WIT & Co. Ltd., recently announced the recipients of its new RISE Awards.  RISE stands for Recognizing Innovation and Strategic Excellence.

• Dakota Supply Group (DSG) won the grand prize for their “Finding My Trade” campaign.

The goal of this campaign was to help the trade industries close the gap on the current labor shortage by encouraging DSG partners to participate in sharing “the truth about the trades” to high school students in their market.  They highlighted the exciting careers available with excellent compensation and how young people could have bright futures in these strong industries.

Through this program, DSG has significantly increased participation in their scholarship program and have seen notable increases in their web traffic through www.findingmytrade.com.

Finalist for this award include the following:

• Nicklas Supply, Inc. for their “Splash 360” program, a program that promotes continuous improvement within their showrooms.

Nicklas involves staff members from all aspects of their business to improve processes and sales through their showrooms, creating a continual flow of different staff members through the process to encourage cohesiveness and adoption of new policies across the board.

• Rubenstein Supply Company for the opening and promotion of their new showroom in San Diego.

The showroom itself makes a lasting impression with a seemingly endless display of working fixtures and experiential suites where customers can make appointments to try a high-end luxury steam bath, sauna, showers, and soaking tub.  Beyond the showroom itself, Rubenstein expanded their reach through a successful social media campaign and online virtual showroom.

• Snow & Jones, Inc. for their “Dream Day Camp Plumbing Palooza” which supplied much-needed accessible restroom facilities for the Dream Day Camp in a national forest near Cape Cod.

To benefit this charity for terminally ill children, Snow & Jones pulled together with local contractors and other building companies to build eight working accessible bathrooms within the camp’s rustic cabins.  Many large manufacturers contributed by donating supplies and fixtures.  Not only did they make a lot of families comfortable and happy, they gained a lot of new relationships in the process.

• VAMAC, Inc. for their robust “100th Anniversary Campaign.”

Among other things, this campaign included a corporate rebranding, customer appreciation activities, a two-month growth promotion, monthly counter campaigns, a local charity event and four customer events. They have increased their customer base, improved customer retention and increased sales throughout this intricately-designed and masterfully-executed campaign.