Marketing Excellence Awards: "Better people. Better results."

Westwood Professional Services (Eden Prairie, MN), a 350-person professional services firm, is the first place winner in the Integrated Marketing category of Zweig Group’s 2015 Marketing Excellence Awards for its refreshed brand. Clients complained that Westwood’s message no longer clearly communicated their focus and value. Westwood’s branding – everything from their website to their logo – was dated and no longer represented the firm. New office locations lacked Westwood brand awareness. The Westwood team determined that it was necessary to completely refresh their dated brand, which meant updating all aspects of their corporate identity, inside and out, in order to attract ideal clients and recruit top talent. Their goals included wanting to clarify business, define their value proposition, and simplify the brand message. Their logo – created in 1992 – needed to be brought up to date without changing it drastically. They needed to simplify their design elements to make relevant information easier to understand and navigate. They needed to build a toolkit that would proactively support business development, and strengthen their brand to increase national and targeted brand awareness. Westwood kicked off this project February 2014 and launched on schedule, December 2014. The Westwood team accomplished their goals. The new brand provides clarity to what the firm does, defines their value proposition, and greatly simplifies the brand message. They refreshed their logo and implemented a minimalist design in all of their branding. The content-rich Projects and People sections on the new website make use of specific keywords, which should drive more qualified leads and potential hires to the site. Westwood invested in an enhanced monthly analytics-reporting program so that they can measure success and improve materials on a regular basis. Success is also measured by employee buy-in, informal feedback from job seekers, unsolicited feedback from clients, and launch analytics. For more info on the Marketing Excellence Awards click here. The 2016 Marketing Excellence Awards are open for registration! Click here to register your firm.