EVENT MARKETER PRESENTS

The best philanthropic or community event campaign. A tie to a charity or community cause must be at the heart of the program. Judges will look for integration of causes into the experiential program and the benefits that the campaign brought to both sides (the brand, and the cause).

Awarded to the most innovative event program leveraging a sports sponsorship. Judges will rate the activations (of all sizes and length) on creativity, results, message, and method of activation.

Awarded to the most innovative experiential program born out of a music, movie, celebrity, or television partnership/sponsorship.

Awarded to the best influencer program that infected a brand into the hearts and minds of influencers—and then their friends and family.

Recognizes the “environment” created for a b-to-b event or meeting. The staging, the technology used, the custom structure or exhibit. Note: This category looks at structure/environment only, not marketing objectives or results. So focus your entry on what you designed, why, what it was made of, how it fit together, and how the overall structure or environment was unique and special. Give us everything from sketches to renderings to CADs and birds-eye blueprints, as well as real photos and videos. (If the environment took place on a trade show floor, you must enter it in the Best Trade Show Experience category.)

This category will recognize the best exhibit or environment from a consumer event program. If you created a campus fest on college campuses; used tents, modular structures, or inflatables in unique ways; leveraged architecture at spring break or on the street; or found new ways to turn a space into a destination, this category is for you. Note: This category looks at structure/environment only, not marketing objectives or results. So focus your entry on what you designed, why, what it was made of, how it fit together, and how the overall structure or environment was unique and special. Give us everything from sketches to renderings to CADs and birds-eye blueprints, as well as real photos and videos.

Awarded to the company/campaign that used a trade show exhibit to create a trade show experience—an unforgettable experience that drove traffic, funneled leads, identified prospects, and set trade show participation way apart from the competition. The company that thought outside the typical box and created a trade show exhibit or an event environment for a meeting or conference that was creative, functional, educational, and entertaining.

Awarded to the best mobile campaign. Enter both b-to-c and b-to-b mobile campaigns. Note: The use of the word mobile in this category refers to the mobile marketing vehicle being used at the heart of the program—not the fact that a tour moves around. All general tours that roam the country but had no mobile vehicle should go in the best single-market or multi-market categories.

The best event-powered campaign hatched to reach a non-Caucasian audience. Judges will focus on the idea and execution, but also the attention to detail, messaging, and ethnicity-specific elements.

A category created to shine the spotlight on the powerful use of events as content generators. Awarded to the best event campaign that served as a platform for content creation. From events used for YouTube videos to events used for TV spots to events used for social media content… and beyond. Open to both b-to-c and b-to-b programs.

The Ex Awards’ largest category. Awarded to the campaigns that brought experiences to multiple places and multiple markets. Includes events that followed a sponsorship property from venue to venue, programs that moved across a region hitting similar venues (fairs, beaches, parks, etc.), as well as street/guerilla, nightlife, retail, and college efforts. (All vehicle-anchored mobile programs must be entered in the best mobile marketing category.)

For one-shot events staged for one simple reason: Gain eyeballs and media hits. Awarded to the best, craziest, most creative p.r. event that served up hits and buzz, increased public awareness, overcame damage control, and uncovered measurable results. Events from both the b-to-c and b-to-b worlds are welcome. Note: Events that invite media to attend and stage the event around the media attendees should be entered in the Best Press Event category.

The retail experience that stopped traffic. Given to in-store and pop-up store campaigns that engaged target audiences. Judges will analyze objective, execution, and results, as well as overall design of store, messaging, and overall experience of the environment.

This category recognizes the press event that used creative tactics to invite the press, get them to show up, and wrap them around your finger with solid messaging, killer thematics, and an A+ presentation. Note: To qualify for these categories, the event’s attendees must be made up of at least 80% media representatives (journalists must be the primary target).

Behind the scenes and way in the back of the backstage, there is a helluva lot going on. This category’s Ex will go to the most creative, extensive, outrageous, ambitious and delicious production of a business event. The lighting, the music, the script, the entire ensemble. Judges will look for you to take them through the actual production with insights into the long process between idea and execution.

Behind the scenes and way in the back of the backstage, there is a helluva lot going on. This category’s Ex will go to the most creative, extensive, outrageous, ambitious and delicious production of a consumer event. The lighting, the music, the script, the entire ensemble. Judges will look for you to take them through the actual production with insights into the long process between idea and execution.

Awarded to the event that best took the message out of the board room. Includes sales meetings, user groups, annual shareholder events, proprietary events, multi-day meetings, conferences, internal meetings, road shows, conferences, summits, proprietary events, new product introductions, media tours, client visit tours. (All vehicle-anchored b-to-b programs must be entered in the best mobile marketing category.)

Awarded to the most strategic, most creative, best-performing single-market event program. Did you make it memorable? Will the consumer ever forget?

From holography to touchscreens to customized consumer interactives to social platforms, some of the most innovative technologies are coming out of the event industry. Awarded to the event or trade show program that effectively leveraged technologies and social media to take their experience to the next level. Entry should focus on the actual technology leveraged, how it was leveraged and what results said technology helped generate.

Awarded to the best trial-based campaign that used a live engagement to get a consumer to try a product.

From Coachella to Bonnaroo, SXSW to Lollapalooza, the Texas State Fair to South Beach Food & Wine, this category will bestow honors on the event program that best activated at a fair or festival.

A category devoted to the most sought-after demographic. Shines the spotlight on the campaign that best targeted and engaged the elusive Millennial audience. Both b-to-c and b-to-b campaigns are welcome.

Awarded to the campaign that took the biggest risk and went all-in on an experiential marketing idea. Judges will look at campaigns to understand the risks involved, the leaps of faith taken by both the agency and the client—and the reward that the big risk generated.

Awarded to the campaign that best connected to the red-hot eSports sector with strategy, creative, reach and results.