Award-Winning Video Programs Prove Virtual Sales and Marketing Can Still Be Personal

KITCHENER, Ontario – February 15, 2022 – Vidyard, the video platform for business, today announced the winners of the 2021 Video in Business (VIB) Awards. In its fifth year, the VIB awards recognize innovative businesses and sales professionals who are using video to transform the way they sell, market, and collaborate in an increasingly virtual world.

“This year’s winners showcased the power of video to tell incredible stories, clearly explain complex ideas, and create human connections with remote customers and employees,” says Tyler Lessard, chief video strategist at Vidyard. “Most importantly, they demonstrated how to use video in creative new ways to stand out from the noise and generate better business results.”

This year’s program celebrated 12 winners across three main categories. The Video Mastery Awards recognize teams using video to reimagine how they market, sell, and collaborate in a digital-first world. The Video in Sales Awards celebrate B2B sales teams using personalized videos to transform the way they sell in a virtual world. The Video Marketing Awards recognize marketing teams using video in creative new ways to attract, engage, and convert more leads.

The top honors at the 2021 VIB Awards went to the following businesses:

2021 Video Master: Splunk

Splunk, Inc., the data platform leader for security and observability, used video content and personalized videos to humanize its brand, generate demand, and modernize how they connect with key audiences. Splunk’s quirky, memorable, and downright hilarious Splunk T-Shirt Company videos have gained significant attention from potential customers and prospective employees. The Power of Splunk, one of the newest video series, uses engaging visuals and narrative storytelling to clearly explain the problems they solve. Splunk’s direct sales team also embraced personalized video messaging to deliver more human and impactful customer experiences.
“Video is such a powerful way to connect with audiences on an emotional level,” said Andy Mera, director of Media Studio and Brand Voice for Splunk. “The Splunk T-Shirt Company videos bring our unique brand to life in an aptly innovative way. Those who know us immediately recognize our voice—and those who don’t are definitely intrigued. Either way, we’re bringing attention to Splunk and we can follow that up with interest, desire, and action.”

Finalists for the Video Master Award included FEED The Agency, which uses video messaging to generate 3x more sales opportunities, and Impact Networking, which makes video an integrated part of how they market, sell, and collaborate.

Virtual Selling Team of the Year: Whatagraph

The sales team at Whatagraph, a global provider of reporting and performance monitoring solutions for marketing agencies, used personalized videos in a variety of languages across Whatagraph’s EMEA markets to connect with new prospects, showcase solutions, handle objections, increase close rates, and even win back churned clients. Video messages help Whatagraph increase email reply rates by more than 20% and generate some of the largest sales opportunities in 2021.

“Personalized videos have completely transformed the effectiveness of our sales,” said Frank Sondors, senior vice president at Whatagraph. “Our prospects and clients consistently tell us that our videos stand out and were a primary factor in them engaging in a sales process. Vidyard helped us source and close many of our largest deals in 2021 and will be a key differentiator for us in the year ahead.”

Finalists for the Virtual Selling Team of the Year include Dell Technologies, whose team used custom videos to help increase engagements and on key campaigns, and Salesloft, who used personalized videos to do everything from source new sales opportunities to improve customer satisfaction.

Video Marketing Program of the Year: Applied Software

Applied Software, a leading systems integrator for the architecture, engineering, construction, and manufacturing industries, brought video into virtually every aspect of its marketing program. Hundreds of new videos helped boost the performance of email campaigns, drive more qualified leads to live and virtual events, convert more prospects from their website and social media channels, and even win innovation awards from partners Autodesk and Bluebeam. Using Vidyard for video hosting and analytics, Applied Software was able to attribute millions of dollars of influenced revenue and dozens of qualified sales opportunities to its video marketing efforts.

“Video is a must-have part of a modern B2B marketing strategy and its impact can go well beyond just social media and advertising,” said Eric Daniel, digital marketing manager and podcast producer at Applied Software. “Vidyard has enabled us to turn videos into lead generation assets, helping us increase conversion rates throughout the funnel and identify our most engaged prospects faster. We’ve been able to track millions of dollars in pipeline back to our video content and plan to invest even further in the year ahead.”

Finalists for the Video Marketing Program of the Year included AuditBoard, who delivered outstanding video content to support every stage of the sales process, and the Arbinger Institute who used video to connect with their clients in bold new ways including a powerful mini-documentary The Christmas Truce.

Winners in the remaining nine categories of the 2021 VIB Awards included:

Top Sales Reps Using Video to Drive Revenue

The Pitch Perfecter:Kaela Bernardino, Enterprise Learning Consultant at Docebo, used highly creative videos to stand out and book more meetings with key prospects. In addition to authentic personalized videos for new leads, Kaela created a memorable video using Lego to help her prospects ‘connect the dots’ on how her solution can help. It was so impactful for her own prospecting that the marketing team adopted it for broader campaigns.

“Using video has had a massive impact on my outbound prospecting efforts,” said Kaela Bernardino, enterprise learning consultant at Docebo. “It’s the one medium that allows me to be myself, to put my passion and personality on display, and to connect on a human level.”

Finalists included David Woodford of Snyk, who recorded custom songs to break through the noise with engineering executives, and Joanne Munekawa of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, who recorded her own LinkedIn Best Practices melody to educate prospects on how to get the most value out of her offerings.

“Videos are key to standing out with prospects in today’s noisy digital world,” said Joanne Munekawa, account executive, marketing solutions at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. “Vidyard has made it easy to record and send custom videos, whether I’m reaching out with a fun song to prospects, or making strategic recommendations to customers.”

