Celebrate Marketing Innovation

Enter the 2025 Marketing Excellence Award 

Started in 2018, The Marketing Excellence Awards recognize outstanding and effective AEC industry marketing based on overall creativity, messaging, results achieved, and level of design. To enter the award, firms are asked to gather resources and data surrounding their project and submit them for review by a judging panel of external senior AEC marketing professionals.  

Marketing that Gets Results 

There’s a clear link between marketing investment and firm success. Firms that invest in marketing, like Marketing Excellence Award winners do, experience significantly higher growth rates (56 percent according to Zweig Group data) compared to the industry average of 25 percent. Additionally, 71 percent of these award-winning firms report high or very high profits, surpassing the industry average of 59 percent, demonstrating that marketing investment drives growth and profitability.

Check out the 2024 winning projects here. Read about WSB’s “Digital Lifecycle” – an interactive journey through a project’s digital lifecycle; Thrive Design’s corporate rebrand; Little’s MLK Day Book Drive; Westwood’s space-inspired “2024 and Beyond Tour;” PGA’s “Project Pursuit” to re-imagine an old truck parking facility; and many more. 

Choose to Enter Multiple Categories 

There’s so much talent out there and we want to help you show it off. Have you got a sexy new website to showcase? Have clients been blown away by a social media campaign or video? Has staff oohed and aahed about a clever recruitment/retention program? Well, let’s see it. It’s time to strut your stuff. AEC firms are encouraged to enter their marketing projects for one or multiple categories which include: 

• Advertising – An individual print or digital advertisement or ad campaign.

• Brochure – A print or digital publication describing your firm’s general capabilities.
• Integrated Marketing /Brand Awareness – print and digital (emails, direct mail, display ads, banner ads on a third-party website, or other components)
• Holiday – A print or digital piece produced for one-time use to promote brand awareness of your firm during a holiday (holiday card, e-card, party invitation, client-appreciation gift, etc.).
• Internal Marketing – Campaign designed for an employee audience to increase communication and collaboration within a firm or division (e.g., company intranets, recognition or awards program, or communications associated with mergers, acquisitions, or new business-line initiatives).
• Newsletter, External – A newsletter conceived and created by your firm, with content developed internally, intended for external distribution. 
• Newsletter, Internal – An internal, employee-focused publication produced via print or digital media.
• Project Pursuit – Item(s) that were used in support of winning a single project. Materials can include anything that was used to win a project. 
• Recruitment/Retention Communication – A program designed to recruit potential or retain current employees through print and/or electronic communications. 
• Social media – Any marketing effort that uses online social media tools to provide a platform for thought leadership, collaboration, and user interaction. 
• Special Event Marketing – A marketing piece produced for a one-time event (e.g., charity event, anniversary celebration, community event, etc.). 
• Video – It should either promote your firm or showcase a specific project pursuit; a video created for external communications; or a video created for internal communications.
• Website – A public website that either promotes your firm or has been launched by your firm for a specific project.

An Easy Application Process

It’s easy to enter your marketing project(s) for the Marketing Excellence Awards too. First, you register and pay. Next, you complete a simple, online entry/entries. Then, you wait for a panel of your peers to judge projects and prepare to be notified and secure your spot at the 2025 ElevateAEC Conference & Awards Gala in San Antonio, Texas. It’s the largest in-person gathering of industry leaders and award-winning firms, all interested in advancing the “elevate the industry” vision.

So, don’t miss out on the excitement. Your marketing team deserves to be recognized for all the wonderful things they’ve done. The deadline to enter your marketing project(s) online is June 2, 2025 and winners will be notified in July. Winners will be recognized at the 2025 Elevate AEC Conference and be featured in The Zweig Letter, Zweig Group press releases, and promoted through Zweig Group’s other marketing channels.
Enter here:Award Entry Page and Submission Guide. Good luck!