JACKSONSVILLE, Fla., Nov. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HCSS was named Best-in-Show, and SAP was selected as the Reader's Choice winner in MarketingSherpa Awards 2017. The MarketingSherpa Awards are bestowed by marketing industry publisher MarketingSherpa, whose mission is to tell inspirational stories of customer-first marketing.
Judges evaluated 194 submissions looking for marketing efforts that were transformative, innovative, offered transferable principles that other marketers could learn from, and had strong results. However, the most important characteristic was customer focus — unlike the other criteria, this standard is pass/fail.
"The earth has shifted. Disruptive change has fractured old business models. Consumers are empowered like never before. And so, ultimate marketing and business success lies in putting the customer first," said Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content, MarketingSherpa. "This year's winners are an excellent example of the success that is possible with a customer-first marketing approach."
Best-in-Show Winner — HCSS Software
The judges selected construction software company HCSS as the Best-in-Show winner not just for its work helping customers solve their problems, but also for helping the construction industry improve its image and attract the next generation of workers — an industrywide challenge.
In an entry entitled, "53.6% Increase in Revenue by Doing the Opposite of What Feels Right — Make Your Customer the Hero," Dan Briscoe, VP of Marketing, HCSS, described his team's biggest lesson: "Simply put, to get over ourselves. That was our key transformational lesson. To quit the sales and marketing obsession to focus only on our company, to talk only about ourselves, and to quit trying to show how innovative our products are and how beloved our customer support is across the industry. Nobody really cares, and when they do care, they don't want to hear it from us."
Readers' Choice Winner — SAP
To determine the customer-centric campaign that was most deserving of the Reader's Choice Award, the judges picked four finalists, a MarketingSherpa reporter wrote case studies with each of the marketers, and MarketingSherpa's readers were then asked to vote on the four campaigns.
Ginger Shimp, Marketing Director, SAP America Inc., won the award for her campaign entitled, "Transforming How We Market."
"I am thrilled that SAP's Live Industries campaign won the 'Reader's Choice Award' because it gives us a chance to pull back the curtain and show what it's like behind the marketing scenes at SAP. We strive to engage our customers in innovative ways, and this campaign did just that. It was a digital-first approach to scale targeted content marketing. And, by collaborating with some of the most reputable marketers in the industry in conjunction with our agency, we only set ourselves up for success."
Understanding the needs of their customers drove the messaging, and learning how those customers wanted to receive the messaging drove the execution strategy. The campaign scaled across 19 industries and resulted in $50 million of marketing-touched pipeline.
"Winning this award is validation that SAP's marketing organization is more than just feeding leads into the sales pipeline. We understand the importance of putting our customers at the forefront of our success and truly believe that by helping our customers run better, we help the world run better. I hope our story will inspire others to do the same," Shimp said.
Prizes will be awarded and full stories told at MarketingSherpa Summit.
Dan Briscoe and Ginger Shimp each won a trip to Las Vegas and a stay at the ARIA Resort & Casino. While in Las Vegas, they will receive their awards at MarketingSherpa Summit 2017 and share their case studies from the main stage of this customer-first marketing conference.
"I am really excited about winning the Best-in-Show award from MarketingSherpa. I lead an amazing team of 23 all-star marketers for HCSS, and this prestigious award helps me shine a spotlight on the fantastic work they are doing. I attended the MarketingSherpa event in 2016 for the first time and I was literally blown away by the keynote speakers and the rapid-fire presentations by real marketers from real companies showing real successes with their marketing. I took pages of notes, and we were able to incorporate some of those ideas into our own marketing to help us win Best-in-Show for 2017. I look forward to sharing those results and what worked and didn't work at the 2017 conference," Briscoe said.
Related Resources
About MarketingSherpa
Based in Jacksonville, Florida, MarketingSherpa — a subsidiary of MECLABS Institute — is a publication specializing in reporting on inspiring stories of customer-first marketing. Interviews, case studies and data analyses are published for the entire marketing industry to benefit from. MarketingSherpa, currently in its 17th year, has published more than 7,000 articles on MarketingSherpa.com and hosts the largest vendor-neutral conference dedicated to customer-first marketing since 2005. For more information, visit www.marketingsherpa.com.
About MECLABS Institute
Founded in 1997 and based in Jacksonville, Florida, MECLABS Institute is the world's largest research institute dedicated to discovering how people make choices.
MECLABS has been involved in direct Research Partnerships with companies throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas since 2001. As an institute focused on offer-response optimization, particularly in the field of value exchange, the Institute is dedicated to taking an academic approach to improving the discipline of marketing by teaching its discoveries through workshops, online learning and a graduate certificate program developed in partnership with the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications.
MECLABS' two publishing subsidiaries — MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa — publish experiments and provide insights to the marketing community. For more information, visit www.meclabs.com.
About HCSS
With a suite of products that includes HeavyBid, HeavyJob, HCSS Dispatcher, Equipment360, HCSS GPS, and HCSS Safety, HCSS provides the construction industry innovative software solutions with fully-managed Cloud hosting options that help companies work faster, smarter and more efficiently. Since 1986, HCSS products have delivered value for more than 45,000 construction professionals, including 24 of the Top 25 ENR Contractors. HCSS delivers world-class customer service with professional implementation and 24/7 instant support, 365 days a year. For more information, visit www.hcss.com.
About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device, SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP's applications and services enable more than 261,000 customers worldwide to operate profitably, adapt continuously and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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