LEXINGTON, Mass. - s4story -- ITSMA, the leading resource for B2B marketers in the connected economy, celebrated the 16 winners of its 24th Annual Marketing Excellence Awards yesterday during its virtual Awards Ceremony.

"In yet another unpredictable year, marketers persevered and succeeded by collaborating with their colleagues and, always, by focusing on the customer," said Dave Munn, President and CEO of ITSMA. "Through all the turmoil the pandemic has thrown at us, marketers have adapted. In the best cases, they've led the way out of chaos for their organization. Our award winners are an inspirational group of marketers that highlight the best of the best when it comes to market focus, creativity, and operational excellence in driving strategic business growth."

Highlights from this year's winners include:

• Developing a dedicated, persona-driven approach to C-Suite communications that builds trust by engaging CXOs on crucial business topics, and by sharing insight on cross-industry dynamics.
• Collaborating with sales colleagues and securing alignment across the organization to build a program that is based on data, leverages innovative bespoke technology, simplifies the sales process, and delivers results.
• Focusing on partner sales and leveraging both digital strength and automation capabilities to unify the customer experience, scale customer success, and drive recurring revenue growth.
• Leveraging data-driven insights to reimagine a more programmatic, scalable, and tightly integrated ABM program that delivers personalized content, drives engagement, and generates new leads.
• Implementing a unique intent-to-action framework that allowed for the rapid deployment of highly customized, account-specific collateral that ensures the right balance of scale, personalization, and impact.
• Reevaluating the marketing approach to meet the needs of a time- and attention-constrained audience, while also empowering and educating sales colleagues to deliver content that works better in remote settings.
• Unleashing the power of technology, innovation, and cross-industry collaboration to solve the unprecedented and complex challenges of the ongoing pandemic—and achieving a Guinness World Record!

2021 Marketing Excellence Award Winners

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The 2021 Marketing Excellence Awards focused on seven critical B2B marketing categories, along with an award for top small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) programs.

The jury, an international group of marketing executives and experts, selected the winners based on excellence in innovation, program execution, and business results. The awards honor outstanding marketing performance at two levels: diamond and gold.

Advancing Thought Leadership
Diamond Award Optum
Gold Award IBM

Collaborating with Sales
Diamond Award Salesforce
Gold Award IBM

Driving Strategic Growth
Diamond Award Cisco Systems Digital Experience
Gold Award Infosys

Embedding ABM Programs
Diamond Award Tata Consultancy Services
Gold Award Citrix
Gold Award Honeywell

Optimizing ABM Campaigns
Diamond Award Splunk
Gold Award FireEye

Orchestrating Executive Engagement
Diamond Award Tata Consultancy Services
Gold Award Salesforce

Strengthening the Brand
Diamond Award HCL Technologies
Gold Award Capgemini Technology Services India Ltd.

Small and Medium Size Business
Diamond Award Aspire Systems

For more information about the award winners, visit itsma.com/2021-mea-winners/.

About ITSMA

For more than 25 years, ITSMA has led the way in defining, building, and inspiring B2B marketing excellence. With a dedicated focus on services and solutions for the connected economy, we provide our member community with insight, advice, and hands-on help to strengthen reputation, increase revenue, and deepen customer relationships.

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Learn more at www.itsma.com