Every year, SMPS chapters and the national organization put out the call for the best, most strategic, and compelling examples of professional services marketing. As active members of one of the largest local chapters, SMPS Seattle, the Middle of Six team always look forward to sharing our work and being inspired at the SMPS Seattle Reign Awards. And 2024 was a big year for us, which included four Reign Awards and four SMPS Marketing Communications Awards at the national level! We are particularly proud to have been recognized with SMPS Seattle's People's Choice Award and SMPS National's Best in Show for our Wildcards campaign.
While it can feel daunting to add another task to your already full plate, preparing an award nomination is an impactful way to document your creative process and measure return on investment for marketing efforts. With the bonus of building team comradery and celebrating great collaborations, we recommend getting in the habit of sharing your best work and learning what similar firms are doing across the country.
Want a closer look at our award-winning marketing efforts? Check out creative briefs from three recent projects:
Schuchart | Dick’s Drive-in
Awards:
SMPS Marketing Communications Award of Excellence: Project Pursuit Marketing - Print
SMPS Seattle, Reign Award: Outstanding Marketing Collateral
Creative Brief: A Winning Proposal (and a Side of Fries)
Picture this: You’ve been successfully building the Seattle region’s iconic Dick’s Drive-In Restaurants (as seen in Vice’s MUNCHIES video series and Macklemore’s music video for “White Walls”) for 11 years, enjoying direct award contracts, and counting on the next new location as the chain expands, only to learn that a competitor GC has snuck in offering a lower price. The owner informs you that you’ll need to submit a proposal against three other contractors to win the new project. With your construction crew ready to transition to their next project — which they’d all thought would be the next Dick’s Drive-In—you’re in a must-win scenario.
This is the position our client, Schuchart Corporation, was in and the Middle of Six team knew we needed to create a memorable proposal that solidified Schuchart’s team as the contractor of choice to build the next restaurant. Our design approach was inspired by the iconic 1950’s style design aesthetic of the restaurant’s branding coupled with catchy, humorous copy that would make Schuchart’s proposal stand out from the pack and reinforce their commitment and long-term relationship with Dick’s Drive-In.
Our market research included reviewing the Dick’s Drive-In Restaurant website for branding and design inspiration, and articles from local publications including the Seattle Times and The Stranger. We conducted interviews with Schuchart Construction staff who have relationships with the client and architect, including the president, division manager, superintendent, business development manager, and project engineer to understand the client’s goals and Schuchart’s history building for the client. Our team drew inspiration from the iconic placemats that line every tray used at the drive-in and from the playful voice of the Dick’s Drive-In brand.
The result was a win! Schuchart Corporation was awarded the new restaurant and their crews moved to the next job as originally planned. Both the client and architect commented on how much they loved the proposal.
Magnusson Klemencic Associates | New Website
Awards:
SMPS Marketing Communications Award of Excellence: Website - External
SMPS Seattle, Reign Award: Best Website
Creative Brief: A World-Class Website for a World-Class Engineering Firm
Featuring innovative design, immersive storytelling, and striking visuals, Magnusson Klemencic Associates’ (MKA) new website showcases the firm’s digital identity in a manner befitting MKA’s substantial influence and legacy.
Evolving from an outdated, unresponsive, single page web layout, the new MKA website was conceptualized, designed, and developed from the ground up. With a massive portfolio of prominent work, over 100 employees, and a reach of services that span the entire globe, the new MKA website needed to connect with a broad selection of target audiences, offer a dynamic yet intuitive user experience, and accurately reflect the professionalism, existing brand identity, and trailblazing, innovative culture of the firm.
MKA’s new website represents a drastic modernization of the firm’s value proposition and digital identity. Fully responsive and seamlessly integrated with Deltek and OpenAsset, the site showcases the people, culture, and legacy of MKA while highlighting the firm’s key market experience in the United States and beyond. The site’s project portfolio features in-depth project pages, complete with imagery, descriptions, key statistics, and bespoke project highlights and case studies. High resolution photography and video elements are highlighted throughout, showcasing MKA’s award-winning work from striking perspectives, including aerial drone and time-lapse. Rich in content, research, news, as well as an immersive firm history and timeline, the site remains approachable and user friendly for website visitors of all engagement levels.
"Throughout the project, the team at Middle of Six evaluated our brand strengths and honed-in on essential elements to leverage in our website’s content, flow, and visual storytelling from an AEC perspective. Middle of Six hit the mark providing MKA with a new website celebrating our 100+ year legacy, while highlighting how at our company’s core, we are always striving for the next frontier." - Kristine Svehla-Brown, Senior Graphic Designer
Middle of Six “Wildcards” | Promotional & Brand Awareness Campaigns
Awards:
SMPS Marketing Communications Award of Excellence: Best in Show
SMPS Marketing Communications Award of Excellence: Brand Awareness Campaign – Mixed Media
SMPS Seattle, Reign Award: People’s Choice Award
SMPS Seattle, Reign Award: WMBE Award
Creative Brief: Soothing Proposal Heartburn with Humor
What marketer hasn’t spent time around the watercooler commiserating about a colleague who wrote a novel’s worth of content for a half-page of space in a proposal? Or the outlaw staffer who ducks out of every interview rehearsal only to reappear day-of — overly confident in their ability to ‘wing it’? We’ve all worked with folks that unknowingly make the process of procurement a wild ride to the finish line. Through The Wildcards creative campaign, Middle of Six landed on an outlet for some well-earned belly laughs and collective empathy.
In this multi-pronged, mixed-media campaign that straddles the real world and online realm, we embarked on a mission to set The Wildcards free. Through irreverent illustrations and on-the-nose descriptions, we developed a mix of print media and online content — all carefully timed to enter the market after a period of ‘Coming Soon’ build-up. As our metrics show, the response and return on investment far exceeded our expectations.
These little AEC industry darlings live forever on our website and appear on coasters now settled in conference rooms across the country — sure to help break the tension and maybe just maybe address the behaviors we playfully shine a light on. And in that we accomplished exactly what we set out to do: raise Middle of Six’s brand awareness, call out behaviors that can disrupt efforts to win the shortlist, and do so with humor and an acknowledgment that under a deadline, we’re all a little wild.
I just received what is now my most prized office possession… THANK YOU! The Wildcards marketing piece is SO CLEVER! I love it. It’s humor like this that makes the marketing world go ‘round, especially when it comes to proposals. What a fantastic way to turn seemingly stressful situations into hilarious, relatable fun. - Alicia Aravena, Marketing Manager, Barghausen Consulting Engineers, Inc.
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