017 3.jpgThe special feature of the Stevie Awards: “They are not just another industry award for the big players,” says Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “Certainly, many of the world’s largest and best known companies are among our winners. But most winners of the Stevie Awards are small and medium-sized companies that are still growing and are still building their brands.”

The entrants may choose from a great variety of categories, such as awards for entire companies and organizations, that honor the achievements of for profit and non-profit organizations, large and small, private and public. New at the German Stevie Awards in this year are the categories “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 34 industries as well as the title “Solo Entrepreneur of the Year”.

The entry kit and a complete overview of the categories and subcategories are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

There are many other categories to recognize achievement in every major business function, including product development, marketing, customer service, human resources, public relations, technology, and more.  Michael Gallagher adds: “Many categories of the German Stevie Awards also honor great achievements in the field of business-related media and publications.” This includes awards for live events, annual reports and publications, app development, videos and websites.

This year, participating organizations can expect a slightly different way to submit nominations. For the first time, the German Stevie Awards will waive the general entry fees and replace them with a special winners fee. This means that entrants can submit unlimited nominations in unlimited categories free of charge. Instead of paying an entry fee for each submitted entry, entrants will only pay a winners fee per successful nomination.  Each nomination that wins a Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award will be assessed a winners fee of 400 euros. Companies submitting their nominations through the first entry deadline, December 6, 2017 will benefit from a reduced winners fee of 375 euros per winning nomination.

“We have decided to take this step to encourage more organizations to participate in the German Stevie Awards,” said Michael Gallagher. “With the new model, companies will only be charged if their nomination is recognized as a winner by the jury”

The payment of the winners fee will unlock the right to publicly claim Stevie-winner status and the winner will be listed in the official winners list. There are more benefits, including access to all judges’ comments about all of their entries and the right to receive their award on stage at the awards ceremony.

If entrants miss the December 6 entry deadline, they will still be able to submit their nominations through January 24, 2018.

Several juries of leading German business executives will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

On April 27, 2018, the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be celebrated and honored with their Stevies at a festive awards ceremony in Berlin. New this year: Each award winner will receive a trophy according to his level in Gold, Silver or Bronze. (In the past, only the Gold Stevie winner automatically received a trophy.)

A complete list of all 2017 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available here. For high-resolution photos of the Stevie Award trophy or the German Stevie Awards logo, visit http://stevieawards.com/gsa/photos-and-logos. We are happy to provide you with more press photos from previous winners and awards shows on request.

Learn more about the German Stevie Awards 2018 at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

Topics: German Stevie Awards, entrepreneur awards, best entrepreneur, german business awards

Former Tank Factory in Germany Becomes an Event Space Unlike Any Other

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Fri, Sep 29, 2017 @ 03:34 PM

Picture a group of young entrepreneurs with a creative vision and combine that with a huge, empty former tank factory. That’s right: a factory hall of 5.000 square meters, with a ceiling height of up to forty feet– a gigantic hangar that used to house the production lines for war machines until it closed down a good two decades ago.

A big, empty hall, located conveniently close to the city center of Mainz, Germany, which, in turn, is just around the corner from Frankfurt. Local entrepreneurs Ralph Heinrich and Dr. Hanns Christian von Stockhausen were intrigued, while also saddened, by the city’s decision in early 2015 to end the place’s 17-year tenure as a makeshift theatre venue. The local government had used the hall for cultural events since the shutdown of the tank factory in the mid-1990’s.

The vision

Halle 45.jpgThat was when the idea was born to revive the venue, formerly dubbed ‘Phoenix-Halle’, and transform it into ‘Halle 45’: a one-of-a-kind event hall and meeting place at the intersection of art, culture and entertainment.

The goal was to create a venue unlike any other, innovative and modern, versatile in size and functionality. Ralph Heinrich and Dr. Hanns Christian von Stockhausen founded Halle 45 GmbH in May 2015 and turned their vision into reality.

“The worst crime is faking it”

The story of Halle 45 GmbH, the ambitious, hard-working start-up from Mainz, Germany, is a unique one, and so is its motto: “The worst crime is faking it”, coined by grunge pioneer Kurt Cobain. Since its inception in 2015, the event management company, now a team of twelve full-time employees, has successfully hosted a huge variety of events at the venue, from concerts and art exhibitions, over indoor cinema, food and craft beer festivals, to industrial fairs and corporate events.

From the very start, the company also committed itself to opening the venue’s doors to non-profits and artists free of charge. Thus, the former tank factory has also hosted events like a “welcome celebration” for refugees and charity concerts.

The road to success

Charitable projects aside, the founding of Halle 45 GmbH depended on investors and needed to see profits. In the business of acquiring corporate clients, the start-up had to come up with a solid sales strategy.

The starting conditions were phenomenal: Halle 45 is the second biggest venue of its kind in the metropolitan Rhine-Main region, comprising the cities of Mainz, Frankfurt and Wiesbaden and a combined total of nearly 6 million inhabitants – an economically thriving area. The city of Frankfurt is known for its trade fairs and its growing financial district, while Frankfurt Airport is a major international air traffic hub – one of Europe’s biggest.

