Ahjo Communications Puts Burning Creativity into Business Strategy

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Mar 28, 2018 @ 12:29 PM

Public relations teams strive to represent people, companies, services, or messages in a favorable light. Ahjo Communications is a public relations agency in Helsinki, Finland that considers itself an organization that achieves that goal with creative fire. Their vision to be known for renewing communications and the communications culture has led them to winning both a Gold Stevie® for "Crisis Communications Campaign of the Year” for their work with Heart Hospital, and a Silver Stevie for Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year in The 2017 International Business Awards. 

Bringing Heart to Work

Ahjo communications.jpgAhjo has been the Finnish affiliate of Weber Shandwick since 1992. Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations firm with offices in 81 countries around the world. The Ahjo team consists of Senior Advisor Sari-Liia Tonttila, who is one of Finland’s leading crisis communications experts with experience in various company crisis communications; Communications Consultant Eeva Louko, a former journalist; and Senior Consultant Meri Marttinen, who has a background in healthcare and consumer communications in which she focused on developing influencer marketing.

“The impact has been good. Our clients have been happy for us and the prize has given us new positive publicity. The client, Heart Hospital, is very happy,” says Marttinen about Ahjo’s success with Heart Hospital. “The team is a perfect combination of three creative, brave women who always aim high and think beyond the box—strategically, but every time toward client's business goals.”

Balancing Passions

Ahjo Communications acknowledges that their success has come from many facets of their lives. Senior Advisor Sari-Liia loves to ski, exercise in nature, and come up with great, big ideas for her clients.

“[Sari-Liia] is an example of a person who works for her goals to achieve them: she wanted to bring the world-leading PR summit, ICCO, to Finland for the first time. Her work paid off. Now this year ICCO is organized in Finland!” says Marttinen.

Marttinen dreams of learning as many languages as possible, and Eeva will definitely write a book.

“Many of us enjoy hiking in nature. In addition, we love to read and spend time on other arts. We are not scared to bring out our ideas. We protect small, delicate ideas as they may grow big when further planned.”

When You Grow, They Grow

With effective communication to implement business strategy and supportive, strong networks, future pioneering positions are likely to grow in their market. Ahjo Communications provides workshops for professionals and business owners who want to build on their established platforms to reach career specific goals.

Ahjo does this by designing workshops to meet strategic and developmental needs of executives and department leaders. In the ‘Idea Leadership Workshop’, Ajho Communications helps business leaders crystallize ideas or brand goals in an understandable, pragmatic form that employees, stakeholders, and customers can carry with them and share.

Ahjo Communications wants to help you grow.

Topics: communications awards, International business awards, PR awards, public relations awards, event marketing

2018 American Business Awards Final Entry Deadline Extended

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Mar 15, 2018 @ 09:30 AM

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of The American Business Awards, announced today that the final entry deadline for the 16th annual ABA competition has been extended to April 13. No additional late fees will be charged. Entries submitted through April 13 will not be penalized in any way in the judging process.

“We’ve received so many requests for individual deadline extensions that we’ve decided to extend the deadline for everyone,” said Stevie Awards president Michael Gallagher. The original final deadline was March 14.

GET THE ENTRY KIT HERE

ABA 2017 9-2.jpgThe American Business Awards are widely considered to be the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations— public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large, and small. The 2018 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2017. Entry details are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

New categories in the 2018 American Business Awards include seven new Software Solution categories, four Lifetime Achievement Award categories, four additional Marketing Campaign categories, two new PR Campaign categories, one new category for Live Events, and Best White Paper or Research Report.

More than 200 executives on 12 juries have already begun the process of rating nominations to determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Stevie winners will be announced on May 1, and the awards will be presented at a gala banquet on June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Attendance is not required to win.

The list of past Stevie Award winners in The American Business Awards reads like a who’s who of innovation and business success in the U.S.A. Explore the list of last year’s winners.

Topics: customer service awards, business awards, marketing awards, PR awards, American business awards

Call for Entries Issued for Fifteenth Annual International Business Awards®

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Mar 14, 2018 @ 09:30 AM

The Stevie® Awards has opened entries for The 15th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 60 nations and territories each year.

All individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. The early-bird entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is April 11. The final entry deadline is May 9, but late entries will be accepted through June 13 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

IBA winner woman 2017.jpgREVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Juries featuring more than 150 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced 9 August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in London, United Kingdom on 20 October.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

A variety of new categories are introduced for the 2018 competition, including a new group of categories to recognize the Entrepreneur of the Year and Founding Teams in many industries. In addition to seven new Software Solution categories in the New Product & Services section, there’s a new selection of categories to recognize Content Solutions. There is one new category, Best White Paper or Research Report, in the Publication categories and one new category, Engaged Community of the Year, in the Marketing categories. There are two new PR Campaign categories in the Public Relations section. Finally, there are four new Lifetime Achievement Awards categories in the Management section.

Stevie Award winners in the 2017 IBAs included: Cisco Systems (USA), Domino's Pizza (Turkey), Freelancer.com (Australia), Garanti Bank (Turkey), KT (South Korea), Llorente & Cuenca (Spain), Meltwater (USA), MSLGROUP (USA), PRIZM (Hong Kong), Sunny Side Up (Japan), Syncron (Sweden), Telkom Indonesia (Indonesia), Thai Life Insurance Plc. (Thailand), Viettel Group (Vietnam), Weber Shandwick (United Kingdom), WNS Holdings (P) Ltd. (India), and Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting (USA).

Topics: marketing awards, International business awards, PR awards, company awards, international business

You Don’t Need a Big Budget to Make a Big Splash

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Nov 07, 2017 @ 03:48 PM

It is two minutes and fifty-three seconds of simple, but remarkably effective storytelling.

A silver-haired man, dressed in a dark sport coat, walks through the streets of Norman, an unpretentious American town in the heart of Oklahoma. As he slowly meanders down the city streets, he recites a poem in his measured, slightly raspy voice.

The first verse describes a frazzled gentleman who, upon visiting a friend, begins to open up about his latest difficulties. If not for its business slant, like worries over “negative cash flow,” it would be easy to confuse the nuanced lines for those of Robert Frost.

McMahon.jpgEventually, the friend he’s come to see changes his fortunes. Now, he has systems “designed with vision and purpose” that provide better insight into his operations. He and his wife start doing more travelling, thanks to generous dividend checks.

Watch McMahon's video here.

So it is that McMahon Marketing helped its client, a local business coach, address one of its biggest challenges: a lot of prospects simply don’t know what these coaches do, or why they need one.

“Small business owners feel isolated and stressed and believe others are thriving while they’re failing,” says CEO Korey McMahon, whose U.S.-based agency produced the video ad. 

McMahon says the spot’s success shows that there’s a viable way to address those challenges. “The message is: Others have done it. You can too, and here’s how.”

The resulting work, entitled “The Owner & The Coach,” earned McMahon’s agency a Gold Stevie Award for best Service Sales Video in The 2017 American Business Awards.

A compelling message

A big part of the ad’s appeal is its stripped-down, authentic vibe. It stars the client himself, Martin Holland, who intones a poem he originally wrote while taking his dog for a walk.

In it, Holland, who works for Las Vegas, America-based ActionCOACH, finds a way to demystify his industry, turning the business owner-coach relationship into a uniquely personal interaction.

“The thing about coaching is people don’t know what it is,” Holland told his hometown newspaper, The Norman Transcript. “Or if they do, they have misbegotten ideas about what it is. We were trying to show before and after of the stresses small business owners go through and how their lives change.” 

McMahon saw Holland’s rhyming verse as the perfect way to get his client’s message across. With a budget of just $1,000, he enlisted a local film director, Cooper Williams, to turn it into an ad.

“We created something that we felt like was top quality, that we were really proud of,” McMahon told the newspaper. “We took a shot, not really expecting to win anything because of the nature of the competition and the quality in the Stevie awards. It was very exciting for our team and all of the hard work that they do.”

Making an impact

Already, the video has been having a big effect. Holland says he recently spoke with two business owners in northeast Oklahoma who are perfect examples. The husband saw the need for a coach to help revitalize the company, but his wife was hesitant.

Upon seeing the video, that immediately changed. “She said, ‘I get it now. I’m all in.’”

The spot is also a huge shot in the arm for McMahon Marketing, a five-year-old inbound marketing agency with a staff of just seven full-time employees. Despite their lean budget, they were proud to win the Gold with several multinational firms with billions of dollars in revenue as their competition.

