Awards for Communications Excellence Winners Named

Today, the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives announced 13 winners of its Communications Excellence awards program. 

ACCE’s Awards for Communications Excellence program, generously supported by Meta, is designed to showcase the top communications and marketing work of chambers of commerce and similar organizations. Several thousand award entries have been submitted since the competition's launch, which is now in its 37th year. These entries highlight some of the freshest and most innovative marketing and communications work coming from ACCE member organizations of all types and sizes.

“Chambers of commerce create community impact, more so now than ever before,” said ACCE President & CEO Sheree Anne Kelly. “Chambers are natural conveners, telling stories that inspire and spur action. That creativity in communications, paired with catalytic leadership within their region, is what earned them this well-deserved recognition.”

ACCE extends its gratitude to the 10 judges—marketing and communications leaders from chambers of commerce in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia—who carefully reviewed all the submissions. 

Entries were organized by category — based on the chamber’s annual revenue — and entry type: campaigns, digital content, websites and print and electronic publications. 

Three of these 13 winning entries will be revealed as Best in Show within their total annual revenue category at ACCE's annual convention in Indy during the July 27 Awards Show.

Award of Excellence Winners

CATEGORY 1

Campaigns
Shop Near Home for the Holidays Campaign | Chamber of Commerce of Sandusky County

Shop Near Home for the Holidays encouraged the Sandusky County, Ohio, community and visitors to shop local during the holiday season. Shoppers gained access to discounts at participating businesses by scanning codes online, in-store or on paper. Participating businesses also enjoyed brand awareness with links to their websites and social sites for future shopping. The campaign had over 2,700 QR code scans and over 87,000 impressions on the chamber's social sites.

Digital Content
Why Join a Chamber? Video | Zionsville Chamber of Commerce

The "Why Join A Chamber" video, posted on social media and emailed to the Zionsville Chamber's general membership and prospects, serves as a recruitment and retention tool to help people better understand the organization. The chamber's social media reach went from 250,000 in 2019 to over 2.8 million by the end of 2021. According to the chamber, "We know that our use of video and our social media reach plays an important role in our community as an economic engine. Our chamber is small (500 members [and no dedicated communications department!]) but our social media reach makes us mighty! Videos like this allow us to quickly explain our impact, 24/7, to audiences in our region, bringing visibility to our membership through the platforms we utilize." 

Websites
www.madechamber.org | Mason Deerfield Chamber

The Mason Deerfield Chamber did not feel that its old website reflected its advocacy for a winning business community through unrivaled experiences. According to the chamber, the old website was hard to navigate, not mobile responsive and did not provide members or the community with the resources they needed. They spent considerable time researching other websites. Through this research, a common point of emphasis was a clean website with a lot of white space, the ability to be used on mobile and a navigation bar that actually spoke to what a visitor to the site was looking for. In the redesign, working with GrowthZone, every page of the old website was scratched. "Adding another non-dues revenue stream was a goal of the new website and it is exciting to see that already come to fruition in terms of dollars. Another goal was creating an ease of navigation and telling our story better. Both of these have been achieved in the redesign and I believe this has helped the chamber have the largest amount of members join in Q1 of 2022 in the past five years - and the quarter isn't even over. Plus, it's fully mobile responsive!"

Print & Electronic Publications
“Beyond the Line” Community Directory | Texarkana USA Regional Chamber of Commerce

The “Beyond the Line” print publication is a marketing piece for relocating families, longtime residents, tourists, business decision-makers and economic development professionals. It features articles written about famous Texarkanians, the area's economic development, their regional healthcare hub, education excellence and general chamber information. Published twice a year (5,000 copies printed for each issue), the magazines are distributed throughout the community, surrounding states and the nation. The chamber describes the “Beyond the Line” magazine as "taking a deeper dive into our region than most directories. It’s more than just the 'eat, stay, play,' structure used by the majority of community guides. It gives the reader a true glimpse into what makes our town great."

CATEGORY 2

Campaigns
Hello! South Shore – Get Out & Explore Campaign | South Shore Chamber of Commerce

Without much prior involvement or focus in the travel and tourism industry, the South Shore Chamber stretched outside of its comfort zone and applied for a state pilot grant to promote regional recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19. The goal was to help local businesses increase their volume of business during the summer and expand their long-term market regionally. The Hello! South Shore project encouraged 600,000+ residents to think of “local” as more than their own neighborhood or town and promote broader exploration. This one-of-a-kind marketing campaign spotlighted discovery excursions across 25 cities and towns the chamber represents. To encourage all South Shore residents to get out and explore, two versions of excursions were curated outlined, and downloadable for ease of reference. The chamber highlighted over 120 places of interest and developed an online database of 450+ attractions. The chamber's team achieved several “firsts” with this effort, including the first grant received by the chamber from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, the first time the chamber launched a multi-media travel and tourism concept campaign (in less than 6 weeks, too) and first chamber project where they reached nearly one million impressions in just 13 weeks.

Digital Content
Wichita Kansas Turnpike Authority Video | Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce

The video premiered at the Wichita Chamber’s annual Honors Night last summer and spotlighted the evening's honoree, the Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA). This video was produced to tell the story of the KTA, showcase why it was selected and elevate the attendee experience of the event. The videos are meant to have longevity of use for both the business being honored and the Wichita Chamber. According to the chamber, "We can’t emphasize enough how strong partnerships led to the success of the process and in turn, the final video. Videos like this don’t get produced without effective communication, trust, openness and willingness to take risks and challenge the status quo. The safe approach would have been a table talk. We took a risk and honestly had no idea how it would turn out but had confidence in each other. We’re proud to have this video as an example of our effectiveness in connecting with companies and facilitating strong, mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships." 

