Cinemark, Jersey Mike’s, Evernote, and Georgia Aquarium, amongst the 9 brands recognized for excellence in customer activation at Iterable’s signature conference.

Iterable, the powerful customer communication platform, announced the winners of the annual Expie Awards during the keynote address at its global customer experience conference, Activate Summit North America. This September 7-9, Activate Summit returned in-person to San Francisco for the first time in over three years. Iterable welcomed hundreds of the world’s most innovative marketers, representing over 500 brands, to participate in three full days of over 60 insights-rich workshops, roundtables, and sessions at the event.

Like Activate Summit, Iterable’s Expie Awards Program recognizes the brands and marketers that excel in delivering joyful experiences through individualized, harmonized, and dynamic communications around the world. With over 1000 customers from brands around the world, competition for recognition in the awards categories — from Marketing Dream Team of the Year to Best in Data Activation — was extremely high.

“The leading brands in this year’s Expie Awards are not only propelling their own businesses forward, but are charting a path for progress across the entire industry. Putting customers at the center of everything they do, Expie winners are setting a new standard for customer success and customer service,” shares Andrew Boni, CEO and co-founder of Iterable. “I’m exceptionally proud to call the 2022 Expie winners part of the Iterable community. These are the names that deliver joy to their customers; they will lead the charge for exceptional customer experience for years to come.”

The winners of each Expie Award customer category are, as follows:

Marketing Dream Team of the Year, Enterprise: Cinemark

Headquartered in Plano, TX, Cinemark is a leader in the motion picture exhibition industry with 521 theatres and 5,849 screens in the U.S. and Latin America. The marketing team at Cinemark was recognized as Marketing Dream Team of the Year, Enterprise by the Expie Awards for their work delivering engaging experiences for their customers on and off the screen.

“Our customers come to Cinemark to make big-screen memories, and we work hard to ensure that their entire customer journey is frictionless—from ticket purchase to the end credits,”  said Wanda Gierhart Fearing, Cinemark Chief Marketing and Content Officer. “Partnering with Iterable for our customer communication makes it easy to deliver valuable, relevant messages that are catered to the needs and preferences of each moviegoer. This attention to detail in our communication helps us build trust and loyalty with our audience, driving our business forward.”

Marketing Dream Team of the Year, SMB, WeTransfer

Founded in 2009 as the simplest way to send big files around the world, WeTransfer has since grown into an ecosystem of creative productivity tools. The company’s suite of tools is specifically designed for creative professionals, enabling collaboration, co-creation, and client management across their workflow process. WeTransfer is a certified B Corporation™ and donates 30% of its advertising real estate to artists and social causes. The WeTransfer team was awarded the Expie Award in the Marketing Dream Team of the Year, SMB category for their commitment to developing compelling and creative customer-first communications.

“Creativity is at the heart of everything we do at WeTransfer. We believe that, while not every idea will change the world, every world-changing idea has to start somewhere,” shared Darren Kunar, Director of Email at WeTransfer. “We support the creative process by taking care of our customers, and Iterable has been an instrumental partner in our customer-first communications. Our team is now able to deliver real-time lifecycle communication, and cater to the unique needs and preferences of our customers, enriching their relationship with WeTransfer. With Iterable, our team can spend less time managing customer data and communications, and more time doing what they do best: designing compelling and creative customer experiences.”

Most Valuable Marketer: Matthew Jung, Product Marketing Manager – Lifecycle, Clair

Matt Jung is a Product Marketing Manager, Lifecycle at Clair—a New York-based mission-driven digital banking app rewiring the way America’s workforce gets paid—in a manner that is instant, on-demand, and in their control. Matt was awarded the Expie Award for Most Valuable Marketer for his dedication and leadership. In his time at Clair, Matt has transformed the lifecycle marketing team; he has had a direct impact on his team’s efficiency, quality of work, and Clair’s growth.

“In just six short months, Matt has collaborated across every business unit to support our company growth goals. Thanks to his technical skills, cross-collaboration, and passion for all things Clair, we now work together more efficiently and cohesively,” shared Kira Walter, Director of Marketing at Clair. “Leveraging Iterable to help launch new products and build personalized experiences, Matt has helped our team deliver joyful experiences to customers that keep them coming back. Since he joined, our user base has multiplied tenfold! We have a bright future ahead with Matt at the helm of our lifecycle marketing.”

Best in Data Activation: Evernote

Evernote, an independent, privately-held global organization headquartered in Redwood City, California, was founded to address a growing problem that technology helped to create: how to succeed in a world where the volume and velocity of information are constantly increasing. The company launched the digital personal productivity movement, and has been growing ever since; today, more than 225 million people around the world have discovered Evernote. The Evernote team was awarded the Expie Award for Best in Data Activation for their work leveraging Iterable to collect, organize, and activate their data and deliver joyful and valuable experiences for their users.

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“Iterable’s platform, integrations, and fantastic customer support team have allowed us to deliver messages to our customers that contain the valuable information they need, exactly when they need it,” shared Sterling Bailey, Sr. Director of Marketing Infrastructure at Evernote. “What’s more, Iterable has allowed us to build a more meaningful relationship with our customers, making them feel a connection to Evernote—as more of a partner in their organizational process, rather than just another tool.”

