PPAI is accepting submissions for the annual Pyramid Awards, which honor creative excellence in the promotional products industry and recognize dependable suppliers, outstanding promotions, creative campaigns and exceptional craftsmanship by its members. Submissions are open through May 7. To highlight and learn from 2021 Pyramid Award winners, PPB Newslink is speaking with them to learn more about what it means to secure a PPAI Pyramid win. This installment features Vancouver, British Columbia, distributor Martket Branding and its Silver Award in the ecommerce website category for its submission, “Digital Domain U.S. and Canadian Ecommerce Websites and Promotional Items.”
Last year was the first time the distributor had entered the Pyramid competition. Brent Hoskins, MAS, president, says, “The Pyramid Awards had been on our radar for several years, so it was definitely an initiative that we had been working towards and felt was important in elevating our company and the work that we are fortunate to be able to partner in with our clients. We also viewed entering the competition as an opportunity to become more involved in the promotional products industry on an international level. The best advice that we would recommend to companies thinking about submitting would be to approach your Pyramid Awards submission like you would a client project. Make note of the deadline and then review the scope of the project including available product categories, competition rules and how your entry is going to be evaluated/judged. We also found it very helpful to make each of our entries a team initiative so that the award tasks were spread out and got everyone involved. This made the process collaborative and kept us on a schedule.”
Martket Branding created MyD2Shop.com as a strategic solution to provide branded merchandise to the film industry. The site features dual web portals to allow team members across North America seamless access to inventory tracking and fulfillment of film memorabilia. Products ordered on the MyD2Shop.com can be drop or bulk shipped to their choice of studio location for pickup.
“We started by reviewing all of the available award categories, and then looking at photos that we keep on file or posted to our social media from client projects that we had worked on within the competition dates,” says Hoskins. “Once we had made a short list of our top eligible client projects, we then matched up our client projects to the award categories where we felt that we would be able to make the most meaningful entries based on the campaign results and judging criteria. Involving our clients, when asking them for the client letters in support of our entries, was also very valuable in incorporating how they felt the project had been most impactful.”
Hoskins adds, “Winning a Pyramid Award has enhanced our business on many levels. It was a great honor to receive recognition within our industry, but we also found the entire process of submitting an entry to be very rewarding in raising the overall level our team and bringing different departments even closer together. It also strengthened the relationships that we have with our clients knowing that we were just as proud of our work together. Additionally, we have utilized the promotional materials provided by the PPAI to feature the award on our website and social media which has already led to a growth in business with both new and existing clients.”
For more information and to submit entries to the 2022 PPAI Pyramid Awards, go to www.ppai.org/pyramid. For assistance or additional questions, email awards@ppai.org.
