Pittsburgh, PA -- April 7, 2005 - Just as Clark Kent would use a phone booth to go
from an ordinary mortal to a superhero, marketers across the country are turning to
the Internet to achieve heroic results for their companies.
By using online marketing tools to work smarter, these marketers have been featured
in a monthly newsletter published by Elliance, a Pittsburgh-based eMarketing firm.
Elliance recently received a bronze award from the 2005 Horizon Interactive Awards
for this marketing hero campaign. This international competition was started four
years ago to recognize excellence in interactive media production among multi-media
developers worldwide.
In the email advertising category, Elliance was recognized for the monthly Marketing
Heroes newsletter they created for their ennect brand of online marketing tools. This
free eNewsletter was started six months ago as a way to provide clients with
practical ways they can incorporate eMarketing into their overall marketing efforts.
Each newsletter showcases ordinary marketing professionals who have found extraordinary
success with ennect tools, plus tips and trends to help a company get the most out of
their online marketing efforts.
"So many of our clients were using innovative and creative ways to reach their customers
via our ennect tools," explains Abu Noaman, CEO of Elliance. "We decided to pick one
client every month and explain how our tools helped this person's marketing efforts
because others can then learn from that hero's experience."
Clients from the Pittsburgh area who have been featured as a marketing hero include
Chris Anderson, director of marketing for Tele-Tracking Technologies, Inc and Marilyn
Kail, assistant vice president of marketing communications for Carnegie Mellon University.
Noaman laughs when asked why the company uses the word hero when referring to these
interviews. "It started as a bit of an internal joke and just stuck. When someone
would come up with a great idea, we'd often say, "you're my hero!" We thought it would
be a fun way to honor our clients."
After the newsletter was established, the company created The Marketing Hero's Handbook,
which is filled with ideas to help an organization increase sales, build relationships
and create buzz. Excerpts from this booklet are being printed in the first three issues
of this year's Dynamic Business Magazine.
The company has distributed this booklet at workshops they've presented throughout the
country. Most recently, Elliance has given presentations for the Pennsylvania Small
Manufacturing Council (SMC), the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and the Academy of Medicine.
"While we joke about becoming a hero, we realize every industry has specific nuances
that are forcing them to find ways to work more efficiently," adds Noaman. "For small
to medium sized businesses, this is actually very serious. Used properly, technology can
help move a business to the next level."
The idea for the ennect brand came from Elliance's work with major corporations. Cisco
Systems, Maps.com, Mellon Financial Corporation, WaterPik and Reader's Digest have turned
to Elliance for web solutions. Elliance itself has less than 20 employees, which provides
first-hand insights into the needs of other small companies.
"A small or medium sized company is just as concerned with the return on investment and
metrics as a large company is, even if they might not be able to afford custom software,
says Noaman. "We created a scaled-down version of what works for large corporations at
an affordable price for smaller firms."
Noaman believes this award validates the importance of online marketing.
"It tells us that our hunch was right on target," adds the CEO.
The 2005 Horizon Interactive Awards received hundreds of entries from 15 countries including:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia,
Slovakia, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom and nearly all 50 US states. A panel of
judges, who consisted of various industry professionals with diverse backgrounds, evaluated
11 different categories. The 2005 award winning entries showcase the best developed web sites,
cd-roms, dvds, audio, video, kiosks, video games and other interactive media.
"We are continually amazed at the creativity and imagination of the designers and developers
who enter the competition. The winners in the 2005 competition demonstrated an effective blend
between technical excellence and artistic style on a new level," said Mike Sauce, president of
the Horizon Interactive Awards. "The winners this year have utilized the electronic mediums
with real purpose and style, many times pushing the envelope for innovative solutions that
deliver real value to their clients and end-users.
The marketing heroes newsletter can be seen at www.ennect.com
For details on all of the winners of the 2005 Horizon Interactive Awards, visit www.horizoninteractiveawards.com.