The B2B Marketing Awards 2021: Check out who won big

The B2B Marketing Awards honours the best in B2B, guaranteeing to help companies and agencies boost their profile, showcase their skills and help them gain vital recognition. Hosted by Joel Harrison and Sarah Casswell, the evening took place in the stunning Grade II listed Old Billingsgate right on the River Thames in the heart of London. 

Comedian Jen Brister presented awards for a whopping 28 categories, ranging from ‘Best use of content marketing’, through to ‘Best use of thought leadership’ and ‘Best use of account-based marketing’ – and how could we forget OneGTM’s Iris and Tim’s matching neon shoes that stole both the spotlight and the Fabulous Footwear award for the most stand-out shoes. Windsor, The Croc, Wisque, Selbey Anderson and Gravity Global all sponsored awards. 

To wrap up the night, attendees kicked off their shoes to Flo Collective at the afterparty (sponsored by Selbey Anderson) and danced through the night.

Missed out on this year’s event? Register your interest now for 2022 to be in with a chance of winning big at the biggest night of the year in B2B!

The big wins

So, who won big? Headline sponsor Gravity Global was nominated for a whopping 20 categories for three campaigns: ‘What’s cooking’ for Alto-Shaam, ‘Your imagination starts with our finish’ and ‘The profit hunter: A force with nature’ for Embraer. They brought home a total of 10 awards, the highest of the night, including three Golds for ‘The profit hunter’ and ‘Bring it on.’ Ten points if you can tell us if they spent more time in their seats or on stage.

Of their 14 nominations, twogether won seven trophies for their campaigns ‘Building blocks of ABM’ for Salesforce and ‘Demand generation engine’ for KPMG. The Croc also won half of their six nominations for the campaign ‘Realise your vision’ for Sohonet, notably securing Gold for ‘Best use of creative.’

Isabelle Duarte, EMEA CMO/SVP marketing, Okta, won ‘B2B marketer of the year’ for her work during the pandemic. Despite shielding for over a year just a few months after joining Okta, Isabelle grew her team by 240% and increased marketing pipeline contribution by 25% – in the words of Okta, “a true leader fit for any crisis.”

With a staff turnover of 10% and welcoming in big hires including head of public affairs, Brands2Life bagged ‘PR agency of the year’ for their seemingly bullet-proof endurance during the pandemic. Similarly, Digital Radish, who won ‘B2B marketing communications agency of the year,’ grew by 137% during the pandemic and doubled its team size.

Winner of the Grand Prix for their #Bossit2021 challenge, Sage also dominated, winning Gold for all four categories they were nominated for: ‘Best multichannel campaign,’ ‘Best use of social media or influencer marketing,’ ‘Best customer engagement initiative’ and the Grand Prix.

The full list of Gold winners are:

1. Best multichannel campaign. ‘Boss it’ for Sage, by Sage and Wunderman Thompson.
2. Best use of direct mail. ‘Building blocks of ABM’ for Salesforce, by twogether.
3. Best use of live, digital and/or hybrid events marketing. ‘Retail renaissance’ by Emarsys.
4. Best public relations campaign. ‘Rescuing retail’ for Go Instore, by Champion Communications.
5. Best use of creative. ‘Realise your vision’ for Sohonet, by The Croc.
6. Best use of digital techniques or technologies. ‘The profit hunter: A force with nature’ for Embraer, by Gravity Global.
7. Best use of social media or influencer marketing. ‘#Bossit2021 challenge’ by Sage.
8. Best use of content marketing. ‘Ending retro expectations’ for Exasol, by Digital Radish.
9. Best use of customer insight. ‘Reimagining the workplace’ for Okta, by LogicLogicMagic.
10. Best use of thought leadership. ‘A 400% ROI and accelerated sales growth, driven by thought leadership’ by Protolabs.
11. Best limited-budget campaign. ‘The better-for-business zone’ for Zen Internet, by OneGTM.
12. Most commercially successful campaign. ‘Markers, set, go!’ for O2 Business, by The Marketing Practice.
13. Best sales enablement initiative. ‘Ending retro expectations’ for Exasol, by Digital Radish.
14. Best channel marketing initiative. ‘The better-for-business zone’ for Zen Internet, by OneGTM.
15. Best SME-targeted campaign. ‘Connecting the Falklands’ for Square & Mastercard, by Harvard.
16. Best corporate decision-maker-targeted campaign. ‘Zeronomics: Financing the transition to a net-zero world’ for Standard Chartered, by Man Bites Dog.
17. Best employee engagement programme. ‘Learn for your life’ by Stein IAS.
18. Best international campaign. ‘The profit hunter: A force with nature’ for Embraer, by Gravity Global.
19. Best use of account-based marketing (ABM). ‘A vision for Royal Mail’s digitised postal service’ for Vodafone, by Differentiated.
20. Best brand initiative. ‘Catching Feels’ for PERGRAPHICA, by True.
21. Best product launch campaign. ‘Bring it on’ by Gravity Global.
22. Best lead generation or nurturing campaign. ‘Demand generation engine’ for KPMG, by twogether.
23. Best customer engagement initiative. ‘#Bossit2021 challenge’ by Sage.
24. B2B marketing team of the year. Access Group.
25. B2B marketer of the year. Isabelle Duarte, EMEA CMO/SVP marketing, Okta.
26. PR agency of the year. Brands2Life.
27. B2B marketing communications agency of the year. Digital Radish.
28. Grand Prix. ‘#Bossit2021 challenge’ by Sage.

To find out more about the Bronze, Silver and Gold winning campaigns, check out our snapshot report here. 

Want to find out how you can fill the big shoes of the giants of B2B? Access the full case studies on Propolis to learn specific details about award-winning campaigns including budget, objectives, techniques and client testimonials. It could be you on stage at next year’s B2B Marketing Awards!