Awards + Press

Walker Sands Takes Home 2021 MarCom Awards for Branding, Research and Social

At Walker Sands, we understand the importance of delivering results. From surveying audiences and analyzing data to thinking outside the box and getting creative, we routinely develop and execute strategies that achieve measurable outcomes for our clients.

Our focus on delivering results for our clients is one of the reasons we’re proud to announce that Walker Sands has won three 2021 MarCom Awards in the branding, research/study and social campaign categories.

MarCom Awards recognize exceptional marketing and communication while showcasing the creativity and hard work of industry professionals. Here is a recap of each of our award-winning campaigns:

The Way Ahead: Positioning Hub Group as a Tech-Forward Innovator — Platinum Award for Branding Refresh

Hub Group approached Walker Sands with a request to evolve its brand perception as a legacy company by repositioning and refreshing its visual and verbal identity. The Walker Sands team set out to build a refreshed brand and new website that enhanced Hub Group’s reputation as a tech-forward innovator, while streamlining product architecture and strategy for future scalability and growth.

Walker Sands created an external-facing tagline, “The Way Ahead,” to give Hub Group’s messaging an aspirational focus, while creating a brand voice that was trustworthy, approachable and straightforward. The new visual identity was sophisticated with a monochromatic green palette alongside custom photography and videography. Finally, a revamped product architecture showcased the brand’s capabilities and served as the foundation for the site’s navigation, positioning Hub Group as an end-to-end solutions provider.

As a result of our work, a new Hub Group emerged as a customer-focused leader with cutting edge technology and solutions that define the way ahead. The brand saw a 30% increase in post-launch site performance with 89% growth in first-time visitors YoY, a 46% increase in site users YoY and a 93% increase in search impressions. Learn more about Hub Group’s brand refresh here.

Hub Group brand refresh

Navigating the 2020 Holiday Shopping Season With Iterable — Platinum Award for Research/Study

Iterable engaged Walker Sands to help secure top-tier media coverage and incorporate more thought leadership into their PR efforts. To make those goals a reality, the Walker Sands team surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers with a 15-question survey exploring consumer perceptions and sentiment heading into the 2020 holiday season. The survey captured insights into how marketers could pivot their messaging and promotion cadence to best reach key audiences with personalized messages and build trust with consumers. From this data and analysis, Walker Sands conducted a media outreach campaign which included an infographic and blog post highlighting those compelling insights.

The campaign increased Iterable’s standing as a thought leader in the martech space. With the data collected from the survey, Iterable gained media coverage in 26 outlets. Nine media placements landed in top-tier outlets like Adweek, Forbes, Yahoo, and Barron’s and six were feature placements in publications that included StreetFightMag, CustomerThink and Newsday.

Elevating Semrush’s Social Media Presence With Premium Microcontent — Gold Award for Social Campaign

Semrush needed Walker Sands to level up its creative strategy on Twitter and boost engagement and brand affinity among its audience of digital marketers. The Walker Sands team created a Twitter microcontent program that used humor to emphasize product value, embedded the brand in trending conversations, led with empathy and prioritized audience interests over marketing messages.

Creating themed, recurring Twitter content to demonstrate Semrush’s product value required constant scanning of the latest Twitter trends — from popular memes and GIFs to celebrity gossip and new Netflix shows. Our team then produced highly creative content that embedded the brand in timely Twitter conversations.

The social campaign drove high engagement and awareness among Semrush’s target audience, resulting in 793,500+ impressions, 34,800+ engagements, a 4.4% average engagement rate and 594 total shares. Learn more about Semrush’s elevated Twitter program here.

Semrush Twitter program

Congratulations to Hub Group, Iterable, Semrush and our talented team members on the success of these campaigns. All three of these campaigns are stellar examples of the impact results-driven marketing can deliver to B2B brands. Contact us today and let’s start a conversation about what Walker Sands can do for your organization.

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