At this year’s edition of the Long-Term Relationships (LTR) conference, Braze is pleased to announce the launch of the first-ever Torchie Awards. These awards—named after Torchie, the Braze mascot—recognize brands and individuals who have gone above and beyond when it comes to leveraging technology and forward-looking strategies to better engage and serve their audiences.

During the awards ceremony, held during the conference on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 at Pier59 in New York City, Braze spotlighted our most effective customers and partners, as well as individuals who have found innovative ways to leverage the Braze Platform. Let’s take a look at this year’s finalists and winners:

Rising Star of the Year

The Rising Star of the Year award recognizes an up and coming individual who stands out as an exceptional user of the Braze platform and whose work leverages technology in thoughtful, effective ways to support better user relationships and stronger business outcomes.

• Stephanie Loring, Head of CRM Operations & Insights, Grubhub
• Paul Cater, CRM Tech Lead, Trainline
• Katie Gilkeson, Growth Marketing Manager, Caviar
• Amrita Damani, Sr. Mobile Marketing Manager, Intuit
• Jackson Yomogida, Marketing Manager, Dave
• Swati Khattri, Senior Manager, Mobile Marketing, realtor.com

The winner of the 2019 Torchie Award for Rising Star of the Year? Paul Cater, CRM Tech Lead at digital rail and coach platform Trainline. Paul has made a name for himself in the customer engagement space through his data-driven approach to campaign ideation, cross-channel engagement and more. Congratulations, Paul!

Partner Use Case of the Year

This category recognizes a brand that’s using Braze in concert with one or more Braze Alloys partner solutions in order to support a technology ecosystem that can deliver exceptional experiences to their users. Congratulations to the finalists for their achievements when it comes to maximizing the value that a partner integration can provide!

• DraftKings: Braze and Radar
• Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen: Braze and Amplitude, mParticle, Branch, and Radar
• IBM: Braze and Segment and Amplitude
• Adevinta: Braze and Tealium, Amplitude, and Appsflyer
• MINDBODY: Braze and mParticle

The winner of the 2019 Torchie Award for Partner Use Case of the Year is IBM. This award recognizes IBM’s work leveraging Braze in conjunction with Braze Alloys partners Segment and Amplitude to unlock data for its customers and support a stronger business impact.

Campaign of the Year

The Campaign of the Year award recognizes a specific campaign carried out by a Braze customer that demonstrates strategic leadership and technical proficiency in the pursuit of stronger consumer/brand relationships. Congratulations to all the finalists in this category for crafting such sophisticated and creative marketing campaigns!

• Burger King: Whopper Detour
• Busuu: Personalized Study Plan
• Grindr: Releasing Pabllo Vittar ft. Charlie XCX single
• iHeart Radio Australia: KIIS 1065 Cash, Cars and Stars Campaign
• Wallapop: Gatos de envio gratis
• XING: Unleash the Power of Human Networks

This year’s winner? Burger King. The brand’s unprecedented “Whopper Detour” campaign leveraged cutting edge technology from Braze and Braze Alloys partners Branch, mParticle, and Radar to surprise and delight its audience and boost its mobile app’s number of monthly active users (MAUs) by more than 50%. The Torchie Award for Campaign of the Year joins the Cannes Lions Titanium Lion and many other awards on Burger King’s crowded mantle. Congratulations!

Customer of the Year

This category recognizes champion brands and industry leaders who have made innovative use of the Braze platform to support more human connections with their users. Congratulations to all our finalists for the impressive, cutting-edge work they’ve been doing with Braze all year long!

• Delivery Hero
• Overstock.com
• Postmates
• SONIC Drive-In
• Yelp

The winner of the 2019 Torchie Award for Customer of the Year is leading digital retailer Overstock.com. From its use of the Braze platform’s Connected Content feature to showcase highly relevant products to its action-based, cross-channel approach to customer messaging, Overstock.com exemplifies smart, technology-driven customer engagement.

Anything Else?

Want to learn more about this year’s winners and the work they’re doing to support stronger customer relationships and better brand experiences? Check out our exclusive client stories:

• Burger King
• IBM