The Paragon Awards recognize the top public relations efforts of local agencies in Southeast Wisconsin.

MILWAUKEE – October 7, 2021 – Nelson Schmidt Inc., a leading independent full-service marketing agency, has won four Paragon Awards through the PRSA of Southeastern Wisconsin. These honors are on behalf of clients Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), Panduit and Maytag Commercial. The awards included:

  • Award of Distinction, Content Marketing – Business/Industry for Maytag “Commit to Win”
  • Award of Distinction, Content Marketing – Business Industry for Panduit “Power Cable Safety Content Campaign”
  • Award of Distinction, Social Media Campaign – Ongoing for WEDC “We’re All In Wisconsin”
  • Award of Distinction, Social Media for WEDC “We’re All In Wisconsin for Small Business Saturday”

Award of Distinction, Social Media Campaign – Ongoing for WEDC “We’re All In Wisconsin”

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 continued to evolve as the virus evolved. It’s an agile approach that enabled 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.


(Instagram Ad)

Award of Distinction, Social Media for WEDC “We’re All In Wisconsin 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)

Award of Distinction, Content Marketing – Business/Industry for Maytag “Commit to Win”

In the commercial laundry category, the legendary Maytag brand was drowning in a sea-of-sameness amongst its competitors. All brands were saying the same things and offering nearly identical products to laundromats. Maytag’s distribution channel didn’t have a compelling sales strategy to elevate the brand and weren’t getting the attention they needed because Maytag’s marketing budget was mostly directed toward end-user advertising.

Three simple words summed up the goal of our bold distributor-focused content strategy: Commit to Win. We focused all of Maytag Commercial Laundry’s marketing efforts on helping their distribution channel win in this ultra-competitive category. No other brand was this solely focused or committed to helping their channel partners help commercial laundromat owners achieve better business outcomes. We empowered distributors to completely change the conversation from me-too products to business-building partnerships.


(Brochure Cover)

Award of Distinction, Content Marketing – Business Industry for Panduit “Power Cable Safety Content Campaign”

Industry standards and codes are designed to help electrical engineers, specifiers and contractors protect personnel and equipment. However, the codes are constantly evolving, so it’s difficult for the people who design, specify and install electrical equipment to stay up to date on all of the regulations.

For example, there are two key standards associated with cable cleat design and installation, but our research showed 40% of engineers, specifiers and contractors had no knowledge of these design guidelines and installation requirements. Instead, the survey revealed that many were installing high-power cables using plastic zip or cable ties, or worse yet, even string.

The goal of this campaign was to raise awareness of the importance of cable cleats in worksite safety and generate qualified leads for the Panduit sales force.


(Research Report)

Media contact: Tony DiZinno, 414.244.0210, tdizinno@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.