FMBE Awards 2021 – Team of the Year

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I think everyone knows by now how sought after this award is. It is always extremely full-on and this year was no different.

BRONZE Field Sales Solutions – Ferrero

This team shows the value of consistency and has a very strong reputation. Field Sales Solutions impressed our judges with the way that this consistency translated into cohesion during Covid interruptions. One commented that the team “Clearly dedicated time and effort to support field team during lockdown periods.”

SILVER Elevate Field Marketing – Britvic

Elevate Field Marketing and Britvic were a first time entrant together in this category and the entry impressed by leaving almost no stones unturned in the bid to show the team ethic and results. The passion for the brand at Elevate and the high level of engagement and support from Britvic helped this team to extend the relationship. Judges saw how team commitment and in depth engagement in the brand journey combined with “fresh ideas and approach” to generate forwards progress. This was a complex story involving multiple Britvic brands at Licensed premeses with a new London Essence team being established in Phase 1 and the existing Licensed team being brought into the Elevate fold for Phase two – selling  its soft drink dispense solution for major brands like Pepsi, R Whites Lemonade, Tango, Robinsons.

The team also benefitted from sales training via Fieldstar.

In this team one of the sales leaders won Pepsico’s Ring of Honour award for its best of best frontline salesperson globally.

SILVER REL Field Marketing – Weetabix

There’s no team that deploys continual improvement more than Weetabix whose collective ethic and impressive management have seen the team rise to silver in 2020 as well as this year.

The bedding in of the wholesale team alongside grocery retail saw this energetic outfit crank it up another notch.

One judge commented: “Some great executions and examples of ‘putting people first’. A significant investment in the team during the challenging lockdown periods, resulting in exceptional results when back in store.”

Team satisfaction was at a notable high: The entry revealed “The Employee Satisfaction Survey (June 2020), reveals the high level of commitment from the Weetabix team with Colleague Engagement at 87.4% (+1.3% v Last Year) and Leadership Capability at 93.3% (+1.3% v Last Year).”

GOLD Blue Square – Samsung

Blue Square and Samsung was simply the team, above all, judges wanted to be a part of. Whilst this team meets and surpasses its KPIs frequently it is the creative solution finding, imaginative motivational events, regular energising events that impresses.

With this team, every challenge of 2020-2021 became an opportunity.

For a brand that is a 5G market force, Samsung was always likely to invest on online-offline performance during lockdown. Blue Square could not have been Samsung’s partner for 13 years without developing a strategic relationship with the brand in a way that allows it to take charge of radical new methods.

The entry paper documented how this team’s digital prowess was ratcheted forwards relentlessly staying motivated and delivering results.

Initiatives such as Backstage Live and Elite Gaming Tournament impressed both in concept and delivery. Backstage Live, for instance, was an upgrade of the online training programme Backstage, providing live stream training sessions on social media. Elite Gaming Tournament was a team motivator gaming competition that saw high levels of engagement using television quality production standards.

The team made frequent use of Samsung’s purpose-built broadcast studio.

One judge summarised the entry: “This was a masterclass in flexing and re-skilling/re-deploying resource to meet the needs of a rapidly changing customer journey.”