Most Harmonized Customer Experience, Georgia Aquarium

Georgia Aquarium is a public aquarium and non-profit committed to inspiring awareness and preservation of our ocean and aquatic animals worldwide. By combining field research with the study of on-site animals in a controlled environment, the Aquarium is contributing to the advancement of human knowledge in the area of animal science. Georgia Aquarium has been recognized by the Expie Awards in the category Most Harmonized Customer Experience for their work designing engaging experiences that will develop long-term relationships with their visitors.

“Over 2.2 million visitors each year come to Georgia Aquarium to get inspired, educated, and immersed in our award-winning natural and artificial habitats. But while the experience at our Aquarium is filled with delight and wonder, the experience with our email and app was filled with friction and frustration,” shared Josh Cherfoli, Senior Director of Marketing and Digital Engagement at Georgia Aquarium. “We were missing an opportunity to truly connect with our guests and build relationships beyond ticket transactions and delivery. Leveraging Iterable, we tackled priority issues (delayed ticket delivery, inconsistent messaging, email design) and built a broader strategy for streamlined customer communications. Our investment in customer connection and harmonized experiences yielded a 238% increase in revenue. Importantly, this experience has given our team much-needed confidence in having a creative and flexible solution for future campaigns.”

Marketing Moment of the Year, Jersey Mike’s 

Jersey Mike’s Subs, a fast-casual sub sandwich franchise with more than 2,200 locations nationwide, believes that making a sub sandwich and making a difference can be one and the same.  Jersey Mike’s offers a Sub Above, serving authentic fresh sliced/fresh grilled subs on freshly baked bread—the same recipe it started with in 1956.“Giving…making a difference in someone’s life” has always been a guiding principle at Jersey Mike’s. A great example is Jersey Mike’s annual “Month of Giving” fundraising campaign, which has raised more than $67 million for hundreds of charities since 2011.

A big challenge for any fundraiser is to get the word out, generate interest, and galvanize support. Generating “buzz” around its giving campaign, and sustaining interest, requires in-the-moment messaging—Email, Push Notifications to the Mobile App, and SMS—and a personalized touch. To do just that, Jersey Mike’s partnered with Iterable to build specific, personalized, and localized campaigns to drive interest and engagement. The results of this year’s fundraising campaign demonstrates the value of effective messaging:  Jersey Mike’s franchisees, team members, and its customers raised a record-breaking $20 million for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games!

Most Inspiring Switch to Iterable, Secret Escapes

Secret Escapes is a members-only travel company selling discounted luxury hotel stays and trips through its website and mobile app. The luxury travel company thinks booking a holiday should be an exciting, enjoyable, and stress-free experience, which is why their team of travel experts hand-pick the best hotels and holidays and curate exclusive offers available only to our members. Secret Escapes has been awarded the Expie Award in the category of Most Inspiring Switch to Iterable for the immediate and meaningful impact the switch to Iterable has had on their business.

“As a brand in the travel and hospitality industry, we’re inundated with an extensive amount of first- and zero-party customer data, like location, language, and holiday preferences, which can help us design personalized experiences and create valuable communications for our customers. Despite all of this information, we were missing two crucial components of our customers’ profile—impressions and real-time search results—that would help our team optimize the customer experience. When we made the switch to Iterable, we not only solved these pain points, but accelerated our search results delivery and augmented our impressions data, which is now more scalable, powerful, and accurate than ever! Importantly, the switch has empowered our team with the tools and time they need to send hyper-personalized messaging and build the 1-to-1 experiences with our customers that they deserve.”

The winners of the two partner categories are, as follows:

Iterable Expie Awards: Technology Partner of the Year

mParticle makes it easy to holistically manage customer data along the entire product and customer lifecycle. The mParticle team was awarded the Expie Award for Technology Partner of the Year for their work delivering joint customer value with Iterable.

“Over the last year, we’ve had the opportunity to collaborate closely with Iterable on events, content, customer dinners, and more. The opportunity to get “in front” of Iterable customers has had a positive impact on the business and helped to drive revenue for mParticle,” shared Micahel Katz, CEO of mParticle. “Suffice it to say, the referral street goes both ways, and we’ve been able to refer some incredible customers to Iterable as well. Importantly, by working together, we can provide joint customers the ability to harness the full power of their customer data to create incredible customer experiences.”

Iterable Expie Awards: Agency Partner of the Year

Shaw/Scott a boutique agency and consultancy that empowers B2C brands to elevate their retention and loyalty. They are owned-channel experts, providing clients with a full suite of services in email and digital marketing, from creative and strategy to development, analytics, and tech stack implementation. They’re a women/LGBT founded company designed for the modern world where diversity, flexibility, partnership, and innovation thrive. Shaw/Scott are recognized by the Expies as Agency Partner of the Year for success in collaborating with Iterable to provide clients top-notch customer engagement capabilities.

“We’ve worked closely with Iterable for many years to support our joint clients with the technical and professional support they need to evolve and execute improved retention and growth marketing strategies,” said Melissa Shaw, CEO of Shaw/Scott. Together, we’re unstoppable; our partnership drives incredible value for clients who are looking for a partner to help them create, implement, and deploy top-notch customer communications. Bringing highly impactful strategies and flawless execution to our clients, Iterable has been a critical partner in increasing our retention rate. We’re a dream team with a track record of success and extraordinary potential moving forward.”

The companies mentioned above join the ranks of previous Expie winners who continue to put customers at the center of everything they do. They set a high bar for marketers around the world.

Iterable’s annual conference, Activate Summit North America, is an opportunity to celebrate all Iterable customers, and the company will be hosting its next Activate Summit, on April 17-19 in San Francisco – More details are to be announced in the coming months.

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