Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

supporters updated on news and events and to direct people to the website where they can purchase
tickets. Facebook is the Foundation’s most effective tool in terms of communicating with supporters as
well as driving ticket sales. The Foundation has also utilized social media to recruit volunteers and to
proactively engage with media.
2012 IABC/Student of the Year Award
Winner: Conestoga College’s Bethany Cawker
IABC/Toronto is pleased to award Bethany Cawker as the 2012 IABC/Toronto Student of the Year! This
award recognizes a student from an accredited institution who demonstrates excellence in
communications and the greatest potential to be the best all‐round future professional. Out of a
number of strong entries, Bethany's strong writing and brand analysis skills impressed the IABC/Toronto
judges.
An excerpt from the judges' comments: Bethany "has a good mix of leadership, academic and volunteer
experience...the work sample was extremely creative and a pleasure to read."
Student of the Year Award
Attention: Brand Managers, Marketing Specialists, Social Media Coordinators
CONSISTENCY: THE KEY TO BRAND RESONANCE
KITCHENER (March 31 2012) – The average consumer is swamped with hundreds of advertisements
daily, and every business is striving to get its name in front of consumers’ eyes. Marketers estimate that
it takes 6 or 7 impressions just for a brand name to “sink in.” Hooking your target market is hard enough
– but once its attention is captured, how can a brand take the relationship a step further?
Integrated Marketing Communications student Bethany Cawker has the answer – initially discovered in
a textbook, and affirmed by instructors, mentors and experience with clients.
“It’s called the Customer‐Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model,” says Cawker. “It’s represented as a
pyramid‐shaped chart, and it has four distinct levels of brand recognition.”
The bottom level of the pyramid is Salience – basic knowledge of a brand, unaccompanied by judgment
or emotion. “At this level, consumers have been hit 6 or 7 times with your brand name,” Cawker
explains. “They know the name – but that’s it. When companies make mistakes with their branding
strategy, they can never climb higher than Salience.”
Brands can then ascend through Performance, Imagery, Feelings and Judgments, before achieving the
ultimately‐desired top level: Resonance.
“Hitting Resonance is all about making the consumer feel that the brand is an integral part of their
lifestyle,” Cawker says. “When a brand resonates with its target, it stakes out and occupies a space in
the consumer’s mind.”
Cawker acknowledges that few companies have reached this top level of brand recognition on an
international scale – Nike, Coke, and McDonalds are often‐cited examples – but each of these
companies did one thing extremely well: they kept their brand elements consistent.