CMI and ON24 Announce Annual Webinar and Virtual Communications Excellence Award Winners

SAN FRANCISCO, April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and ON24, the global market share leader in webinars and virtual communications, announced today the recipients of the annual ON24 Virtual Communication Excellence Awards.

"This is our fifth year to honor the most noteworthy ON24 Platform 10 webinars and virtual environments," explained ON24 CEO Sharat Sharan. "Our clients have recognized that virtual communication is a key to marketing and communications success in today's global economy. The award winners are organizations that define best practices for the industry."

The judging, conducted virtually, was led by Clare McDermott, editor of Chief Content Officer Magazine. Nominee evaluations were based on marketing performance, ROI, branding impact and achievement of business objectives, as well as overall quality.  "As we reviewed submissions, we sought out those nominees that took risks with new tactics, as well as those that truly demonstrated their programs added value," McDermott explained.

Seven Virtual Communication Excellence Awards are being given for 2013. The winners are:

• Marketing Performance
  SuccessFactors—"21^st Century Workforce" Webinar Series
  In just two years, SuccessFactors' average webinar attendance has jumped from an average of 30 registrants to more than 1,000. The result in 2013: 12,000 net new leads and a pipeline of $2.5 million. The key to success was replacing random, stand-alone webinars with a webinar series around topics of interest to the audience. SuccessFactors also simplified the registration process and increased the reach of promotions, including the use of social channels.

• Program ROI
  Act-On Software—"Five SEO Strategies Every Company Needs to Master" Webcast
  This webinar spoke to past and present trends in SEO and performed exceptionally well on two fronts. First, its content was carefully tailored to its audience, with talking points that resonated and had real depth. Secondly, it closed multiple deals, all within 90 days of the webinar. It ultimately yielded a positive ROI of more than 300%, demonstrating just how powerful webinars can be as revenue-drivers and educational tools.

• Best in Demand Generation
  IBM—"Rethink Your Customer" Briefing Center/Portal
  The "Rethink Your Customer" campaign is a ground-breaking new demand generation experience, a portal that utilizes ON24 technology to optimize user interaction and campaign design. The interactive platform yielded over 35,024 impressions and 94,216 page views in 2013, producing high-quality leads that have rapidly progressed through the pipeline and generated significant wins for the business.

• Innovation
  Iron Mountain—Virtual Open House and Facility Tour
  A 65% show rate and 29 new pipeline opportunities—these are just a few of the results of   the ground-breaking Iron Mountain Virtual Open House and Facility Tour, a first in the information management industry. Mimicking the same flow and experience as an in-person tour, guests were "greeted" by an on-screen host and tour guide. Customers and prospects were able to see first-hand, albeit virtually, what makes Iron Mountain "the best choice in the industry."

• Audience Engagement
  CA Technologies—ARCserve Webcast Series
  In the past a similar series was hosted, but with little success. Re-launching the series with a steady cadence for the content and promotion of the sessions resulted in huge success, with each session attracting hundreds of registrants and very engaged audiences asking dozens of live questions per session. The series reinvigorated the lead flow for the division while increasing its visibility, taking lukewarm to dormant leads and prospects and warming them to the point of ready-to-purchase.

• Best in Content Marketing
  SAP—"Best Run Business Intelligence & Analytics" Webcast Series
  In an effort to enable customers to engage with and consume content in a systematic approach aligned with their self-identified buyer's journey, an end-to-end program was designed, allowing one journey, one message, many touches and accurate measurement. At a time when SAP webcasts had been experiencing declining attendance and conversion rates, this comprehensive, integrated approach yielded $775,050 in pipeline and two closed sales totaling $300,050 in revenue. 

• Corporate Communications
  AstraZeneca—Diabetes University Virtual Environment
  To launch five new diabetes products, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb formed an alliance to provide 3,400 representatives, managers and headquarters personnel with ongoing education opportunities and communication. Their solution: Diabetes University, a virtual university campus capable of hosting thousands of documents, links and videos. It can accommodate up to 10,000 users with ease and offers iPad and webcasting capabilities for large broadcast communications.

Eligible events were webcasts and virtual environments completed during the 2013 calendar year and hosted through the ON24 platform.   McDermott said, "The entries this year reflected an increased focus on metrics, a clear sign organizations are becoming more sophisticated year-over-year in how they use these virtual tools. I was also impressed to see how a tactic like the webcast—which has been around for many years—is still evolving and improving in the hands of capable marketers."

"The winners illustrate the rich capabilities of virtual communication, setting ever-higher standards for results and impact with their virtual environments and webinars," Sharan added. "We appreciate the interest that has been shown in the awards program, and we thank everyone who sent in a nomination."

About the Content Marketing Institute

CMI teaches marketers how to own their media channels instead of having to rent them through advertising. We do this through events like Content Marketing World, media properties like Chief Content Officer magazine, and strategic consulting and research for some of the best known brands in the world.

About ON24

ON24 is the global leader in cloud-based solutions for webcasting and virtual communications.  ON24 offers a broad and innovative product portfolio accessible from any device and supported by industry-leading reporting and analytics. More than 1,000 organizations, including IBM, CA Technologies, Merck, JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte, Credit Suisse, Rosetta Stone, Ernst & Young and SAP, rely on ON24.  Applications for the ON24 platform include demand generation, customer engagement, talent development and town hall meetings. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices throughout the world. For more information, visit http://www.on24.com.

About the ON24 Network

The ON24 Network is the world's largest webinar network.  It leverages two redundant data centers and a network of global delivery partners to distribute massive amounts of information to millions of viewers.  With new registrants joining every 1.8 seconds, the ON24 Network's business audience is growing 30% each year.  Over the last five years, the ON24 Network delivered 106,000 live webinars to more than 30 million viewers who watched over 27 million hours of content. According to Frost & Sullivan, ON24 is the web events industry leader, with 28% market share.

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SOURCE ON24