Recognizing Marketing’s Finest
Here we present all of this year’s winning submissions, highlighting a different category each week.
BRAND AWARENESS /
Atlantic Coast Electric Supply (ACES)
Gastonia Grand Opening
ACES expanded its footprint in North Carolina with a new location in Gastonia opening on April 1, 2024. The event on June 13 was designed to spotlight the company’s brand and values while fostering connections with the local community, vendors, and customers.
The strategy focused on creating a welcoming, engaging, highly visible, and memorable event that integrated brand awareness with customer engagement and included a multichannel marketing approach and vendor partnerships.
“Beyond simply hosting an event to announce its new Gastonia location, ACES promoted the event through multiple media channels, which had the additional benefit of simultaneously driving brand awareness,” said the judges. “The branding is immediately recognizable and reinforces the ACES brand.”
QED
IES Rebrands as QED in Arizona
In the fall of 2024, all six IES locations in Arizona rebranded to QED.
Tasked with introducing the brand to a new market, the marketing team provided current IES customers with crucial business updates, direct mailers, social media posts, email marketing, a letter from the president, an FAQ sheet, billing information, and other necessary documents.
Salespeople were provided with printed all-inclusive packets to drop off with customers, building signage was replaced, grand reopening events were held, a new digital platform/website was created, vendor partners were alerted, and more.
“This is a comprehensive rebranding effort that was supported in every way imaginable to establish the new QED name,” said the judges.
Sonepar
Our knowledge is ELECTRIC
Recognizing a critical need to elevate its brand so that contractors see the value of a partnership that goes beyond traditional distribution, Sonepar centered its “Our knowledge is ELECTRIC” campaign on the concept of “knowledge as a differentiator.”
Sonepar partnered with PR firm Edelman to gain a deep understanding of the modern electrical contractor’s needs and pain points and gain valuable customer insights; execution included extensive research; the creation of a manifesto that articulated Sonepar’s core values and vision; visual identity and messaging; internal alignment; and multichannel deployment that combined digital, physical, and exper-iential elements.
“It’s very refreshing to see Sonepar implement a very disciplined approach to branding,” said the judges, noting that “the identification that knowledge is what really motivates contractors is powerful.”
Summit Electric Supply
Unified Voices: A Five-Supplier Campaign
Unified Voices: A Five-Supplier Campaign was a multivendor, multichannel promotional campaign designed by Summit to elevate brand
visibility for the company and five strategic supplier partners: Burndy, Cooper Lighting, Dottie, LEDVANCE, and Panduit.
Built around a unified creative framework and designed to integrate messaging across email, paid social, website, and display advertising, the campaign leveraged individual market development fund contributions from each supplier. Setting it apart was the seamless coordination of five distinct supplier messages into a single Summit-branded experience.
The judges appreciated how the campaign “maintained message consistency and visual cohesion under the Summit brand across all five of their strategic supplier partners.”
ALVA Manufacturing
PVC Conduit
In May 2024, ALVA Manufacturing rebranded following the sale of E-Z Weld solvents. This situation allowed the marketing team to establish a new company name, a new brand name, and a new brand strategy.
With nine months to create and execute a comprehensive plan, the team created a vision, mission, and brand promise; developed a new
brand name; created a new logo, brand architecture and guidelines, website, social media accounts, and brand communication playbook; and developed digital assets, printed content, and branded merchandise.
Executing the communication strategy also included participating in the field with the sales team to ensure the communication was clear
and concise, and holding trade shows, customer events, and sales agency meetings to ensure brand awareness and adoption.
“I’m impressed that ALVA experienced zero brand attrition due to the brand change,” noted the judges. “It speaks volumes how they prioritized not alienating the core to refresh and attract more customers.”
Atkore
Unistrut 100th Anniversary Campaign
To celebrate 100 years of Unistrut, Atkore executed a targeted social media campaign to engage customers, distributors, and industry professionals while reinforcing its brand legacy.
Tactics included industry events (including events in Data Centre World in London, Paris, and Frankfurt); print ads/merchandise; blogs/
news; a landing page; a social media campaign; and a video that showcased how the company celebrated the anniversary on a global scale, capturing the excitement, milestones, and events across different regions and highlighting the collective spirit and legacy of Unistrut over the past century.
“Atkore did an exceptional job of assessing the value of the current brand and carefully decided what to keep so that they aren’t simply making change for change’s sake,” said the judges. “Branding is all about storytelling. It’s wonderful to see that the Atkore team continues to leverage the power of Walt Disney having created the ‘Mr. Strut’ character in 1957.”
Hammond Power Solutions (HPS)
Rebranding Awareness
In 2024, HPS launched a comprehensive brand awareness campaign aimed at reshaping how the company is perceived. The goal was to position it as not only a trusted manufacturer of transformers and power quality solutions, but also a forward-thinking expert offering innovative solutions to address customers’ unique challenges.
The brand awareness strategy was centered around a phased approach to developing a comprehensive campaign platform. The strategy included immersion and analysis, visual identity expansion, and tool kit development and delivery. Details of execution included a brief manifesto that articulated the tone and what the brand stands for, five new print and online ads, updated collateral, and an updated trade show booth.
“Hammond Power Solutions conducted significant research, including a market segmentation to understand its place in both consumers’ and internal constituents’ lives to inform the rebrand,” said the judges. “All of the pieces work well together with consistent use of color, fonts, and similar-feeling imagery. While the topics are complex, the language is clear and concise with readily apparent customer benefits.”
BRAND AWARENESS – Honorable Mention
ETI Lighting
ETI Lighting Rebrand
Tagged with awards, Best of the Best, marketing