The first few months have been busy from an awards standpoint at Articulate. So far this year we have been named a finalist for The Holmes Report SABRE Awards, a Small Business Commerce Association (SBCA) “Best of Business” award winner, a Hermes Creative Awards gold winner and a finalist for the PRSA Big Apple Awards.
What do these honors mean to us? Are they just some shiny trophies and certificates to display in the front of the office (the Hermes award in particular is quite majestic), or do they mean more?
Yes, the awards do help to justify and celebrate the good work that we like to think we do at Articulate. But they also serve as a learning experience for us. With each award ceremony that we attend or finalist list that we receive, we are learning more about the other agencies in our field and how they work to excel and take our profession to the next level. Are we competitive? Of course. But we also like to learn from our wins, and even more from our losses.
Take for example this year’s SABRE awards. Articulate was named a finalist for our work with Antenna Software. The winner in our category of “technology: software” was Golin Harris for their work on the Nintendo Wii. While we do not work in the consumer space, it’s interesting to look deeper into these winning campaigns, learning some strategies that they have followed that perhaps we could adapt to our own use.
It’s always nice to get a pat on the back for a job well done, but if you don’t learn from those who did a better job then you are doing yourself, and your clients, a disservice. Representatives from Articulate will attend the PRSA Big Apple Awards on May 27, where we are a finalist in the “marketing business-to-business” category. While we are excited at the possibility of winning, we’re just as excited to meet some of our fellow finalists in the industry and hearing more about their campaigns and successes. While we’re on a mission to learn more, keep your fingers crossed for us on May 27!
By Ashleigh B. Egan