The Prospector:Kayla Cytron-Thaler, head of sales at Canny, made personalized videos a consistent and integrated part of her lead development process leading to uncanny results. By recording short personalized videos while visiting her prospects’ LinkedIn profiles, Kayla has consistently booked meetings with executives and has never missed her quarterly quota as a result.

“By creating a consistent, yet highly personalized, approach to my content, I’ve been able to send more than 300 videos per month to engage my prospects in more personal and impactful ways,” said Kayla Cytron-Thaler, head of sales at Canny. “These video messages consistently outperform other types of outreach, helping me create more conversations and break into businesses of all sizes.”

Finalists included Associate District Manager Angela Kerr, who used videos to enhance her prospecting and generate more referrals, and Roddy O’Caoimh of Publift who created detailed walkthrough videos for his prospects leading to a 3x higher conversion rate and 200% increase in sales.

The Visual Sellers:Carroll VanHook-Weaver and her colleagues at Akara Partners used personalized videos during every step of the customer lifecycle to create a differentiated client experience. Using authentic videos to create personal connections and walkthrough videos to clearly showcase their products, Carroll and the team doubled their close rate, significantly improved customer satisfaction, and drove more business referrals.

Finalists included Cat King of SalesScreen, who used video to book more meetings and build new relationships, and Conor Hassett of Leonardo247, who saw a 50% increase in opportunities created and a 50% increase in close rate resulting in hitting nearly 500% of his annual quota.

Mastering the Use of Video Across the Business

The FinServ Innovator:Advisor Group, the largest network of independent wealth management firms in the United States, made video an integrated part of how they engage their advisor community while also empowering independent advisors to adopt personalized videos to enhance their own businesses. While on-demand videos increased engagement in email and digital marketing campaigns, personalized videos helped their advisors earn 3x higher response rates when reaching out to new prospects. Custom videos have also become a core part of their executive communications and employee engagement programs.

Finalists included Alinsco Insurance, who used on-demand videos and custom video messages to humanize their digital outreach, and Intuit, who expanded their use of video for online tutorials and customer service.

The Remote Work Collaborators:Sandler Training of Oklahoma, a leading provider of sales and leadership development training, empowered everyone across the business to send custom video messages to share important updates, welcome new clients, celebrate customer milestones, and much more. Videos recorded and shared using Vidyard ensure employees and customers always have a chance to learn visually and to get to know members of the team – even when they can’t be there in person.

“Video messages have transformed the way we share ideas and communicate with customers in today’s digital-only world,” said David Curran, director of business development at Sandler Training of Oklahoma. “Everyone on our team is empowered to send personalized videos to share new stories, answer tough questions, update team members, and delight our customers. Short videos have become the perfect way to thank new clients for joining the family, celebrate their milestones, and even wish them a happy holiday – and our clients absolutely love them!”

Finalists included Global Payments Integrated, whose account management team embraced video messaging to build relationships with remote clients, and LocumTenens, whose use of video for everything from employee recruitment to internal communications created a more personal and transparent virtual business environment.

The Mastermind:Jelan Maxwell and the Global Community and Digital Support team at Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, used online video to transform their customer support and community engagement programs. By creating a robust library of learning videos, this team has used video to deliver a better customer experience while deflecting countless customer support calls. This team is now teaching other business units how to create and share their own videos for everything from marketing and sales to onboarding and internal communications.

Finalists included Cecilia Skurski, who integrated video into every aspect of Impact Networking’s go-to-market programs, and Glenn McManus, who created hundreds of videos to help various marketing and sales teams humanize their messages in a digital-only world.

Best Use of Video to Drive Better Marketing Results

The Educator:Terminus, the leading account-based engagement platform for marketers, made B2B content binge-able in 2021 with their very own B2B video streaming app and service Terminus TV featuring original programming for their audience. Not only is the content well produced and highly educational, but the formats are modern, fresh, and much more engaging than the majority of traditional B2B content.

Finalists included Ceros, who delivered an incredible range of educational videos including their Design Decoded and Ceros Educate topical deep dives, and Givebutter, who—in partnership with the video production team at Failure Island—reimagined their About Us video as a modern way to explain their story in a highly engaging format.

The Socialite:No-Lift Install System, a rapidly growing provider of countertop installation solutions for contractors and home builders, used creative TikTok videos and social media ads to create an enviable problem: too many new sales leads! With millions of views across its videos, the team had to hire more sales reps to keep up with the new inbound demand. While the videos were short and simple, the creative strategy of investing in TikTok content as a B2B brand paid off in a major way.

Finalists included Startup Hypeman RajNATION, whose incredible hip hop video inspired by the Eminem song “Stan” took him to the top of LinkedIn content charts, and Wakefern Food Corp., whose brilliant organic Facebook videos created millions of brand impressions for ShopRite Supermarkets.

The Visionary: Recognizing the growing importance of community connection in modern marketing, Unity, the world’s leading platform for creating and operating real-time 3D content, produced the heartfelt short animated film WiNDUP to build brand affinity within its online community. Garnering more than 10 million views in less than 12 months, the video drove more than 200,000 views of a related customer case study and directly influenced nearly $2M in new sales pipeline. Now that’s visionary video marketing!

Finalists included Dingus and Zazzy, whose highly creative—and often hilarious—one-to-one and one-to-many video campaigns left unforgettable impressions on their prospects, and Failure Island, whose incredible account-based marketing video (could be the best one we’ve ever seen!) earned them the attention of Mailshake’s entire leadership team and won them business with multiple new accounts.

The Video in Business Awards are hosted by Vidyard and judged by an independent panel of sales, marketing, and video experts. The 2022 Video in Business Awards will open for nominations in November 2022.