Recognizing Excellence in Government IT Marketing

The GovMarks Annual Awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, July 13 at the 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, VA. Thank you to this year's judges.

Award winners include:

• Best Overall Marketing Program
  DLT Solutions – "Red Hat 'Federal IT on a Budget' Program"
• Best Department of Defense (DoD) Marketing Program
  General Dynamics Information Technology – "Editorial Roundtables: Enabling Dialogue with Key Customers'
• Best Federal Civilian Marketing Program
  Lexmark Government Solutions – "Government Printing Report"
• Best State & Local Government Marketing Program
  Oklahoma Interactive – OK.gov's "Next Time, Pay Online: PayOnline.OK.gov"
• Best Creative Marketing Program
  Oklahoma Interactive – OK.gov's "Go Green Oklahoma Campaign and eRecycle Event at the State Capitol"
• Best Partner Marketing Program
  DLT Solutions – "Red Hat 'Federal IT on a Budget' Program"

Thank you to this year's judges:

• Suzanne Behrens, Microsoft
• Corrine Minton, IBM
• Josh Sawislak, GSA
• Tom Temin, Federal News Radio
• Teresa Rivera, Department of the Interior
• Tricia Davis-Muffett, USIS
• Cindy Auten, Telework Exchange
• Alan Hill, Serco

Click here to view the full release announcing this year's winners.

Best Department of Defense Marketing Program
Organization: General Dynamics Information Technology
Campaign: Editorial Roundtables: Enabling Dialogue with Key Customers

Goals:

• Raise awareness of the company’s overall IT capabilities to better pursue major Federal civilian and defense IT contracts with current and new customers
• Raise awareness and understanding of the company’s health IT service capabilities and innovative medical solutions offerings for the military and department of defense (DoD)
• Initiate and further develop relationships between key Federal, state, and local government decision makers and specific General Dynamics IT SMEs

Strategy:

• In an unprecedented effort, the marketing team partnered closely with business developments leads, operations staff, and key SMEs to reevaluate its approach to customer relationship building
• This collaborative effort resulted in three roundtable discussions with key customers and General Dynamics IT SMEs that fostered discussion about the customers' challenges and the technology services and solutions that could address their needs
• The marketing team hosted the events in conjunction with key publications, driving news coverage and showcasing General Dynamics IT's thought leadership and technical expertise to other agencies

Results:

• Aviation Week: General Dynamics IT won a 10-year, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) modernization contract with a maximum potential value of $1.2 billion if all options are exercised to support the program as a result of this roundtable session
• Military Medical Technology: This roundtable enabled a meaningful discussion on a very sensitive debate. While it remains unclear what the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense will ultimately decide about their electronic health record systems, what is clear is that General Dynamics IT can continue to support the systems already in place so that day-to-day operations in all Federal healthcare facilities can continue efficiently. The resulting article also had an advertising equivalency of $8,500
• Government Technology: General Dynamics IT won a three-year contract from the state of Oregon to support the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network (OWIN) program as a result of this roundtable. The OWIN program will consolidate the radio networks for the Oregon Department of Transportation, State Police, Forestry Department, and Oregon Department of Corrections. This radio network, made up of more than 250 wireless facilities, will support statewide system for mission-critical, interoperable, public safety communications. This 3-year contract is General Dynamics IT's cornerstone initiative in state and local emergency communications

Best Federal Civilian Agency Marketing Campaign
Organization: Lexmark Government Solutions
Campaign: Government Printing Report

Goals:

• Disrupt the status quo to reshape how Federal executives view the employee printing function within agencies
• Drive qualified sales leads
• Demonstrate Lexmark's understanding of, and commitment to, the Federal market by positioning the organization as a thought leader through media placement

Strategy:

