B2B Marketing is the number one resource for B2B marketers across the globe and the Elevation Awards USA recognize the best work of the year.

UPDATED: MILWAUKEE – June 3, 2021 –

Nelson Schmidt Inc., a leading independent full-service marketing agency, has won awards with B2B Marketing’s Elevation Awards. These honors are on behalf of clients Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and Panduit. The agency won the following B2B Elevation Awards:

  • GOLD – Best Multichannel Campaign for the WEDC “We’re All In” Campaign
  • SILVER – Best Use of Social Media or Influencer Marketing for WEDC “We’re All In for Small Business Saturday”
  • GOLD – Best SME-Targeted Campaign for WEDC “Focus Forward” Campaign
  • BRONZE – Best Lead Generation or Nurturing Campaign for Panduit “Power Cable Safety” Campaign

“We’re thrilled Nelson Schmidt has been recognized by the B2B Marketing Elevation Awards,” said Mike Fredrick, Chief Creative Officer, Nelson Schmidt. “It’s a testament to the creativity of our team and clients that our work is being celebrated on a national level.”

GOLD – Best Multichannel Campaign for the WEDC “We’re All In” Campaign

COVID-19 struck Wisconsin fast and fiercely. At no other time in history had our personal health and the health of our economy been more intertwined. The only way to get through this was to work together. Every single person, business and community in the state had to commit to going “all in” against the virus.

Working with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, we created the We’re All In statewide campaign. It let Wisconsinites and Wisconsin businesses in every corner of the state know that to get our lives and the economy back on track, we needed to have each other’s backs.

The campaign continues to evolve as the virus evolves. It’s an agile approach that enables the messaging to stay relevant and helpful as people and businesses navigate the ever-changing phases of the pandemic. And it’s working. Mid-campaign research shows that 75% of Wisconsinites are aware of the We’re All In initiative and 62% want to learn more about how to fight COVID-19 after seeing the campaign.




(Top: Social Media Ad, Middle: Out-of-Home Ad, Bottom: Instagram Ad)

SILVER – Best Use of Social Media or Influencer Marketing for WEDC “We’re All In for Small Business Saturday”

Like most states, the COVID-19 strike on Wisconsin was fast and fierce. At no other time in history had our personal health and the health of our economy been more intertwined. The only way to get through this was to work together. Every single person, business and community in the state had to commit to going “all in” against the devasting impact of the virus.

This included supporting local businesses to help protect Wisconsin’s economy during the busy holiday shopping season. As part of our overarching We’re All In campaign for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), we designed a week-long mini-campaign to feature small businesses where they and their customers lived: in social media. We knew small businesses already relied on social platforms for marketing because of their ease and reach. Our Small Business Saturday campaign helped extend their reach and expose them to new customers across the state using the popularity our existing We’re All In campaign platforms and the social functionality of tagging their businesses.

In just one week, the mini-campaign earned nearly 350,000 impressions and reached more than 150,000 Instagram users using the platform’s new Guides feature. In fact, we doubled visits to the We’re All In Instagram page compared to average weekly traffic and grew our followers by 14 percent. It was an efficient and highly effective social campaign that helped Wisconsin’s small businesses gain back some of the revenue that the pandemic had taken.


(Social Media Ads)

GOLD – Best SME-Targeted Campaign for WEDC “Focus Forward” Campaign

When COVID-19 struck, Wisconsin’s small- and medium-sized business owners found themselves in an economic struggle unlike anything they had ever experienced before. Who and where to turn to for help was both confusing and frustrating. While federal, state and local organizations were doing their best to mobilize their own assistance programs, business owners were left to find these disparate resources on their own. It was a time-consuming search for help that took their focus away from the immediate needs of their businesses.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation was determined to deliver a better solution. We worked with them to rapidly develop a single, go-to resource that aggregated all available programs in one, easy-to-digest destination. Focus Forward packaged together everything a business owner needed – from access to financial assistance to helpful advice and guidance – to ensure they could keep their business moving forward through COVID-19.

And it worked. In just 2 1/2 months, nearly 5,000 business owners filled out a lead-gen form for more information and the website experienced a 227% month-over-month increase in subscribers, proving that Wisconsin businesses found it highly helpful.


(Focus Forward Home Page)

BRONZE – Best Lead Generation or Nurturing Campaign for Panduit “Power Cable Safety” Campaign

Many electrical engineers, specifiers and contractors are unaware of even some of the simplest solutions that can mitigate serious safety hazards to workers – like cable cleats from Panduit. Simple to install and highly effective, cable cleats keep power cables from whipping about violently and often catastrophically in the event of a short circuit fault.

This is a serious topic with serious implications. To bring instant credibility to our content and reach our audiences in the place they go to for electrical safety information, we partnered with EC&M – a leading electrical systems publication. Through this publisher partnership, we co-authored a custom survey, an industry research report and a content marketing program promoting the research results.

To date, the campaign has generated double the amount of global prospect leads than EC&M’s benchmark for similar co-sponsored initiatives.


(Research Report)

Media contact: Julie Ferris-Tillman, 414.244.0210, jferris-tillman@n-s.com

ABOUT NELSON SCHMIDT INC.

We Deliver Customers.® Nelson Schmidt Inc. is an independent full-service marketing agency with offices in downtown Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. The agency is one of the Top 200 Marketing Agencies of 2020 according to Chief Marketer and serves U.S. and international clients within select considered purchase industries. Nelson Schmidt is a member of MAGNET, the Marketing & Advertising Global Network, ANA and PRSA. For more information visit NelsonSchmidt.com.