The Ken Blanchard Companies Wins Silver in Best in Biz Awards 2012

Nov. 15, 2012 - PRLog -- San Diego, CA (November 15, 2012) – The Ken Blanchard Companies has been named a silver winner in the “Event of the Year” category of Best in Biz Awards, the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts.

Blanchard’s 2012 exhibit at the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) Conference played on a style theme around their flagship product, Situational Leadership® II (SLII®), which teaches managers to use the right leadership style for any given situation. The 20x30-foot booth design was an impressive 16-foot-tall, white, airy, post-and-beam structure softened with hanging fabric. A focal point tower showcased the company logo and an 80-inch LCD screen mounted 8-feet high, which looped a full-production 15-minute video featuring Blanchard employees modeling designer garments sewn from custom fabric bearing the SLII® logo. Each garment represented a different product line. Project Runway-style interviews with curriculum designers explained the connection of each garment to the attributes of each leadership program. Clear acrylic panels and glass cube shelves with the Always in Style theme accented the front corners of the booth, completing a boutique storefront feel, while also showcasing Blanchard products and allowing visibility into the booth. A large craft counter imitating a fabric-cutting workstation served as the sales counter; a round retail counter showcased custom logo-patterned silk scarves; a garment rack featured Blanchard’s best practice learning designs on banners positioned on hangers; and a large black dress form silhouette on the back of the tower stated “America’s Top Leadership Model.” This tower became a popular backdrop for photo opportunities with conference visitors from around the world.

The exhibit won “ASTD 2012 Best in Show,” as determined by a panel of industry judges. More than 1,000 attendees visited the booth, some staying for booth presentations. The goal was to capture attention and create awareness that the timeless leadership model of SLII®, created almost 30 years ago, is still hip and Always in Style.

More than 400 entries were received in this year’s Best in Biz Awards program, from a wide array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and regions in the U.S. and Canada. Best in Biz Awards 2012 honors were presented in more than 50 categories, including Company of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, Executive of the Year, and Best New Product of the Year.

“We are really honored to be recognized by such a distinguished panel of judges from major media,” said Wendy Wong, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Blanchard. “Our team worked hard to make every detail—every photograph, every giveaway, every slogan—reinforce our brand message of keeping leaders Always in Style. It’s that attention to detail that made the entire message effective.”

Winners of Best in Biz Awards 2012 were determined by an independent panel of 32 judges from top-tier news, business, and technology publications, as well as broadcast outlets and analyst firms, such as ABC, Businessweek, Computerworld, ECT News Network, Entrepreneur, eWeek, Examiner, Financial Times, Forbes, FOX News, Hartford Business Journal, IDG Ventures, IEEE Institute, Inc., Insight Media, King Features Syndicate, Lab Reviews, Network World, The News and Observer, PC Magazine, ReadWriteWeb, South Florida Business Journal, Tech-Gaming, Techtalk, Upstart Business Journal, USA Today and ZDNet.

For a full list of gold, silver, and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2012, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2012-winners.

About The Ken Blanchard Companies®

The Ken Blanchard Companies is a global leader in workplace learning, productivity, performance, and leadership effectiveness that is best known for its Situational Leadership® II (http://www.kenblanchard.com/solutions) program—the most widely taught leadership model in the world. Because of its ability to help people excel as self-leaders and as leaders of others, SLII® is embraced by Fortune 500 companies as well as mid-to small-size businesses, governments, and educational and nonprofit organizations.

Blanchard® programs, which are based on the beliefs that people are the key to accomplishing strategic objectives and driving business results, develop excellence in leadership, teams (http://www.kenblanchard.com/solutions), customer loyalty, change management, and performance improvement (http://www.kenblanchard.com/eb2006/). The company’s continual research points to best practices for workplace improvement, while its world-class trainers and coaches (http://www.kenblanchard.com/solutions/coaching/) drive organization and behavioral change at all levels and help people make the shift from learning to doing.

Blanchard’s leadership principles are taught through interactive programs that combine 360-degree assessments (http://www.kenblanchard.com/assessments/), situational case studies, peer feedback, and alignment with core business objectives. Many Blanchard programs blend the use of elearning (http://www.kenblanchard.com/approach/blended_learning/) with instructor-led training.

Leadership experts from The Ken Blanchard Companies are available for workshops (http://www.kenblanchard.com/workshops/) and consulting, as well as keynote addresses (http://www.kenblanchard.com/speakers/), on organization development, workplace performance, and business trends.

About Best in Biz Awards

Best in Biz Awards recognizes top companies, teams, executives and products for their business success as judged by independent panels of members of the press and industry analysts. Best in Biz Awards honors are conferred in three separate programs during the calendar year: U.S. and Canada, EMEA, and International. Any organization from any industry boasting demonstrated success in the awards program’s region can enter any of the more than 50 company, department or team, executive, and product categories. Entries for Best in Biz Awards 2013 EMEA are being accepted from all companies based in or operating in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa until January 17, 2013. For more information about the entry process and categories in all three programs, please visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com.