Event Awards

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) of New York won a Gold Stevie Award for Best Brand Experience Event in the live event awards categories of The 2013 American Business Awards. (Entries for The 2014 American Business Awards are now being accepted - get your entry kit here.)

We asked NASCAR how their Stevie-winning event of the year provided branding opportunities for Toyota.

NASCAR created a first-of-its-kind “fan” event, NASCAR Contenders Live, Sponsored by Toyota, to promote The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the most competitive stretch of the NASCAR season.  Presented in September 2012, the event was built upon one of the biggest moments in the sport: the announcement of the top 12 drivers in The Chase.

Branding Opportunity for Toyota
For Toyota, the goal was to engage NASCAR fans and build excitement for The Chase by providing access to the top 12 NASCAR drivers. An integrated marketing platform showcased Toyota’s involvement in the sport throughout the entire event cycle.

Toyota wanted to highlight its “made in the U.S.” product and incorporate a local manufacturing plant in Chicago’s backyard. The event gave Toyota hospitality and branding opportunities in the Chicago region, as Toyota was able to engage their Chicago-region associates through the VIP hospitality area that was created by NASCAR.

NASCAR created an event thematic that would align with the powerful brand identity of The Chase while ensuring that the DNA of Toyota’s brand was integrated.

NASCAR secured Chris Myers, a NASCAR on Fox personality, to emcee the event and encourage additional energy at the venue with the questions he had for the top 12 drivers. Some of the questions were collected through Toyota’s Facebook page, and some questions were asked live by the fans themselves. The dual webcast made available by Fox Sports 1 and NASCAR.com captured all the best moments.  

Traditional & Social Media
Targeted media to promote the event and Toyota’s sponsorship were pivotal in generating awareness. This included the #1 rated ABC TV local morning show in Chicago; radio; digital outlets like NASCAR.com, Facebook, and Twitter; and advertising at the track. NASCAR created a partnership with the motoring blog SPEED to elevate publicity associated with the event.

NASCAR built a multifaceted communications plan to reinforce Toyota’s support and Official Sponsor status. Both national and local media were targeted to deliver on these objectives. Coverage included Speed TV (now Fox Sports 1),The New York Times, Sports Business Journal; and on a local level with the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine.     

Toyota was integrated throughout the entire marketing platform, including key incorporation of Toyota drivers in a social media campaign through Twitter.

Sweepstakes
A sweepstakes was held in the run-up to the event, and as the Official Sponsor of NASCAR Contenders Live, Toyota provided the ultimate sweepstakes prize: a Toyota Camry. The winner attended the NASCAR Contenders Live event to have the keys to their new Toyota presented to them on stage.

The Sweepstakes generated over half a million Toyota Facebook Page Views and received over 205,000 Sweepstakes entries in a six-week period.

Sell-Out Event
The event was sold out in its inaugural year. NASCAR conducted a custom survey to ticket buyers following the NASCAR Contenders Live event. As a true testament of the strong alignment with Toyota, 94% of survey respondents could recall Toyota as the sponsor of the event. 

Over 143 total media hits were secured--including TV, radio, and online--reaching 34.5 million people. There was zero neutral or negative traditional news coverage, and over 80% of earned media rated “strongly favorable” or better (Source: Carma International Global Media Analysts).

Said Matt Shulman, managing director of Marketing Platforms: “Winning a Stevie Award for this live event is an honor.  With our hard-working colleagues at JHE Production, we put together a spectacularly successful event for our sponsors, and being recognized for this by our peers at The American Business Awards has been a great experience.”

Find out more about the importance of corporate awards here. To view all the awards categories in The 2014 American Business Awards, visit:
http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/awards/70_816_3655.cfm

About Matt Shulman
Matt Shulman serves as NASCAR’s managing director of marketing platforms, managing a department that provides strategic direction, content development, and creative solutions to more than 40 official partners, licensees, and automotive partners of the sanctioning body.

