Best of the Best 2012

About the Best of the Best Awards Program

Best of the Best FAQ PDF 

About the Contest PDF

Mission
tED magazine's Best of the Best Annual Marketing Competition honors marketing excellence and recognizes creativity within the electrical industry in companies of all sizes in 14 marketing/communication categories. The success of a marketing program is often difficult to measure in tangible terms; therefore the awards program provides winners with the opportunity to show that their work is highly regarded within their own industry. In addition, over the years, the program has become a way to benchmark a company's efforts against those of its peers.

Entry Tips
For tips on how to present your entry in its best, most competitive light, view the archived version of the free Entry Tips Webinar  that was held on Jan. 11. The presentation (without audio) can be downloaded as a PPT file.

Why enter?
It's all about recognition. The Best of the Best awards program provides marketers with a way to showcase their achievements. From top CEOs to leading marketing professionals to its entire readership—both online and in print—tED magazine has created a platform to make sure winning campaigns are noticed. Awards will be presented in Chicago at the 2012 NAED AdVenture Electrical Marketing Conference and the August issue of tED will feature the complete list of winners.

Categories:

• Brand Awareness: Specific marketing effort directed at customers and/or prospective customers to introduce a new brand, announce a rebranding, or reinforce an existing brand
  
  
• Creative Display: Product displays, signage, packaging, or information provided for point-of-sale promotion to customers
  
  
• Digital/Social Media Campaign: Social networking activity, e-mail blasts, online newsletters, podcasts, blogs, wikis, or other digital media
  
  
• Direct Promotion: Direct mail, postcards, flyers, brochures, catalogs, and inserts
  
  
• Event: Training, customer appreciation, special events, trade show, or counter day promotions
  
  
• Integrated Promotional Campaign: Three to eight complimentary components used to promote the same marketing effort
  
  
• Literature/Selling Tool: Literature, brochures, binders, CDs, DVDs, videos, and line cards (a printout of DVDs or CDs should be included)
  
  
• Print Ad—Single: A single, individual newspaper, magazine, or billboard advertisements
  
  
• Print Campaign: A series of newspaper, magazine, and/or billboard advertisements
  
  
• Product Launch: Introduction of a new product to customers in 2011
  
  
• Public Relations/Community Outreach: An effort to establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and audiences by connecting the company's mission, philosophies, and/or practices to the efforts of other (usually non-profit or community) organization, groups, specific audiences, or the general public
  
  
• Public Relations/Corporate: A planned communication program that serves both the organization's and the public's interests by building and/or maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with key publics
  
  
• Publication: Printed newsletter or magazine, directed at customers/prospective customers
  
  
• Website: New website, campaign or redesign; if submitting a redesign, please provide screen shots of former site
  

Judging
Entries are judged on their overall effectiveness and creative impact by an independent panel of marketing and industry professionals secured by tED magazine. Judges are from both within and outside the electrical industry. Each judge scores each entry based on the same criteria, and not directly against other entries through a cumulative point system.

Once a category is completed, all scores are combined to select the winning entries. Entries must score a predetermined number of points in order to be eligible for winning any given category. If a category does not have an entry with a high enough qualifying score, it is possible that no winner will be selected. In rare instances, the judges may also choose to award more than one winner in a given category.

Rules & Entry Requirement

1. The competition is open to distributors and suppliers that serve the electrical products industry.
2. Entries must be from marketing programs fielded in 2011.
3. Materials must be submitted online by midnight EST March 2, 2012.
4. Entries are separated by company sales volume to ensure fair competition between like-sized firms.
5. Credit card payment must be made at time of entry. Fee is $125 per entry. If entering the same campaign in multiple categories, an entry fee applies for each category entered.
6. All entries must be submitted online at tedmag.com/best.

Questions about entries may be directed to Sheila Logan at 314-991-9000 or slogan@naed.org.

Enter the 2012 Competition Now!

View the 2011 Best of the Best Winners Here!