Websites
www.bgchamber.com | Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce

The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce moved into a new age of technology with a faster, smarter and more user-friendly platform when they launched a new website in December 2021. Though Accrisoft’s website software was utilized, the design was done in-house by the chamber's marketing team. The goal was to create a website that is eye-catching and modern, while also increasing functionality such as mobile responsiveness thus making it easier to join and manage user accounts online. According to the chamber, "This project has greatly impacted our chamber as it has increased the unsolicited partnership joins online by 27% this year. We now have an easy-to-use sales tool at our disposal that has not only helped us but has also helped the community. The monthly site visitors have increased, and we are seeing greater usage of partner benefits and attendance at networking events."

Print & Electronic Publications
2020-2021 Annual Report | Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

The Nashville Area Chamber published the 2020-2021 Annual Report to "reflect its purpose with creating economic prosperity by facilitating community leadership." The report was distributed digitally via QR code at the Annual Celebration meeting for members, the chamber's Monday Morning Report weekly e-newsletter, email campaign, social media and 500 printed copies for future members and investors. The goal was to present to existing and future members the chamber's success in meeting the previous year's goals and initiatives.

CATEGORY 3

Campaigns
Remember Your Favorites Campaign | OneSpartanburg, Inc.

The Remember Your Favorites campaign incentivized residents to dine at local restaurants to combat a lack of tourism revenue stemming from COVID-19, particularly a loss in business from visiting groups, meeting and conference attendees. The effort featured a restaurant pass rewarding passholders with prizes for checking into three, six or 10 participating restaurants during the duration of the campaign, April - June 2021. The campaign featured digital and print advertising to drive users to the pass download link, including graphics and videos created by the OneSpartanburg, Inc. team. It was featured in print editions of local publications, and the chamber's team created a text and email strategy for the public at large and passholders based on check-in totals and prize redemptions. The restaurant pass proved successful, having been downloaded 1,003 times and utilized for 615 unique restaurant visits.

Kentucky Tornado Relief Campaign | Kentucky Chamber 

Areas of Kentucky were devastated by tornadoes and storms on December 11, 2021. The chamber's communications team worked quickly to develop all necessary elements and deploy the campaign. Within 24 hours, the Kentucky Chamber launched a page on its website pointing to resources including what was needed in the community, how to volunteer, where donations should be sent and more critical information on relief, recovery and assistance. In the days that followed, the Kentucky Chamber and a renowned sports radio talk show partnered to create the Kentucky Sports Radio Tornado Relief Fund to collect funds for those impacted through the Kentucky Chamber Foundation. As a result of the campaign, more than $1.5 million has been raised from over 7,000 individuals and businesses. As mentioned in their application, "Our team has never built or run a campaign around a natural disaster and we quickly became one of the leading voices in recovery and rebuilding efforts. And the money raised in the relief fund from around the world highlights the trust in our brand."

Digital Content
Faces of Small Businesses Video Series | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce

The Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber launched a video series entitled the “Faces of Small Businesses.” Each video is approximately a minute long and tells the story behind why an owner launched a business, what it means to them, what they do and why it matters. The videos are produced in-house in a documentary style. The video series is distributed through the chamber's YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn pages, and through email via Mail Chimp. It’s become a driver of business as well as content for members' websites, social media and other marketing efforts. In addition, it gives the chamber a way to upsell businesses to the Premium Member Level. The video content is also utilized for other chamber content purposes such as its video annual report. Each interview also includes questions on why they decided to become members of the chamber, which is used for testimonials throughout the year on the chamber's website and other content platforms.

Websites
www.greaterreading.org Redesign | Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA)

GRCA redesigned its website that more clearly outlined the mission and vision of the organization. As an entity that combines both economic development and traditional chamber activities, it was important to them to create a website that better highlighted their work. The new site, which features a 36% decrease in the number of pages, includes a stepped-member application form, an extensive event calendar that can be filtered by event type and a more robust overview of the economic, workforce and real estate development tools and programs GRCA offers. The site welcomed 14% more new users and hosted nearly 12% more sessions from the time it launched in August 2021, through the end of the year, compared to the same time in 2020. The site also saw a 15% increase in pageviews. This increase in traffic was all obtained organically. All new traffic was driven to the site through GRCA's social media channels and email database. The GRCA communications and marketing team enlisted chamber member, Launch DM, for help with the design and original build of the website.

Print & Electronic Publications
Energy Transition Strategy | Greater Houston Partnership

The economic vitality and growth of Houston’s economy are inextricably tied to the energy industry, and the Greater Houston Partnership recognizes that the industry is changing rapidly. In June 2021, the Partnership released this bold strategy for how Houston can leverage its energy leadership to accelerate global solutions for a low-carbon future. The publication, distributed exclusively digitally, was released during the inaugural Future of Global Energy Conference which also served as the launch of the organization’s Houston Energy Transition Initiative. The organization uses it in collaborative meetings with leading industry experts, various forms of digital communication and in other ways to help establish the case for Houston to act decisively in this critical arena. The publication and its findings and recommendations have been referenced in more than a dozen individual media stories, including publications such as the Houston Business Journal, Houston Chronicle, Marketwatch, Financial Times, Bloomberg and others. The strategy document and its companion web pages have received more than 7,000 views since its release in late June 2021.