Based in NASCAR’s New York office, Shulman’s biggest achievements include launching a national marketing partnership with one of the country’s largest retailers; producing award-winning live events; conceptualizing the company’s first web-based sponsorship product; and developing some of the first NASCAR social media campaigns.

Before joining the NASCAR team six years ago, Shulman worked in media and film at CBS Altitude Group, Studionext.com, Hypnotic, and Hill Holliday Advertising.

About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) governs the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. For more information, visit www.nascar.com and follow NASCAR at www.facebook.com/NASCAR and Twitter: @NASCAR.

Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc., of Irvine, California, USA,  won a Gold Stevie® Award for Sales Meeting of the Year in the Sales Awards Achievement Categories of the 2012 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. (The entry deadline for the 2013 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top business awards for contact center, customer service, business development, and sales professionals is November 14. Request your entry kit today.) Here we look at six tactics Toshiba used to run a successful live event.

A record-breaking 650 people, including media, business professionals, and new and existing customers attended “Fast Forward,” Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc.’s National Dealer Meeting and End-User Conference held May 22-24, 2011 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.  Along with unveiling 20 innovative office technology products focusing on mobility, security, and managed-document services, Toshiba used the meeting as an opportunity to hear from independent dealers, direct-channel operators, and industry media and analysts.

1. All-Access Passes for Press
   Toshiba granted members of the media all-access passes to the conference— something of a rarity in today’s corporate culture. The media were allowed to meet Toshiba’s top executives and to access company insights throughout the event. This opportunity was not just lip service, and did not go unnoticed by the trade media.
   
   

2. Well-known Keynote Presenter
   One of the meeting’s biggest highlights was a keynote presentation delivered by Frank W. Abagnale—best known as the person whose life story was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can. There are few people on the planet better equipped than Abagnale to weigh in on the importance of what Toshiba does in terms of security and how it impacts day-to-day business. With 35-plus years of experience working with the FBI, Abagnale is an authority on forgery, embezzlement, and document security.
   
   
   

3. Other Events
   An extensive product-and-solutions fair catering to vertical markets was open for two full days in conjunction with the meeting. The event was capped off by a live concert put on by the legendary rock band Cheap Trick.
   
   

4. Useful Presentations
   Among the Toshiba executives on hand was CEO Masahiro “Matt” Yamada, who opened one of the meeting sessions with an overall business update, highlighting Toshiba’s recent success and growth. Yamada shared Toshiba’s business plans, as well as a report of the first quarter of 2011. In another session, Bill Melo, VP of marketing, services & solutions, touted the revolutionary next-generation Toshiba Encompass software that was slated to launch in the fourth quarter of 2011. Additionally, Joseph Contreras, director, product & solutions marketing for Toshiba, also was  available for interviews and presented 11 new color multifunction printer models Toshiba was about to launch.
   
   

5. Drawing Back the Curtain
   Each reporter and/or editor attending the event took advantage of the opportunities offered to gain key intellectual capital and responded with nothing but positive feedback and coverage for Toshiba. The unique opportunity to gain face-to-face time with some of the managed print services industry’s most important figureheads left media members with newfound knowledge of the industry, and of Toshiba’s scope of business and goals for the future.
   
   All attendees walked away from the event with rave reviews and an appreciation for Toshiba’s willingness to draw the curtain back and share with them the way their business is operated.
   
   On winning the Stevie Award for Sales Event of the Year, Mark Mathews, president and current CEO, commented: "Toshiba as an organization is thankful for this recognition. The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is one of our industry's highest honors, and we are again humbled by the recognition from our peers. Maintaining a healthy relationship with our customers and the trade press is clearly one of Toshiba's greatest priorities, and we will continue to improve these relationships in 2013."

About Mark Mathews:
Mark E. Mathews currently serves as president and chief executive officer (CEO) for Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. (TABS). With the company since 1993, Mathews served in various management roles within EID prior to reaching his current position. Mathews has also been a large proponent of the company’s green initiatives by being the first manufacturer to partner with Close the Loop, a world-class recycler of imaging consumables, a program he continues to expand.

Mathews earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from Columbia University and in business administration from Anderson Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles. A recipient of numerous academic honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Mathews also holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering mechanics from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Mathews is actively involved in his local community and currently serves as chairman of the board for Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, California

About Toshiba America Business Solutions:
Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. (TABS), is an independent operating company of Toshiba Corporation, the world's eighth-largest electronics/electrical equipment company. TABS is a leading managed document services provider, with experts that help organizations take control of document security, workflow, and print environments. With the award-winning Encompass^TM managed print services program, e-STUDIO^TM line of multifunction printers, toner products, and retail information/thermal printing systems, TABS is providing ways for businesses to print smarter, work safer, and conserve resources. For more information on Toshiba solutions and services available in the United States and Latin America, please visit www.business.toshiba.com.

The first early-bird entry deadline for 2013 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is Friday, November 16 and we thought it would be helpful for organizations if we highlighted our live event awards categories. (If you haven't yet done so, you can download your entry kit here.) Our categories recognize excellence in live events staged since January, 1 2012.

Our best event categories include:

1. Best Brand Experience Event (New category for 2013)
2. Best Consumer Event (e.g. auto show, boat show, health & fitness expo, etc.)
3. Best Exhibition Display, Stand or Feature (New category for 2013)
4. Best Tradeshow or Convention
5. Best Association Event or Meeting
6. Best Corporate Image Event
7. Best New Product Introduction Event
8. Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event
9. Best Sales Meeting
10. Best Sales Presentation
11. Best Public Relations Event (New category for 2013)

Your event awards submissions should include:

1. An essay of up to 525 words describing the event: its genesis, goals, development, and results. You may include detailed production notes, audience demographics, etc.
2.  Any number of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. These may include video clips, photographs, press reviews, news articles, and so on.
3. Optionally, you may list creative and production credits for your event - a list of the people and organizations that contributed to its development.

Our 2012 Gold ABA event of the year winners included:

• Best Consumer Event
  The Visionary Group, Los Angeles, CA: Microsoft New Store Openings
• Best Tradeshow or Convention
  BMO Capital Markets, Chicago, IL: 2012 BMO Capital Markets Global Metals & Mining Conference
• Best Association Event or Meeting
  NASCAR, New York, NY: NASCAR Fuel for Business
• Best Corporate Image Event
  Achievers, San Francisco, CA: Annual Customer Experience
• Best New Product Introduction Event
  Zing USA, Inc., Venice, CA: Zing USA - Katy Perry Lashes created by Eylure Launch Event
• Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event
  Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, VA: Booz Allen Ideas Festival: A Big Idea with Huge Impact

2013 ABA Finalists will be announced mid-May and the 11th Annual award winners will be announced at our traditional banquet in Chicago on June 17.

If you have any questions about which category your should enter, please email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

We have just added two new live event awards categories in The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition to help you showcase your organization's successes. (The extended entry deadline for the 2012 IBAs is 18 July; you can request your entry kit here.)

Our newly added live event award categories include:

• Best Public Service/Public Affairs Event
• Best Public Relations Event

Our other event awards categories include:

• Best Consumer Event (e.g. auto show, boat show, health & fitness expo, etc.)
• Best Tradeshow or Convention
• Best Association Event or Meeting
• Best Corporate Image Event
• Best New Product Introduction Event
• Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event
• Best Sales Meeting
• Best Sales Presentation

Your event of the year submissions should include the following information:

• An essay of up to 500 words describing the event: its genesis, goals, development, and results. You may include detailed production notes, audience demographics, etc.
• Any number of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. These may include video clips, photographs, press reviews, news articles, and so on.
• Optionally, you may list creative and production credits for your event - a list of the people and organizations that contributed to its development

The 8th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. Best event honorees included GLOBAL EVENTS ID Corporation SL, GSMA, Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Jack Morton Worldwide, Turk Telekom, and Opus, among others. 2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea.

