EXHIBITOR Magazine's Seventh Annual Corporate Event Awards

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"If you want a revolution, the only solution: evolve. Gotta evolve." When The Gatorade Co. launched this clever catchphrase in its 60-second ad spot on April 23, 2010, it no doubt hoped the old-fashioned jingle would implant itself in the collective subconscious and spread like kudzu. And sure enough, the tune has become one of those memorable (albeit annoying) songs continually looping in our heads. Unbeknownst to Gatorade, however, corporate event marketers have been bopping to their own "gotta evolve" ditty for years.

Even before the economy imploded in 2008, and the media decided to file all corporate events under the "boondoggle" heading, smart event marketers have been hiking down the evolutionary trail. However, right around 2008 when many marketing strategies simply didn't make sense given the ailing economy, marketers revolutionized the event industry, using everything from social media and online events to customer-centric strategies to save their programs and their companies' bottom line.

Since then, they've continued to incorporate measurement, tie events directly to sales, cut superfluous spending, track impressions, and more to help their programs not only survive, but thrive - despite the economy.

Not surprisingly, then, the winners of the 2010 Corporate Event Awards are both smart marketers and some of the biggest revolutionaries we've ever seen. Judged by a team of six event-marketing experts holed up in a Las Vegas boardroom for hours, this year's five winners feature not only evolutionary experiences, but also revolutionary results.

One winner, for example, all but abandoned its previous marketing and sales pipeline and instead brought its product experience straight to the people. Its traveling event reinvented the way the company does business, and kept it from going in the hole in 2009 - actually increasing sales by 6 to 8 percent over 2008 figures.

Another savvy program leveraged in existing celebrity endorsement that had previously been underused. Using the celebrity as part of an ingenious media event that went viral, the company netted $1.5 million in sales. What's more, it revved up this media machine again shortly after the initial event, netting another $250,000 in revenue.

According to Gatorade, "the game" has evolved. But thanks in part to our winners, the event industry has evolved as well. So please join us in giving a hearty high five to our industry'sown revolutionaries, who are not only evolving their programs and ultimately changing the game; they're also helping to keep corporate events off the endangered species list.

The Winners: