B2 Awards Categories                       Start Your Entry Now

Please Note: Much of the work you are considering submitting may fit into multiple categories. When preparing entries, please review all the categories to find the ones that best apply to your campaign.

General Awards

A.I./Emerging Technologies

Showcase how you generated growth and drove results via the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, voice recognition, machine learning, and more. Demonstrate how the emerging technology drove the growth of a brand, enterprise, product, or service.

Account-Based Marketing

Exceptional use of ABM strategies that leverage technology, personalization, and sales alignment to engage high-value prospects or customers, delivering measurable ROI and business growth.

B2B Marketplace Marketing NEW

Recognition of innovative marketing strategies that successfully promote and elevate B2B online cloud-based marketplaces. This may include initiatives that effectively engage target audiences, drive user acquisition, and enhance overall marketplace visibility. Nominees should showcase their creative approaches, strategic execution, and measurable outcomes, demonstrating how their marketing efforts have contributed to the marketplace’s growth, customer satisfaction, and industry impact.

Brand Purpose

Best use of brand purpose to drive an exceptionally positive impact on the market position of a brand, product, or service. This category recognizes excellence in B2B inclusive and sustainability campaigns that demonstrate innovative strategies and measurable impact for how a company’s commitment to inclusivity, sustainability, social, ethical, and/or ecological actions grew the business. 

Business to Government/Business to Public Sector Marketing NEW

This award recognizes outstanding marketing initiatives that effectively engage in marketing and selling products or services to public sector entities. Examples of public sector entities include public schools, police departments, healthcare systems, regulatory agencies, and federal, state, and local government entities. Eligible campaigns should demonstrate innovative strategies for reaching these clients, showcasing a deep understanding of their unique needs and procurement processes. Successful entries will highlight collaboration, compliance, and creativity in navigating the complexities of business-to-government (B2G) and other public sector marketing.

Channel Partner/Ecosystem Program

Channel Marketing campaigns  that effectively engage and motivate ecosystem partners (alliance partners, agents, channel partners, distributors, wholesale buyers) to drive sales and brand awareness. Nominees will showcase innovative strategies that leverage various channels to build strong relationships, enhance partner performance to drive demand, and create meaningful customer experiences. Winning campaigns will demonstrate creativity in the execution of programs that support channel partners with the training, tools, and resources they need to positively affect sales, drive revenue, measurable impact on partner engagement, and a clear alignment with overall business goals. This award recognizes the importance of collaboration and strategic marketing in achieving mutual success in a competitive landscape.

Content Marketing

Branded content programs deployed across a wide variety of media channels.Branded content programs deployed across a wide variety of media channels that heighten creativity in B2B marketing campaigns.

Corporate Branding Campaign

Organizations, teams, or brands that put brand positioning at the center of a comprehensive campaign to drive business growth and elevate its branding. U.S. and global efforts are eligible. Communications and PR strategies that included the creation of strategic messaging playbooks that demonstrate a brand's key value proposition, competitive differentiation, and creative storytelling are a fit for this category.

Corporate Identity Program

Organizations that put design at the center of their business messaging to stand out from the competition and drive business growth. Work in this category may include brand standards/guidelines, corporate logos, and corporate taglines.

Corporate or Brand Website

Exceptional work in creating and executing corporate or brand websites that drive results. May include a microsite or landing page designed to support your marketing or advertising campaign.

Customer Experience

How did your brand transform to become more customer-centric? Tell us how you changed your approach, offered a more seamless experience, and reached key metrics that made a clear impact on your business by leveraging customer insights and data. From cross-selling to upselling, do you have CRM case studies that showed how you retained customers, increased revenue growth, and helped reduce churn?

Data and Analytics Innovation NEW

Exceptional use of B2B data and analytics in an innovative way to drive significant business results through Account Based Marketing, or strategies to collect and use first-party data strategies, or third-party data strategies and execution.

Demand Generation: Small or Medium Business

Programs designed to generate awareness and attract new people to your business, or drive growth among existing customers, targeting brands/enterprises with less than 999 employees.

Demand Generation: Large Enterprise

Programs designed to generate awareness and attract new people to your business, or drive growth among existing customers, targeting brands/enterprises with more than 1,000 employees.

Digital Marketing Tools and Programs

Exceptional use of digital tools to offer the best possible user experience.

Digital Transformation

Organizations, teams, or brands that successfully transitioned in a more digital direction and improved marketing performance as a result.

Direct Mail, Flat or Dimensional

Targeted communications, delivered by a physical delivery service, that used creativity and data strategy to deliver measurable results.

Email

Submit campaigns or programs that spotlight how you amplified business, met objectives, or grew revenue via outstanding email marketing initiatives that optimized the use of customer data, marketing strategy, or creativity to boost response. Include approaches such as automated journeys like lead nurture and content-marketing, or targeted/segmented sends.

Employer Branding

Communication initiatives that engage and inform employees, fostering collaboration, innovation, better understanding of brand values, and positive work cultures. This can include programs that drive positive results for talent recruitment, retention, and development.

Event Marketing Campaign

The B2B Event Marketing Award recognizes innovative and impactful strategies that elevate brand visibility and engagement through event marketing, including sponsorships and strategic partnerships. This award celebrates events that create meaningful connections between brands and their target audiences, driving lead generation and enhancing overall event experiences. Nominees will be evaluated on creativity, measurable results, and the ability to forge experiences that contribute to both brand and event success.

Field Marketing NEW

Recognizes B2B field marketing strategies that drive engagement and measurable results though innovative campaigns that effectively connect with target audiences, enhance brand visibility, and generate leads through localized efforts. Demonstrate creativity, strategic planning, and successful execution of field marketing initiatives, showcasing efforts that have positively impacted their organization’s growth and customer relationships.

Industry Sector Spotlight Award: Business and Professional Services

This category puts the spotlight on B2B companies delivering Business and Professional Services. The award celebrates organizations that demonstrate exceptional innovation, quality, and impact in providing services to other businesses. It recognizes companies that have significantly contributed to the growth and efficiency of their clients through strategic insights, tailored solutions, and outstanding customer service. Nominees in this category will showcase their ability to navigate complex challenges, leverage cutting-edge technologies, and foster collaborative partnerships that drive success.

Industry Sector Spotlight Award: Banking and Financial Services NEW

This category represents marketing efforts for Banking and Financial Services, that have creatively leveraged digital platforms, data analytics, and customer insights to enhance brand visibility, build trust, and foster customer loyalty. In an industry fraught with compliance, regulation, and high security standards, show us how you’ve effectively addressed a campaign with creativity, strategic insight, and measurable impact in promoting financial products or services.

Industry Sector Spotlight Award: Insurance NEW

This category recognizes exceptional marketing initiatives that have effectively engaged B2B customers and driven growth within the insurance industry. This award celebrates organizations that have creatively utilized innovative strategies, digital channels, and customer insights to enhance brand awareness and trust. Submissions should demonstrate measurable results, such as increased policy sales, customer engagement, and market penetration, while reflecting a deep understanding of evolving consumer needs and industry trends.

Industry Sector Spotlight Award: Technology NEW

The Excellence in Technology Marketing Campaign Award honors outstanding marketing efforts that have successfully captured audience attention and driven growth in the technology sector. This award recognizes organizations that have harnessed innovative strategies, cutting-edge digital tools, and data-driven insights to enhance brand visibility and engage customers. Submissions should highlight measurable outcomes, such as increased user adoption, engagement rates, and market share, while demonstrating a strong alignment with current industry trends and demands.

Influencer Marketing 

Influencer marketing reflects the rapid rise of this strategy and tactics within B2B. Did you leverage a global celebrity or a local expert in your industry in 2024? If your program or campaign utilized a group or individual who had special credibility with your audience and that advocacy led to boost your business objectives and/or sales results, this is the category for you.

Integrated Marketing Program: Small to Midsize Business

Small to midsize businesses with up to 999 employees that delivered a coordinated message to a target market and produced a powerful synergistic effect while achieving and/or exceeding objectives and goals.

Integrated Marketing Program: Large Enterprise

Businesses with more than 1,000 employees that delivered a coordinated message to a target market and produced a powerful synergistic effect while achieving and/or exceeding objectives and goals.

International B2B Marketing Campaign

Whether your marketing effort was focused on a single geographic region or global in scope, this is the category to have your international efforts celebrated. Submissions will need to share insights into the diverse geographic audience profiles, marketplace conditions, competitive landscapes, etc. To enter this category, your marketing effort/campaign must have run in at least two countries worldwide in calendar year 2023.

Lead Generation: Small to Midsize Business

Campaigns designed to attract and capture qualified leads, targeting brands/enterprises with less than 999 employees.

Lead Generation: Large Enterprise

Campaigns designed to attract and capture qualified leads, targeting brands/enterprises with more than 1,000 employees.

Media Strategy

Campaign plans that include any mix of relevant media including digital, search optimization, pay-per-click, cross-device measurement, print, TV, radio, or out-of-home to reach the right audience at the right time with the right message and generate a desired response within a designated budget.

Multi-Year Impact 

This award will represent B2B champions of sustained growth — those companies that have experienced three or more years of positive results with their B2B communications efforts.

Submissions need to represent efforts that ran in the market between 2021 and 2024, and may have maintained select core elements like theme, spokesperson, and/or tagline, but ultimately achieved positive impact each year.

A sample form is provided so you can prepare all the needed information for this category:
Multi-Year Impact Award Sample Submission Form Word Doc
Multi-Year Impact Award Sample Submission Form PDF

Out-of-Home Advertising

Best use of advertising that is seen or heard outside of the home. This may include a creative market take-over to increase brand exposure.

Podcast

Any recorded talk episode or series made available in digital audio format for on-demand listening.

Product Launch or Relaunch

Strategic marketing programs that introduced or repositioned a B2B product and/or service in the market.

Proprietary Company Event (Single/Series)

Virtual, in-person, or hybrid events that drive customer or employee engagement to a brand and strengthens relationships.

Regional Spotlight Award: United Kingdom

This specialty category will celebrate the United Kingdom's best. Any business or agency based in the countries of the United Kingdom is invited to enter their most impactive, results driven B2B marketing.

ROI/Growth

Top marketing initiatives that produced exceptional bottom-line financial returns or extraordinary business results.

Sales Enablement Program

Marketing initiatives designed to assist and/or empower sales teams to be more successful in their selling efforts to potential buyers and/or retention of existing customers. Tactics could include data, brochure capabilities, product, equipment or parts catalog, technical bulletins, or product/service demo (online/video/presentation).

Social Media

Best use of social media in marketing strategies and campaigns to achieve marketing objectives.

Thought Leadership

Content marketing strategies and/or tactics that specifically leverage the talent, experience, and opinions of industry leaders or insight as a result of extensive research in a specific area of study.

Trade Show or Conference

Demonstrate how a specific event (e.g., trade show, corporate event – either virtual, in-person, or hybrid) reached a large-scale target audience and was maximized for the brand’s benefit enabling alignment of key messaging as well as resulting in related coverage and tie-in to the event itself, enabling a successful customer or prospect experience, that met objectives and drove positive results.

Video Marketing

Marketing that drove measurable results through video content (individual video or campaign) that exceeded expectations and had clear objectives such as brand awareness, engagement, or lead generation.

Top Awards 

B2B Agency of the Year

Open to agencies of all sizes driving growth for B2B brands and enterprises that have demonstrated a sustained high level of excellence, a diverse portfolio of expertise, and the effective implementation of business marketing solutions and thought leadership in B2B marketing.

Submissions need to showcase a comprehensive collection of B2B marketing, including exceptional creative campaigns. At least three areas of expertise need to be showcased, and you will need to submit three case submissions in the B2 Awards General Categories.

A sample form is provided so you can prepare all the needed information for this category:
B2B Agency Sample Submission Form Word Doc
B2B Agency Sample Submission Form PDF

• Small Agency: Under $10 million annual revenue
• Midsize Agency: $10 – $25 million annual revenue
• Large Agency: Over $25 million annual revenue

 

B2B Rising Marketing Star Award NEW

Recognizes emerging client-side marketing leaders, early in their careers, demonstrating leadership and innovative thinking as part of the next generation of top B2B marketers. Candidates must be nominated by their senior leaders or CMOs.

A sample form is provided so you can prepare all the needed information for this category:
B2B Rising Star or Individual Marketer of the Year Sample Submission Form Word Doc
B2B Rising Star or Individual Marketer of the Year Sample Submission Form PDF

 

Individual Marketer of the Year

Nominate your client, your colleague, or even yourself! Open to individual client-side marketers working for brands of all sizes who are driving growth for their business while elevating B2B marketing. This award is intended for those who demonstrate excellence in marketing strategy, leadership in corporate culture and/or brand purpose, and thought leadership in their respective industry.

A sample form is provided so you can prepare all the needed information for this category:
B2B Rising Star or Individual Marketer of the Year Sample Submission Form Word Doc
B2B Rising Star or Individual Marketer of the Year Sample Submission Form PDF

 

B2 GEM^® Award 

Spotlighting the industry's change makers and influencers committed to the authentic, accurate portrayals of women and girls in their marketing efforts.

Gender inequality is the one inequality that is truly global in scope. Yet, we know that marketing and media can create impactful change by addressing how women and girls are portrayed in advertising and marketing content. Given this, the ANA’s SeeHer initiative, whose mission is to drive the accurate portrayal of women and girls in media, advertising, marketing, and entertainment, has created a unique opportunity for all B2 Awards applicants – The ANA B2 GEM^® Award.

The ANA B2 GEM^® Award will honor the top creative and impactful work that exemplifies the best in class accurate and authentic portrayal of women and/or girls in B2B campaigns.

 

Members' Choice: Best in Show Award

The top scoring entries from the General Categories are submitted to the Top Awards Jury, composed of active ANA client-side marketer corporate members at the highest levels, for consideration for the program’s top honor: Members’ Choice: Best in Show. The winner of all the winners will demonstrate exceptional insight and creativity, extraordinary business growth, and results. In this category, effectiveness is just the beginning.

Contenders for this award are determined and selected based on scores achieved in the main round of judging. This is not a category you can select at the time of entry.