How will our new corporate awards categories help you highlight your organization?

Turk Telekom of Istanbul, Turkey won a Stevie® Award for Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event in the live event awards categories of The 2011 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards program. (The 2012 IBAs are now accepting entries. Download your entry kit here and begin submitting entries by the 16 May entry deadline.) Here we look at the how Turk Telekom strengthened their management team's leadership through their event of the year.

The 2011 event awards winner is a leading communication and convergence technology group in Turkey which provides its customers with integrated telecommunication services from PSTN and GSM to broadband internet. With nearly 30,000 employees all over Turkey, the organization was challenged to motivate their leadership when the company transitioned from being a public company to being a private company. To help ease the transition, Telekom's internal communications department organized an internal motivation event. Hosted at Turkey’s tropical Mediterranean paradise, Antalya, the event focused on ‘game playing’ to foster high level team building and strengthen leadership.

The key communications objectives were to:

1. Bond the managers from all 81 cities in Turkey as a team in and of itself,
2. Create a family feeling, like a big team,
3. Stimulate enthusiasm for the new company structure, and
4. Foster harmony amongst various departmental managers and geographies.

To meet the communications objectives, the best event award winner's internal communications team created a series of “games” lasting over the 3 day event. The highlights included:

1. Turkey’s Biggest Stage:
   An impressive 480 square meter was constructed as the centerpiece of the event, mimicking a game board. The participants themselves would become the “pattern” at certain times, which were the “stuff” of compelling photo opportunities.
2. Smart Street:
   A lounge area was built where participants could interact with state-of-the-art communications and entertainment products under development.
3. Games Arena:  
   A lively place where managers could play an amazing variety of games – traditional and new - in pairs or teams, such as table tennis, bowling, backgammon, soccer, basketball, go karts, PS3, WII, Xbox Kinetic, ginger, zorp ball, IQ Cup and more. There was even a caricaturist who drew humorous pictures of the managers. There were various workshops and activity areas where participants could interact, develop skills through game playing.
4. Strategy Sessions:  
   Several sessions were conducted in which managers presented strategic objectives and how to bring the key message to life: “People make companies, people are our biggest asset.” In workshops, executives shared tools and techniques about how to strengthen leadership. In soft skill sessions between workshops, participants engaged in entertaining hands-on activities, role-playing, and anonymous ideation pursuits to discover ways to communicate more effectively.
5. Entertainment:
   Weaving the “Games People Play” mood throughout the sessions, there were performances on the main stage by popular Turkish singers and stand up comics.
6. Branding:
   There was no shortage of motivating signage and accessories to keep the theme alive: new logo “We exist to add value to life,” luggage tags, bus signs, welcome and farewell banners, desk flags, name tags, flyers, field flags, T-shirts, pens, shirts, and more. These were displayed at the airport for the majority who traveled from Turkey’s 81 cities, in the hotels where they stayed, and at the venue reception areas, activity rooms, stages and fields.

Telekom executives disclosed top marks for content, value, accommodation, and team spirit from the attendees in a post event survey.

About Turk Telekom
Türk Telekom Group is a leading communication and convergence technology group in Turkey which provides integrated telecommunication services including PSTN and GSM to broadband internet. Turk Telekom has nearly 30,000 employees all over Turkey. Türk Telekom group companies have 16 mn Fixed Access Lines, 6.7 mn ADSL Connections and 11.6 mn Mobile Subscribers. To learn more information, visit www.turktelekom.com.

There are 8 live event awards categories in The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, to help you showcase your organization's successes. (All organizations and individuals worldwide may submit nominations to the IBAs. The entry deadline is 16 May; request your entry kit here.) Our categories recognize excellence in live events staged since January 1 2011.

