The 2017 Smartie Award Winners

Best Interactive Booth

USA Expo – GMC Tradeshow Experience –  Gold Winner
When a marketing team that prides themselves on creative thinking and risk taking sets out to deliver a unique event experience, you know that they’re going to produce something special. That’s exactly what happened when USA Expo partnered with GMC to create a one-of-a-kind interactive tradeshow experience that allowed the automobile manufacturer to connect with their customers in a new way. Attendees had the chance to get up close and personal with the newest GMC models, and were able to enter to win a new vehicle. Learn more about this project here.

Honorable Mentions: Thunder Tech • George P Johnson • Linear Creative

Best Use of Social Media

Mixer Inc. –  Scotiabank Campus Tour –  Gold Winner
Nobody is more hip on today’s social media scene than university students, making them the perfect audience for a creative social campaign. When multinational banking company Scotiabank needed to promote their no-fee Student Banking Accounts and their Scotiabank SCENE debit card program, they asked Mixer to design a student-centered marketing campaign. Mixer deployed a team at various university and college campuses to distribute complimentary movie passes and encourage enrollment in the two programs. They also created a red carpet-worthy photo op for the students, featuring cardboard cutouts of popular TV show and movie characters to drive engagement and enhance amplification through social media. Learn more about this project here.

Honorable Mentions: Thunder Tech • Greenhouse Agency • Fuse Marketing Group • Ramped • Influence Marketing

Best Product Launch

Events Marketing –  Square Brand Presence – Gold Winner

When mobile payments industry leader Square decided to roll out their product in Canada, they tasked Events Marketing with helping them establish a Canadian customer base and planning a successful and profitable launch. Events Marketing was aggressive with their tactics, forming tech-savvy teams in each of the key strategic markets and leveraging events, social media, and guerilla marketing to generate sign-ups. Logging thousands of field hours focused on delivering product knowledge and technical support, Events Marketing was able to help Square achieve phenomenal year over year growth. Learn more about this project here.

Honorable Mentions: Has Events • Free For All Marketing

Best On-Site Marketing Campaign

Tigris Events Inc. –  ICON Student Living Waterloo – Gold Winner
ICON knew they offered the best student living in Waterloo – they just needed to get their name out there and show students what they had to offer. To promote their new building, they hired Tigris brand ambassadors to bring their vision to life. Each day during the campaign, between 10 and 20 Tigris brand ambassadors would work onsite to tell potential students about the new building and its amenities, give unit tours, explain the leasing process, assist with signing leases, host resident parties and events, manage giveaways, and more. Learn more about this project here.

Honorable Mentions: Elite • All Terrain • T1 Agency • The Mint Agency • Smak

Best Creative Lead Generation Campaign

Vibrant Marketing –  National Bank Super Fan Experience – Gold Winner
For Canadian tennis fans, the Rogers Cup is the ultimate sporting event. Presenting sponsor National Bank wanted to engage with the tennis fans who attended the 10-day event in a more meaningful way, so they turned to Vibrant to create an interactive Super Fan Experience. Tennis fans were given the chance to sign up with the Super Fan profile generator and receive a Super Fan pass with RFID technology. With this pass, Super Fans could score points – which could be exchanged for rewards – by taking and sharing photos, participating in cheer simulation stations, and taking tennis knowledge quizzes. While the Super Fans earned points, National Bank earned 4,200 signups and 38% conversion on lead generation. Learn more about this project here. 

Honorable Mentions: XMC • Bait Shoppe