“It’s so important for not only our credibility, but also the talent we recruit,” says McMahon. “I feel we have the most talented team around, and this is just validation that we are creating nationally recognized videos and marketing services,” he said.

Topics: video awards, marketing awards, PR awards, American business awards

Vigilante Efforts for Community Building from Family League of Baltimore

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Oct 12, 2017 @ 10:40 AM

Nonprofit organizations can face challenges when it comes to planning and executing successful communications and community engagement work. But Family League of Baltimore (FLB), an intermediary nonprofit, has uniquely positioned itself to invest in initiatives that provide access to resources and opportunities not readily available to children and families in many city neighborhoods. Their deep collaboration and capacity for building with local leaders, community-based organizations, funders, and other stakeholders have all contributed to their Gold Stevie Award in the Communications Department of The Year category in The 2017 American Business Awards.

Positive Changes that Align with Community Priorities
Each year, FLB makes collaborative efforts, and targeted investments to help open doors to education, health care, and economic opportunity for tens of thousands of children, youths, and families living in Baltimore, MD USA. Amy Bernstein, Director of External Relations at Family League of Baltimore says winning a Gold Stevie has made an immediate impact on their organizations.

Family league.jpg“It prompted a meaningful conversation with our CEO and COO about the true strategic role and potential reach of communications as an organizational asset; validated our professionalism; and gave us an opportunity, through Facebook, to link the recognition with our dedication to sharing stories and progress about people and programs in the communities where we invest public resources.”

FLB occupies a unique niche in Baltimore's nonprofit landscape. In large part, as a hub organization that's able to braid together federal, state, city, and private dollars to ensure these funds are invested in programs and services that align with community priorities; direct resources towards the needs of the “whole” child, from prenatal and family health care up through college and career; strengthen the capacity of existing service providers across the City; and advocate for meaningful policy changes to improve lives and build equity.

Vigilante Efforts

Since FLB relies on government funds, a great effort in working closely with elected officials at the state and local levels is necessary for continued success. Bernstein keeps a close eye on their, “value proposition and ability to achieve results that matter to children, families, and their communities.” This requires constant and vigilant efforts to educate and inform leaders on an almost daily basis.

Trends in personal and institutional usage of technology -- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, etc. -- also helps them deploy the right mix of tech to suit. Bernstein believes access to internet services plays a huge role as well.

“Our message and our target demographics depends more and more on online communications, it's increasingly challenging to reach people who do not use the Internet regularly.”

Constantly Learning From Each Other

Bernstein is a big fan of their three-person team aimed at reflecting diversity in terms of age (GenX, Millennial, and Baby Boomer), work experience, and core skill sets. In many workplaces, navigating inter-generational relationships is a source of tension and conflict.

“For us, it is a source of strength; we constantly learn from one another. We approach every communications campaign with clear goals in mind; we listen closely to our internal "customers" as to what is needed”

Staying as creative and integrated as possible is the name of the game. Whether in their graphic design, social media or print and video campaigns, “striving for authenticity in our work--using real images, voices, and testimonials of real people from our local communities, as much as possible is a significant predictor of success.”

Bernstein acknowledges how important experiences in collaborative efforts are when the time comes to sway partnerships to their path. Inexperienced professionals may or may not be ready.

“Our team has over 50 years of combined experience in almost every communications niche--ranging from corporate PR to journalism to executive speechwriting. There is hardly a challenge that comes our way that we have not dealt with before, in some way, which helps us find the best solutions. Together, in less than a year, we have built a versatile, proactive communications shop virtually from scratch.”

Topics: communications awards, PR awards, American business awards, public relations award, non-profit awards

Stevie Awards for Women in Business Announce Finalists in 14th Annual Competition

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Oct 05, 2017 @ 09:00 AM

World’s Top Honors for Women Professionals to Be Presented in New York on November 17

Finalists were announced today in the 14th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, the world’s top honors for women entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.

Women in business room.jpgThis year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced at an awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Friday, November 17. More than 500 women and their guests from around the world are expected to attend the presentations, which will be broadcast live on Livestream.

More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year by organizations and individuals around the world for consideration in more than 90 categories including Executive of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Startup of the Year, Women Helping Women and Women-Run Workplace of the Year.

