Stevie Awards Honors Cisco Collaboration Team

It has been four months since we revealed the biggest changes to Webex in its 20-plus year history. The feedback from customers and partners has been great. People love the new Webex. And they really love that they have a simple path to move to team collaboration.

And now, we are getting industry recognition, too. I am excited that we have won two The International Business Award (Stevie Awards) recognizing our achievement in marketing. We received a Silver Stevie award for Re-Branding/Brand Renovation of the Year and I personally received the Gold Stevie in the Marketing Executive of the Year category. With more than 3,900 nominations from across 74 nations, we’re truly honored.

The International Business Awards is the world’s premier business awards program. All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small – are eligible to submit nominations. The 2018 IBAs received entries from 74 nations and territories. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala awards banquet in London in October.

The Silver Stevie recognizes our “Future of Collaboration” campaign, which features the incredibly talented Millie Bobby Brown from Netflix’s Stranger Things. We designed the campaign to introduce the world to the new and improved Cisco Webex. Updating a familiar brand and rolling out a new user experience is no easy task. Webex has been an industry leader in conferencing for more than two decades, providing service for tens of millions of users each month.

Business users are familiar with Webex as the most-used collaboration service worldwide. But it was time for us to move forward. We needed to increase awareness about how we see collaboration in a rapidly evolving global workforce. Millie Bobby Brown embodies the promise of the next generation. And her ability to connect, collaborate, and inspire people both on and off screen perfectly aligns with Cisco’s vision of empowering future leaders.

The campaign highlights our commitment to creating technology that fits seamlessly and transparently into the human experience of communication. We believe creating intuitive ways to collaborate inspires innovation and deeper, more authentic human connection.

The campaign — one of Cisco’s biggest ever — has proven very successful, exposing millions of people to the newly revamped Webex suite. We’ve reached new audiences and reintroduced our vision to those who have known us for decades. I am honored that The International Business Awards understood our vision for Cisco Webex and recognized the campaign’s creativity.

“This year’s Stevie Award winners in the IBAs are the most distinguished group of winners we’ve had yet,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “We raised the minimum average score from the judges required to qualify as a Stevie winner, so 2018 winners should be especially proud of their achievements.  I’m personally grateful for the recognition of my leadership. The Collaboration Marketing team is a group of professionals around the globe who come together to deliver. One of the judges described this win as “a visionary, inspirational and passionate marketing leader who achieved significant results supported by a committed team.” The key to any leader is the team. I can set the direction, but it’s the team that brings the ideas to the table and the vision to fruition.

It is an honor to receive these awards, and an even bigger honor to be entrusted with helping the 150 million monthly active users of the Webex platform do their best work. On behalf of everyone at Cisco, we thank you. It’s an exciting time to be in collaboration! We have big plans for this space moving forward—stay tuned for more great news and updates in the months to come.

What do you think about the new Webex and our Future of Collaboration campaign? Please let me know in the comments below or reach out to me on Twitter.

Learn more about The International Business Awards and all the winners.