• Lexmark executed an online survey focused on Federal employee printing habits, securing 380 total responses
• Lexmark leveraged the survey results to develop the "2009 Government Printing Report: A Closer Look at Cost, Habits, and Opportunities for Savings."
• The May 2009 release of the "2009 Government Printing Report" showcased that Feds could make a few simple changes to realize millions in cost savings. By empowering the government to meet the Administration's challenge, the report opened the doors for agencies to consider more efficient printing policies, to change wasteful behavior, and to reduce costs – to print less and save more. It also positioned Lexmark as the taste of a new generation of government – versus yesterday's choices
• Utilizing the study results, Lexmark hosted the "Government Printing Report – A Federal Perspective" Webinar to provide recommendations on how agencies can eliminate unnecessary printing and identify ways to realize significant savings. Lexmark secured Trish Fritz, Associate Chief of Staff, Strategic Environmental Programs, U.S. Government Printing Office, to provide Federal perspective and discuss how to employ fiscally- and environmentally-responsible policies. Lexmark also developed a Printing Profile Calculator, which enabled Federal employees to determine how their printing habits stack up against their colleagues
• Lexmark created a microsite, www.governmentprintingreport.com, requiring that interested parties provide full contact information to access the report, take the printing profile survey, or to register for the Webinar
• Lexmark also executed a targeted public relations campaign to secure interviews with Lexmark executives and an e-mail marketing campaign to drive visitors to the landing page

Results:

• Study Downloads: 390
• Webinar Registrants: 210
• Webinar Attendees: 105
• Webinar Archive Registrants: 60
• Press briefings: 12
• Press clips: 100+
• Sample coverage: CIO, Federal New Radio, Government Computer News, Government Executive, InformationWeek, InfoWorld, PC World, The Washington Post, Washington Ties, WJLA, among others.

Best State & Local Marketing Program
Organization: Oklahoma Interactive
Campaign: OK.gov's 'Next Time, Pay Online: PayOnline.OK.gov'

Goals:

• Effectively brand and build an online payment solution for universal use among all interested Oklahoma government entities: Next Time, Pay Online: PayOnline.OK.gov
• Use the strengths of OK.gov's online bill pay system features and low cost to actively increase sales on the local level
• Create a cost effective marketing strategy that will assist local partners in increasing usage of their online bill pay systems and market the bill pay system to all local governments at trade shows and through other marketing vehicles

Strategy:

• Redesign online bill pay module to be more user-friendly
• Modify public user receipt screen
• Create the PayOnline.OK.gov Web site, graphics, and promotional items to successfully market both online bill pay accounts and the system itself
• By visiting city representatives, OK.gov was able to offer the following tactics:
  • Providing promotional items to post at city halls and other areas where citizens physically pay for city services
  • Distributing a press release announcing services on launch date of online bill pay service for all cities (City of Nicoma Park, City of Harrah, and City of Tonkawa)
  • Featuring the above press releases in the Oklahoma eGov News Report distributed to more than 1,050 Oklahomans
  • Making online bill pay links more visible on city Web sites
  • Providing postcard design services to send out to local residents announcing online bill pay options in their area
  • Attending all local level conferences to increase number of local bill pay account holders and proactively communicating with partners prior to conference

Results:

• City of Choctaw – Launched November 2009 with four transactions. Today, the city is averaging more than 85 transactions a month
• City of Clinton – Launched September 2009 with eight transactions. Today, the city is averaging more than 50 transactions a month
• City of Frederick – Launched April 22, 2010 with five transactions. No averages yet
• City of Harrah – Launched February 2009 with seven transactions. Today, the city is averaging more than 95 transactions a month
• City of Nicoma Park – Launched November 2008 with three transactions. Today, the city is averaging more than 50 transactions a month
• City of Tonkawa – Launched March 2008 with 14 transactions. Today, the city is averaging more than 50 transactions a month

Best Creative Marketing Program
Organization: Oklahoma Interactive
Campaign: OK.gov's 'Go Green Oklahoma Campaign and eRecycle Event at the State Capitol'