Our event awards categories include:

• Best Consumer Event (e.g. auto show, boat show, health & fitness expo, etc.)
• Best Tradeshow or Convention
• Best Association Event or Meeting
• Best Corporate Image Event
• Best New Product Introduction Event
• Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event
• Best Sales Meeting
• Best Sales Presentation

Your event of the year submissions should include:

• An essay of up to 500 words describing the event: its genesis, goals, development, and results. You may include detailed production notes, audience demographics, etc.
• Any number of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. These may include video clips, photographs, press reviews, news articles, and so on.
• Optionally, you may list creative and production credits for your event - a list of the people and organizations that contributed to its development

The 8th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. Best event honorees included GLOBAL EVENTS ID Corporation SL, GSMA, Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Jack Morton Worldwide, Turk Telekom, and Opus, among others. 2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea.

How will our international corporate awards categories help you highlight your organization?

The entry deadline for The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., is fast approaching on Wednesday, April 25 and we thought it would be helpful for organizations if we highlighted our live event awards categories. (If you haven't yet done so, you can download your entry kit here.) Our categories recognize excellence in live events staged since January 1 2011.

Our best event categories include:

• Best Consumer Event (e.g. auto show, boat show, health & fitness expo, etc.)
• Best Tradeshow or Convention
• Best Association Event or Meeting
• Best Corporate Image Event
• Best New Product Introduction Event
• Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event
• Best Sales Meeting
• Best Sales Presentation

Your event awards submissions should include:

• An essay of up to 500 words describing the event: its genesis, goals, development, and results. You may include detailed production notes, audience demographics, etc.
• Any number of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges. These may include video clips, photographs, press reviews, news articles, and so on.
• Optionally, you may list creative and production credits for your event - a list of the people and organizations that contributed to its development

Our 2011 ABA event of the year winners included:

• Best Consumer Event- Sprint Prepaid Brands, Warren, NJ: Virgin Mobile FreeFest
• Best Corporate Image Event- SAP Marketing, New York, NY: SAP SAPPHIRE NOW
• Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event- Quality Systems, Inc., Irvine, CA: NextGen Users Group Meeting Attracts Record Attendees; Largest in Company History
• Best New Product Introduction Event- MWW Group, East Rutherford, NJ: Showcasing the Surprisingly Sophisticated All-New 2011 Volkswagen Jetta
• Best Tradeshow or Convention- Vemma Nutrition Company, Scottsdale, AZ: Vemma Power of Why Convention

2012 ABA Finalists will be announced mid-May and the 10th Annual event award winners will be announced at our traditional banquet on June 18th at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.

If you have any questions about which category your should enter, please email us at help@stevieawards.com or call us at + 1 703-547-8389.

Vemma Nutrition Company of Scottsdale, Arizona, USA won a Stevie® Award in the live event awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., for Best Tradeshow or Convention. (The deadline for entering the 2012 ABAs is March 28. You can start submitting entries by downloading your entry kit here.)

Founded in 2004, Vemma Nutrition Company specializes in a premium liquid nutrition formula that makes it easy for consumers to get vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants needed to form a solid nutritional foundation. The company sells their product directly to individuals, and offers an income stream to people and organizations who introduce their product line to others.

In February 2011, Vemma held their annual "Power of Why" Convention at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada to share new products, enhance selling techniques, and motivate their Brand Partners. The live event award winner hosted a successful convention by using the following strategies:

