A record year for GOHBA’s SAM awards

It’s hard to believe a whole year has gone by since GOHBA’s last Sales and Marketing (SAM) awards but as 2016 draws to a close, members of Ottawa’s home-building industry once again found themselves back at Brookstreet Hotel for the annual celebration. Recognizing the top sales and marketing efforts of local home-builders, as well as this year’s most impressive model homes, it’s an opportunity for those in the industry to be recognized for their successful campaigns.

“This year was one of the most successful Sales and Marketing Awards to date,” noted Christine Friske, events and communication manager at GOHBA. “We saw a record number of entries into the awards itself, and a record number of attendees at the award ceremony luncheon this past Wednesday at the Brookstreet hotel. This is a testament to the interest and dedication from our GOHBA membership.”

Indeed, the room was filled with home-builders and industry partners, GOHBA board members and judges like myself, who had spent time in the previous months judging numerous entries. Hosted once again by the hilarious James Cunningham, host of Food Network’s Eat Street, the lunch time show was filled with entertainment and jokes. “We were fortunate enough to welcome back actor, comedian, and TV host, James Cunningham as our emcee this year,” mentioned Christine Friske. “The SAM awards would not be the same without his wicked sense of humour to keep the afternoon going. We were told he would turn down the Oscars to emcee the SAM awards, so we’re certainly going to hold him to that one when the time comes! He is loved and cherished by all of our members. A true friend of the Association.”

When it came time to present the awards, there was one company who spent more time on stage collecting awards than sitting down! TRUEdotDESIGN, a local marketing and graphic design firm, took home an impressive ten awards for their work with clients in the home-building industry.

Shelley True, President of TRUEdotDESIGN was overjoyed by the wins. “We were overwhelmed yet thrilled by the number of times our work was recognized by our industry peers. Acting as the marketing department for many of our clients, we truly do work in partnership with them to create innovative marketing campaigns that help set them apart and build their businesses. Our wins are their wins.”

Why does she think this year was so successful for them? “Over the last year and a half, we’ve stepped up our internal processes,” she said, “and feel empowered to do high end design and think outside the box. We offer a full realm of services to a niche. We’ve focused on the home building industry, from architects to designers to developers and so know the industry really well. By continuing to leverage our own knowledge, our clients understand that we know the unique differences between them and that there’s a piece of the market for everyone.”

Growing rapidly from a team of eight to 13, the whole TRUEdot team were at the awards and able to celebrate in their combined success. “It was really nice for the whole team to be at the SAMs. We have six designers and they each had a hand in the wins. The accomplishment was shared amongst us all.”

One of TRUEdot’s clients, Uniform Homes, took home five awards including the coveted Grand Sam.

Ryan MacDougall, Uniform’s marketing and sales coordinator said “We are thrilled to be the recipient of this year’s Grand Sam Award. Uniform’s brand is vital to our success so being recognized amongst our peers for our marketing efforts is very rewarding.”

Other winners included Claridge homes who took home three SAMs for their models homes and Richcraft who won both of the townhome model categories. EQ’s Augusta took home the prize for best attached bungalow model, Tartan’s Cambridge won the category for best single family home 3000 sq.ft+ while RND’s Orchard won for best single family home 2500-2999 sq.ft.

Article above by Sophie Rust, published in Ottawa at Ottawa Sun, December 2, 2016.