Goals:

• Promote awareness about eRecycling and further efforts in reducing the amount of electronic material that ends up in landfills
• Provide a connection between Oklahomans doing good for the environment on Earth Day and state agencies’ efforts in the 'Green' sector
• Offer positive PR for state agency partners through a green program that was backed with many marketing strategies

Strategy:

• Prior to promoting Go Green Oklahoma to the public, OK.gov conducted a yearlong campaign to gather state agency data to display on the Go Green Data Center. All state agencies were invited to report on the online services they offer that replace traditional paper-intensive processes
• After creating the Web site and communicating the Go Green message within Oklahoma state government, OK.gov hosted a unique event in April to tie in with Earth Day awareness events held across the state. On April 22, 2009, Oklahoma residents and businesses were invited to celebrate Earth Day by eRecycling electronics at the Oklahoma State Capitol. OK.gov used a variety of marketing communications to raise awareness of this event and the Go Green Oklahoma Web site including a banner on the homepage of OK.gov, press release , media advisory , follow up press release, electronic newsletters, advertisements in the Oklahoma Gazette and Tulsa Urban, video posted to YouTube.com, and a 20-minute radio interview providing air time on five local stations

Results:

• More than 220 exposures to the media were provided through two press releases and one media advisory
• Circulation of over 138,000 was provided by the advertisements in the Oklahoma Gazette and Tulsa Urban
• A special "green" edition of the Oklahoma eGov News Report was enjoyed by over 1,050 subscribers
• More than 347,285 hits have been directly associated with the 'Go Green Oklahoma' site since May 2008

Best Partner Marketing Program/Best Overall Marketing Program
Organization:DLT Solutions
Campaign:Red Hat "Federal IT on a Budget" Program

Goals:

• Deliver, real, "game-changing" thought leadership and quantitative data that empowered Federal IT decision makers to understand how they could think different to change failing Federal IT economics
• Position Red Hat and DLT as true thought leaders in Federal IT
• Bring together "early adopter" Federal IT decision makers and engender public-private dialogue around new IT economics opportunities
• Deliver high-value executive relationships and qualified leads
• Engage the private-sector IT solution provider community to help co-fund and amplify program impact

Strategy:

• Red Hat and DLT Solutions partnered with MeriTalk – an independent third party online community and educational platform – to establish new, high-value, and quantifiable thought leadership as well as bring the early adopter Federal IT community together
• The team launched the program with a research study, "Federal IT Bailout" report that powered an online savings calculator – a free-to-use tool for the Federal IT community
• MeriTalk took a six-pronged approach to develop and execute the event:
  • Advisory Group: Established and engaged an advisory group, composed of government and industry representatives, to help shape the program and drive registration
  • Program: Developed three program tracks – open source, cloud, and virtualization/consolidation – featuring government speakers
  • Attendee marketing: Used both push and pull strategies – including public relations, e-mail marketing – utilizing MeriTalk's 117,000 database of government IT community contacts – social media, and Web 2.0 collaborative tools – to generate interest in, and registrations for, the event
  • Sponsorship sales: Gave industry sponsors the opportunity to participate in shaping the event content. Worked closely with industry sponsors to launch the integrated email marketing campaign
  • Logistics: Focused on precise execution and project management. Incorporated Web 2.0 elements such as live Twitter feeds

Results:

• Secured 40 media articles on the Federal IT Bailout report and nine media articles on the conference
• 100+ Web 2.0 comments/media placements
• Secured 129 study downloads
• Secured 36 calculator uses
• Secured 200 Webinar registrants, 18 on-demand views
• Secured 764 event registrants and 400+ attendees
• Secured 44 speaker faculty members (23 from government)
• Generated 978 total leads from the event and integrated marketing components
• Effectively positioned Red Hat, DLT Solutions, as well as sponsor partners as thought leaders – attendees rated the event a 4.6 on a scale of one to five