1. Pay Close Attention to Marketing & Promotion
   The event awards winner's commitment to convention enrollment was illustrated through their marketing and promotion efforts. The company created a dedicated convention website, produced several YouTube videos, and created buzz through social media outreach.
2. Connect with Attendees
   Vemma Founder & CEO, BK Boreyko, hosted a lavish reception as a way to include all attendees and create excitement about the convention.
3. Attention to Detail is Everything
   No detail was too small at the convention. Vemma staff transformed the MGM into their own little world with everything including interactive floor graphics to Power of Why branded escalators and posted personal Why statements.
4. Have Distinguished Keynote Speakers
   The convention included an array of motivating speakers including: heart surgeon and award-winning syndicated talk show host, Dr. Mehmet Oz; Dr. Michael Roizen; The Sleep Doctor™, and publisher and editor of SUCCESS magazine Darren Hardy.
5. Offer Insightful Training Sessions
   In addition to networking, best event attendees received training sessions on how to grow their businesses.
6. Introduce New Tools
   Convention attendees got an inside look at new Vemma tools including Success Profiles for personal websites and new iPad apps for download.
7. Highlight Success Stories
   Convention leaders developed “The Power of You. The Power of Why,” a series of approximately 20 videos capturing top leaders’ family and friends secretly interviewed about their journeys to success which were shown throughout the event to inspire attendees.
8. Award and Recognize
   Top income-earners were distinguished throughout the event with onstage acknowledgement and prizes. Through these celebrations, all attendees were motivated to succeed.

The Power of Why Convention attendees left Las Vegas with more Vemma knowledge, savvier business techniques, and extra motivation for success. As a result of their efforts, Vemma staff saw an increase of enrollments by 30%, record-breaking March 2011 sales, and immediate sale of 1/3 of 2012 convention tickets.

About Vemma Nutrition Company
Founded in 2004, Vemma Nutrition Company specializes in premium liquid nutrition providing formula in several unique products, making it easy to get for individuals to get the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants they need. The company's mission is to help others by enhancing their well being and offering an income stream to those who share the product with others. Vemma is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and Vemma products are distributed in over 50 countries. For more information, visit http://www.vemma.com/.

Virgin Mobile USA, a Sprint Prepaid brand base in Warren, New Jersey USA, won the Stevie Award for Best Consumer Event in the Live Event awards categories of The 2011 American Business Awards, announced on Monday, June 20 in New York City.

The Virgin Mobile Festival, a two-day music festival and ultimate fan experience based on the legendary U.K. Virgin Fest, launched in 2006 at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland—and tens of thousands of fans have experienced the magic every year since. In 2009, the music festival became free, with a focus on giving back to people who were less fortunate. It was renamed the Virgin Mobile FreeFest. 

Over 25,000 fans attending the first Virgin Mobile FreeFest rocked hard with Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy, Weezer, and more.   The fans may also have been giddy with good karma, having donated over 30,000 hours of community service through Virgin Mobile’s FREE I.P. program. This program encouraged fans to volunteer eight hours of time at designated homeless youth shelters in exchange for an upgraded VIP seat.  In addition, the music festival raised more than $80,000 to benefit homeless youth organizations.

Commitment to Give Back

Virgin Mobile’s strategy for launching the 2009 event was to lighten things up in the face of a rough economy while raising awareness for the issue of homeless youth through Virgin Mobile’s charitable initiative: The RE*Generation.

The RE*Generation is Virgin Mobile’s effort to empower a generation to help its own by bringing together organizations that care about homeless youth, and connecting them with young people who want to help. The RE*Generation program has been a force in creating awareness and support for homeless youth since 2006.

The 2010 Virgin Mobile FreeFest brought an amazing group of artists, bands, and events covering more than 40 acres at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The A-list lineup included headliners Ludacris, LCD Soundsystem, MIA, Jimmy Eat World, and Thievery Corporation.

Paying It Forward to Help Homeless Youth

What really sets FreeFest apart from other events, though, is its Pay-It-Forward commitment. Although 35,000 tickets were scooped up online in just minutes, Virgin Mobile’s FREE I.P. program, returning for a second year, allowed fans still interested in attending to volunteer their time at homeless youth organizations in order to earn their way into the festival. Fans were also encouraged to make a $5 donation in support of The RE*Generation. Those who made the donation received a 2010 Virgin Mobile FreeFest mash-up of the entire lineup.

For 2010, Virgin Mobile FreeFest amped up the charitable component and strongly encouraged concert goers and fans to top the 2009 donations.  That goal was achieved. Virgin Mobile FreeFest 2010 raised a total of $200,000—all benefiting homeless youth organizations Sasha Bruce Youthwork and Green Chimneys—while attendees volunteered a collective 25,000 hours. 