Organizations with multiple finalists in a variety of categories include, among others: ARIIX (Bountiful, UT, US), Clariti Group (Brisbane, Australia), FIS (Jacksonville, FL, US), Forward (New York, NY, US), Jeunesse Global (Lake Mary, FL, US), Oceans 2 Earth Foundation (Brisbane, Australia), Pink Elephant (Burlington, ON, Canada), Simpson Healthcare Executives, LLC (Old Lyme, CT, US), Songpa-gu (Seoul, South Korea), Tavuu Welfare Association (Karachi, Pakistan), The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) (Lawrenceville, NJ, US), Tropic Skincare (London, United Kingdom), Vaco Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA, US) and ZingBox (Mountain View, CA US).

Nominations were submitted by organizations in 25 nations including Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.

Visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women for a complete list of finalists by category.

Finalists were chosen by more than 170 professionals worldwide serving on five specialized judging committees.  Jurors’ average scores will also determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the finalists, which will be revealed at the November 17 event in New York.

Topics: PR awards, stevie awards for women in business, Female Entrepreneur of the Year, Women in Business, Awards for Women in Business, entrepreneur 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

Sell Out Your Event With Parker Sanpei

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Sep 20, 2017 @ 01:15 PM

From identifying the target audience, to planning the event concept and preparing the logistics, Parker Sanpei loves creating promotional events to help companies broadcast their message effectively. They’re a luxury, lifestyle firm focused on public relations, advertising and marketing, celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. They focus their creativity, ingenuity, integrity and energy into positive results for clients. This work ethic led them to win the Silver Stevie Award for Travel and Tourism in The 15th annual American Business Awards.

A Complete 360° Approach

Parker Sanpei.jpgFinding the right audience for product promotions with diverse ideas for each product can be a satisfying challenge. Vanessa Igel is the Account Executive at Parker Sanpei—she leads strategic media relations campaigns across multiple industries, including the food and beverage, travel and lifestyle industries. She’s excited about her team’s win in the Travel and Tourism category for the International Chardonnay Symposium project that was a smash success.

“International Chardonnay Symposium has allowed us the opportunity to re-engage with many local community partners, and this award could possibly allow us approval from the board to host another event of its kind in 2018.”

Parker Sanpei’s expertise in media outreach lead to widespread pre-event coverage of the Symposium and of the Alliance as a whole. The firm measured 28.6 million media impressions in nine months and reception into regional and national publications such as: Examiner.com, The Modesto Bee, The Press Democrat, WineBusiness.com, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Industry Advisor, Food & Beverage magazine, Napa Valley Register, The SOMM Journal, The Tasting Panel magazine and others. As a result of these efforts, the second year Symposium sold out within a month of opening registration.

Meaningful Success

The Parker Sanpei team knows that passion drives performance and it is this knowledge that compels them to seek a partnership with select clients. Vanessa used an example to speak to their strategy to make meaningful connections in their community.

“With the International Chardonnay Symposium: we took a dead, one-day event and turned it into an international, must-attend, three-day event, partnering with the local community for lodging, food, etc.”

For Parker Sanpei, communication is as much about hearing what’s being said as it is about saying something. Whether you’re referring to public relations, marketing, website design or account management, success is only achieved with open dialogue.

10 Years of Shared Success

Parker Sanpei has been advancing the standard of lifestyle, public relations and marketing since 2007. They’re now excited to be celebrating their 10-year anniversary with interactive and educational events. Vanessa details how you can get involved with their upcoming workshops.

“In celebration of our 10-year anniversary, we're giving back to the community with 10 communication workshops in 10 months. Seating is limited, so register early to participate in these interactive and educational events.”

Topics: marketing awards, PR awards, American business awards, company awards, public relations awards, PR Agency of the Year, tourism awards, hospitality awards

Stevie Awards Announce Winners of 2017 Best of the IBA Awards

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Aug 23, 2017 @ 09:35 AM

The Stevie® Awards have announced the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards in The 2017 (14th 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 14th Annual International Business Awards banquet at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain on 21 October. 

Winners of the 2017 Grand Stevie Awards are:

IBA grand winners 2016.jpgMost 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.

Topics: business awards, marketing awards, International business awards, PR awards, company awards, best entrepreneur

14th Annual International Business Awards Announce Stevie Award Winners From Across the Globe

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Aug 10, 2017 @ 09:34 AM

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.

TROPHY2.jpgGold, 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

Topics: marketing awards, International business awards, PR awards, tech awards, International Awards, international business, startup awards