The B2B Marketing Awards – help us choose the categories for 2018

It’s not been long since we announced the winners of the B2B Marketing Awards 2017, but alarmingly we need to start thinking about our categories for 2018 already. Is it just me getting old, or is time flying increasingly quickly? (On second thoughts, don’t answer that.)

Our list of categories has constantly evolved over the 14 years that we've run these awards, as you would expect given that B2B is an increasingly dynamic and fast-moving industry. But the list can’t be infinite, so my challenge is to ensure they represent the most relevant and important aspects of what’s actually going on in the market. And as a result, we regularly review and refresh the list, dropping some categories and bringing in others.

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So what types of B2B marketing, or aspects of marketing, would you like to see reflected in our categories? Where are the gaps in our existing categories, and what new areas should we be focusing on?

Some particular questions that we are pondering:

• Should ABM have its own category? Or, given the level of interest in the topic, more than one category?
• Vendors historically have not been reflected in these awards, but given the growing importance of marketing tech, should that change?
• We’re considering bringing our ‘people’ categories (marketer of the year and team of the year) back into the main programme. Is that something that you’d welcome?
• And further to that, last year, we had a 'newcomer of the year' category - is that something that we should persist with?
• Should our 'multichannel' category be switched to 'omnichannel'?

I’d welcome all thoughts, ideas and suggestions, on these and all other related matters – it’s important to us that we gauge the views of the market and take all reasonable suggestions on board. I’ve pasted a list of last year’s categories below, for reference. Just one thing to note: we're not going to reduce the number of categories, but neither are likely to increase them.

Just drop me an email (joel.harrison@b2bmarketing.net), tweet me, or comment below with your suggestions. Thanks in advance for your help.

1.    Best multichannel campaign
2.    Best use of direct mail
3.    Best use of live event marketing
4.    Best PR campaign
5.    Best use of creative
6.    Best use of digital techniques or technologies
7.    Best use of social media
8.    Best use of content marketing
9.    Best digital CX initiative
10.    Best use of customer insight
11.    Best use of thought leadership
12.    Best limited budget campaign
13.    Most commercially successful campaign
14.    Best sales and marketing integration
15.    Best channel marketing campaign
16.    Best SME-targeted campaign
17.    Best corporate decision-maker targeted campaign
18.    Best internal campaign
19.    Best international campaign
20.    Best brand campaign
21.    Best product launch campaign
22.    Best lead generation or nurturing campaign
23.    Best customer-centricity/engagement initiative
24.    The bravery award
25.    Brand of the year
26.    B2B PR agency of the year
27.    B2B marcomms agency of the year
28.    Grand Prix – Campaign of the Year.

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