Said Ron Faris, formerly director of Brand Marketing for Virgin Mobile and currently Director, Brand Strategy & Marketing, Virgin Mobile USA: “Virgin Mobile FreeFest’s main objective of raising money and giving back to the community while providing a rocking experience met and surpassed all our expectations.”

Details of the 2011 event will be announced soon at http://www.virginmobilefreefest.com.

About Sprint Prepaid Brands

Sprint’s prepaid portfolio includes the following brands: Assurance Wireless, Boost Mobile, PayLo, and Virgin Mobile. Each brand is customized to appeal to a specific customer segment within the expanding prepaid market, all without contracts and all on the Nationwide Sprint Network.

About Ron Faris

As director of Brand Experiences at Virgin Mobile USA, Ron Faris has been responsible for managing Virgin Mobile’s largest brand marketing programs, including lifestyle marketing, events and sponsorships, branded entertainment, and cause-related marketing initiatives. He oversaw the execution of Virgin Mobile’s sponsorship of The Monster Ball Starring Lady Gaga in 2010 and 2011. Prior to that he conceived and launched the 2009 Virgin Mobile “FreeFest,” the largest free concert in the country.  The Virgin Mobile Festival, now the largest on the East Coast as it enters its fifth year, has boasted the largest acts in the nation, including Kanye West, Bob Dylan, Foofighters, The Who, and The Police. Before that, he was responsible for managing Virgin Mobile’s sponsorship of “The Circus Starring Britney Spears.”

As part of Sprint now, Ron’s responsibilities have shifted to oversee more of the broader positioning of Virgin Mobile in the marketplace including advertising and brand communications.  He recently introduced the “Sparah” campaign, which has Virgin Mobile literally manufacturing a celebrity couple to demonstrate the many ways our customers use data and social networking to keep tabs on pop culture.

Prior to joining Virgin Mobile, Ron was director of strategic partnerships at Atari, the video game company. There, he was instrumental in building content licensing deals focusing on mobile platforms, interactive TV, and in-game music development. Ron also served as brand director, building robust multi-platform marketing programs for games such as “The Matrix: Path of Neo.”

Ron began his career working for six years at Accenture in their telecommunications and media & entertainment consulting practices. He then joined Scient Corporation (now Razorfish) where he spent four years managing digital marketing initiatives, including the re-launch of several web portals in the financial services sector.

Ron is a native New Yorker and an award-winning short filmmaker. His films and documentaries have exhibited at several film festivals and cable networks, including HBO.  He lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

Portugal Telecom won a Stevie Award for Best Internal Recognition/Motivational Event in the Live Event awards categories of The 7th Annual International Business Awards. Read the full-text of their winning entry.

Portugal Telecom (PT) held a hugely successful Christmas party for all their employees on December 18, 2009—for the second consecutive year—which was an auspicious way both to end the year and to start the new cycle for 2010. Here we look at how they organized this mega-event.

PT’s main objectives for organizing such a massive party—it was held in FIL, Lisbon’s futuristic International Fair halls in the Parque das Nações, and attended by just under 9,000 people­—were to bring as many of their employees together as possible, to make them all feel a part of the PT team, to celebrate the year’s successes, and, of course, to celebrate the spirit of the holidays.

The logistics of organizing such an event were awe-inspiring.  Following the success of the 2008 Christmas party, it was likely that even more of the 8,500 PT employees would want to attend the 2009 event; and PT had a formidable task to meet and surpass the high expectations raised by the 2008 party.

Christmas for People with Fiber
The theme for the event was Christmas for People with Fiber (as in fiber-optic technology) and the space was to be decorated to reflect this theme.  PT first had to find a space large enough to hold up to 9,000 people; that would allow for them all to sit down to eat; and that would provide space for the entertainment afterwards, a post-dinner show with a medley of Portuguese music. 

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