Hinge Wins "Marketer of the Year" Awards at 2005 American Marketing Association M Awards

Hinge, a branding firm in Reston, has taken top honors, winning two out of eight M Awards for 2005 from the American Marketing Association's Washington, DC Chapter. The firm was recognized as the Technology Marketer of the Year and Consumer Marketer of the Year, sharing the consumer award with Baltimore-based Studio Spear, a marketing consultancy specializing in consumer products and M Prime Systems an ecommerce consultancy.

AMA-DC presented marketing awards in eight industry categories at a Gala Awards Ceremony Thursday evening, May 19, 2005, at the Booz Allen Corporate Headquarters in McLean. These awards recognize marketers for "campaigns that demonstrate solid strategy, brilliant innovation and positive return on investment," according to the AMA-DC announcement. This is the third year for the program. Hinge was recognized as the Nonprofit Marketer of the Year in 2003. 

This year, Hinge won the technology award for a brand revitalization campaign for BioPay, a Herndon-based company specializing in biometric finger scan payment systems.

Hinge, M Prime Systems and Studio Spear won the consumer award for their campaign that revamped the identity and website for Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que of Williamsburg, Virginia. Studio Spear conceived the overall marketing strategy, Hinge implemented the strategy and M Prime Systems built the backend web functionality.

Hinge revitalized the company and product logos, collateral, and website for BioPay www.biopay.com to differentiate it from its key competitor, which had adopted a similar logo and color. Hinge created campaigns for the company's merchant and consumer markets. The business-to-business campaign created a lot of "buzz" at industry trade shows, using pre-show mailers and generating a response rate from 200% to 533% higher than is typical at industry shows. Hinge's consumer campaign for BioPay was aimed at early-adopters - the younger, educated consumers who are most likely to adopt new technologies. For this campaign, we used interactive kiosks, point-of-purchase signage and collateral, which explained the benefit of the biometric payment system.

As a result of its increased brand awareness, BioPay has signed multi-million dollar contracts with four regional grocery store chains, including Lowe's Food Stores, a 108-store chain based in Winston-Salem, N.C. and gained significant market share and industry publicity in the last year.

Hinge, M Prime Systems and Studio Spear worked with Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que to rejuvenated the brand image, packaging and website www.pierces.com, while maintaining the flavor and personality of the popular family-owned eatery.

With a loyal customer base and strong retail sales, Pierce's expressed their desire to grow online sales and fulfill the cravings of the myriad occasional customers who live outside of the Williamsburg area. For the web site, we presented the story of Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que, using old family snapshots and new photos of food and merchandise. With the backend expertise of M Prime Systems, Hinge overhauled the website and online store, making the shopping experience easier. Pierce's is pleased to announce online revenues have increased 300% over the previous year.

About Hinge
In 2002, Hinge was formed out of the merger of a strategic marking firm, a design firm, and a brand identity firm. Today, Hinge offers brand strategy and implementation services to customers in a wide variety of industries. In November 2004, the firm moved from Chantilly, Virginia, to expanded offices in Reston. For more information about Hinge, visit http://www.pivotalbrands.com or for information on the American Marketing Association's M Awards, visit  www.mawards.com.

About BioPay
With 1.8 million registered consumers, BioPay's customer adoption proves that the time for biometrics is now. Over 1,000 merchants are using one or more of BioPay's smart, secure methods for processing financial and other transactions requiring identification such as payroll check cashing, loyalty programs, age verification or stored value programs. BioPay's payment service offers merchants a low-cost form of payment and gives consumers a convenient, secure and quick way to pay for purchases. BioPay's patent-pending systems for grocers, convenience stores, gas stations, liquor stores and other retailers have been implemented across the nation. For more information on BioPay and its market-leading products, visit www.biopay.com.