The 14th Annual All-Star Awards

all-star awards

2012 JUDGES

Lucy Albert, CTSM, distribution and exhibit coordinator, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD	Bonalyn Boyd, director of marketing, Kessler Creative, Jacksonville, FL	Lisa Lawley, CTSM, CME, senior global events marketing manager, Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, CA	Steven Marchese, CTSM, manager of corporate events, Fujifilm Medial Systems USA Inc., Stamford, CT	Marla Merritt, director of sales and marketing, OrthoBanc LLC, Chattanooga, TN	Doreen Paquette, event and trade show coordinator, Wacker Chemical Corp., Adrian, MI	Holly Seese, global marketing communications manager, Celanese Corp., Dallas

or the last three decades, EXHIBITOR magazine has attempted to provide exhibit- and event-marketing professionals with the tools and education necessary to produce high-performance programs with measurable results. To that end, we've published countless columns, how-to articles, and case studies, almost all of which have focused on exhibiting companies, from perennial giants like Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to saucy little startups like WingDipper.

But behemoth corporate titans and funky little firms don't actually do anything in the way of marketing. That is, companies don't conceptualize, strategize, and execute ideas; people do. In fact, the brains behind the biggest brands on the planet are marketing wizards with the ideas, knowledge, and chutzpah to continually conjure inventive ideas and measurable results.

Thus, once a year, EXHIBITOR pulls back the corporate curtains to reveal and honor the Houdinis behind corporate America's marketing programs. Every 12 months we devote an issue to a handful of human beings who have not only developed innovative marketing strategies, but also garnered solid, often remarkable, results that prove their ideas aren't just fresh and fierce; they're also effective.

This year, then, we dedicate our January issue to four marketing magicians. Toiling away behind the scenes at Jabra Corp., Honeywell International Inc., Medtronic Inc., and Moen Inc., our four sorcerers have conjured inventive strategies with almost supernatural results, including everything from an amazing 125-percent increase in leads to a dramatic cost savings well into the seven figures. What's more, two winners actually devised long-term,

full-program strategies - as opposed to one-time, show-related tactics - that have since altered their respective companies' long-term marketing plans.

Please join us in congratulating our industry's marketing Merlins, whose efforts will no doubt provide countless ideas for your own exhibit programs. But perhaps equally important, their stories show that as magical as our winners' programs might seem, there's both painstaking work and imaginative ideas behind every one.

THE WINNERS:

In The Game	Medtronic's Marketing Machine	A Delightful Detour	The Value of Visitors