Idea Grove Wins AMA Marketer of the Year Award

Idea Grove has been recognized by the American Marketing Association for a public relations campaign undertaken last year on behalf of our client ShopSavvy. The Marketer of the Year Awards were handed out Thursday night at the Westin Galleria Dallas hotel by the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the American Marketing Association. Idea Grove was among the 16 finalists that included other Dallas marketing firms and some familiar Dallas-area corporations.

Idea Grove won in the Public Relations category for our work for ShopSavvy, the leading mobile shopping application. The team included Idea Grove President Scott Baradell, Senior Account Executive Stephanie Fedler and Chief Content Officer Clay Zeigler.

Scott put together a public relations program leveraging news releases, media pitches and video. Stephanie worked to implement the program, focusing especially on media relations. It all culminated during retailing’s most-visible period: the kickoff of the holiday shopping season well known to consumers as Black Friday.

The program had a content marketing element as well, as Scott created an online forum to systemically win allies for ShopSavvy, its value propositions, and its leadership. That vehicle, The Future of Retail Alliance, launched in the summer and edited by Clay, grew as a platform throughout the fall, adding an average of three articles a week on mobile retail.

Response Included 200,000 Downloads

ShopSavvy was featured during November and December in dozens of reports on television and radio and by online outlets as diverse as Shopper Marketing, Good Housekeeping, Mashable and VentureBeat. Television coverage was extensive. One television report was picked up on more than 25 other TV stations.  Consumers responded, in November and December they downloaded the application some 200,000 times. The company set records for numbers of product scans, gaining a peek at the national Christmas gift list.

Marketer of the Year Awards in 12 categories were announced along with the Collegiate Marketer of the Year and the CMO of the Year. Kent Huffman of BearCom Wireless, an Idea Grove client, was one of two Chief Marketing Officer finalists.

The Idea Grove award is the first industry recognition for Stephanie. Clay has contributed to numerous projects that won journalism awards from the National Newspaper Association, the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, the Texas Press Association and the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas.

Last fall, Scott was a finalist for the PR Professional of the Year award given as part of the PR News PR People Awards. His writing has earned him awards from the International Association of Business Communicators, Texas Public Relations Association, and Associated Press Managing Editors of Texas.