Another big plus: Halle 45’s innovative, versatile concept features the option to partition the space into several, individually sized venues. Add state-of-the-art technical equipment, the site’s superior amenities and professional event management – an unbeatable recipe for success.

However, in order to garner your target audience’s attention, you need traction and media attention. That’s where the Stevie® Award really helped Halle 45 GmbH to turn a page in its young history.

Ever since winning the Bronze Stevie Award at the 2017 German Stevie Awards in Hamburg, the start-up’s social network contact rate has hit untold highs. Since winning the Stevie Award, Halle 45 GmbH has also picked up other awards, among them the Mainz Business Prize. Within a period of merely two years, Halle 45 GmbH has established itself as a major venue in the Rhine-Main region – not only for cultural, but for corporate events as well.

halle 45 2.jpg

Topics: PR awards, German Stevie Awards, german business awards, Startup of the Year, startup awards

A Stevie Winner in Berlin Welcomes the German Stevie Awards

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Oct 22, 2014 @ 03:33 PM

optivo in Berlin, Germany won two Stevie® Awards in The 2014 International Business Awards: its Customer Care Team won a Bronze Stevie in the Customer Service Awards categories; and its optivo® broadmailMarketing Automation Solution won in the New Product Awards categories.

optivoWe asked Harald Oberhofer, Director of Corporate Communications at optivo, for his thoughts about the new German Stevie Awards. (Get your German Stevie Awards entry kit here.)

Herzlich willkommen, as we say in Germany,” was his response. “We regularly participate in the international edition of the Stevies and our company and innovations have received several awards. We are therefore really happy that the Stevie Awards have now launched a competition specifically for the German market.”

“German companies are acting more and more internationally,” Harald added. “The German Stevie Awards might help to deepen our global mindset. At the same time, I think it’s great that German business achievements are going to be recognized through these new Awards, and that German innovations and product highlights will get the visibility they deserve.”

Delivering Added Value

We asked Harald if he had any advice for companies thinking of doing business in Germany.

“The starting point has to be a valid business model–and that applies to Germany companies, too.” Harald told us. “In Germany, careful and thorough planning is of great importance. Plans and concepts should be developed very thoroughly, with a special eye on the details. There is a great demand in Germany for professionalism and for delivering added value. And, of course, reliability is a must.”

Industry News

Harald also gave us some tips on a few of the apps and blogs that he finds most useful in the workplace.

“optivo is one of the largest email marketing and omnichannel specialists in Europe,” he told us. “We have our own German language blog at www.optivo.de/de/blog, which provides a lot of useful industry news information. For other industry news, I can also recommend www.emailmarketingforum.de and www.emailmarketingblog.de.  However, if you need a cab in Germany, the MyTaxi app is essential!”

Looking Ahead

We asked Harald what he most enjoyed about his work at optivo. “optivo is the technology leader in its industry and right now we are expanding internationally, which is exciting for the entire company as well as for me,” he told us.  “Moreover, my colleagues in our Berlin office are cool and dedicated, as are the people working in our offices around Europe. In short, to work at optivo is fun and rewarding.”

optivo® broadmail

optivo’s main product is optivo® broadmail, which enables optivo clients to send out permission-based and professional newsletters as well as email marketing campaigns. optivo® broadmail is an internationally applicable solution for all business sectors and industries. The user interface is available in English, German, Polish, Dutch, and Turkish. The software includes more than 300 functions and can be used via all relevant web browsers. Its customers can send out up to 25,000,000 emails per hour. Furthermore, it is continuously being updated and developed. New functionalities are provided regularly and made available free of charge to optivo’s customers.

Customer Care Team

The optivo customer care team helps with advice and assistance in all matters concerning the use of optivo® broadmail. Online marketing specialists create customer templates for a consistent corporate design and give international support regarding the use of the online broadcasting system as well as email and omnichannel marketing in general. The staff is multinational and supports customers in various European languages.

optivo offers workshops on email marketing strategies, customer training, and academies. Its customers receive regularly updated documentation, technical white papers, video tutorials, and newsletters. Through its blog, optivo offers in-depth information on relevant topics concerning email and omnichannel marketing to all interested parties. Customers can also subscribe to a newsletter series that offersuseful tips on email marketing over the course of one year, and they can attend free webinars on special topics which are held on a regular basis.

About Harald Oberhofer

Harald Oberhofer is Director of Corporate Communication at optivo. He has 14 years of experience in PR and Marketing in the online sector. Harald joined optivo in 2007 in order to set up the Marketing Department. His current responsibilities are the management and coordination of international and corporate PR and marketing communications activities. Prior to optivo, Harald worked for Zanox and IBM, among others.

About optivo

optivo is one of Europe's leading email and omnichannel marketing service providers, delivering efficient, professional and secure email marketing solutions from one single source. Since the foundation of optivo in 2001, all of its operations have focused on efficient direct marketing. More than 1,000 companies from various industries rely on its services, including many top names; such as Best Western Hotels, Bosch Power Tools, Die Zeit, InnoGames, Henkel, and QVC.  For more information go to www.optivo.com

Topics: business awards, stevie awards, German Stevie Awards, IBAs, optivo, german business awards