"The 2012 finalists represent some of the best innovators in the region, these forward-thinking companies are developing unique, new solutions to problems that are game changing," said MITX President Debi Kleiman. "We were so impressed by this group during a very competitive year, it was amazing to see the range and depth of new things being created here, and we're very proud to honor their great achievements."
The American Business Awards are the nation’s premier business awards program. Affinnova Concept Studio was named a finalist in two categories: “Business Innovation of the Year” and “New Product or Service of the Year – Software – Marketing/Public Relations Solution”. “We are honored to be named a finalist in three categories of The American Business Awards,” said Waleed Al-Atraqchi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Affinnova. “This recognition further validates both our technology and our approach to innovation.”
Gartner defines “Cool Vendors” such as Affinnova as companies that are: 1) innovative, enabling users to do things they couldn't before; 2) impactful, producing business results; and 3) intriguing, having caught Gartner's interest.
“These are the Top 50 firms submitted by GRIT respondents as the most innovative in the industry. The goal of this avenue of inquiry is to glean insight on the drivers of perception around what makes a firm innovative in order to understand how MR firms are capitalizing on the idea of “innovation” to grow their businesses. We believe that this list, developed by our peers within the industry, is a true measure of how successfully these companies are leveraging this brand attribute…. Discriminant analysis was run to understand how best to predict the profile of respondents who would consider firms as being most innovative. We focused on the most mentioned 15 brands for purposes of the analysis.” Respondents who selected Affinnova tended to be more open to experimentation and more quantitatively oriented than respondents who did not.
Compiled by research industry veteran Jack Honomichl and published by the American Marketing Association’s Marketing News, the Honomichl Top 50 is an annual compilation of the top 50 revenue-generating marketing research firms operating in the United States. Now in its 37th year, the Honomichl Top 50 is widely acknowledged to be the “Fortune 500 of market research firms.”
The Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring companies of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.
“This list can tell us a lot. Obviously the big firms achieved their status through extensive marketing activities; big companies have big marketing budgets. What about the rest? Here is where things get interesting: All are young companies, all are technology-driven firms, and every single one of them is growing like crazy,” wrote Leonard Murphy, Editor in Chief.
Established in 1996, the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) is the region’s premier professional organization for the Internet business & marketing industry. Reaching more than 7,500 professionals in New England, MITX is the community for thought leadership, building business relationships and professional training and development. Members of the MITX community take advantage of events, sponsorships, speaking opportunities, and networking to make business connections and exchange ideas. With over 60 events annually, MITX provides its members with the opportunity to promote their companies to targeted audiences and provides a valuable forum for networking to source potential business leads, partnerships, ideas, funding and other likeminded peers in the industry.
"The processes of new product launch need to be redefined. In the CP industry, new product launch forecasts are often done 18 months before launch, with only 48% of companies reforecasting at the time of launch because of the cost. Although the price tags on panel and new product insight testing are high, new product launch and stage-gate reassessment are even more critical in the face of consumer changes. Decision-support technologies from Affinnova, GenSight, and CA Clarity PPM will grow in usage to model these changes." - from the Gartner report, "Consumers Have Changed--Are Your Supply Chains Ready?
"We are delighted and honored to be recognized by Wal-Mart," said Steve Lamoureux, Affinnova's Chief Innovation Officer. "This award serves as confirmation of our efforts to provide game-changing technology solutions and best in class service. We are committed to continued teamwork with Wal-Mart and their vendor teams to help drive successful business results."
