Georgia State Announces Finalists for the 29th Marketing Awards for Excellence in Innovation

ATLANTA – Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business has named the finalists for its annual Marketing Awards for Excellence in Innovation (MAX Innovation). The MAX Innovation honor the best in in new products, services, and ways to market developed in Georgia in the prior calendar year. Entries are judged on the criteria of marketing innovation, activation, and marketplace success.

Grand winners will be announced and finalists and semifinalists will be recognized at the 2025 Future of Marketing Conference on February 28 at the Georgia Aquarium. The conference brings together senior marketing professionals from throughout the Southeast for a half day of learning with leading futurists and some of the nation’s most knowledgeable marketing officers.

Now in its 29th year, the MAX Innovation finalists this year are:

• Orkin-Cicada Symphony Orkinstra. A campaign that took a once-in-a-221-years event of an apocalypse of cicadas on the horizon into a brand defining moment that increased brand awareness and sales.
• Georgia-Pacific-619 Ponce. A campaign to show how mass timber can revolutionize construction with eco-friendly, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing alternatives to traditional materials. It also demonstrates the strategic advantage of using local resources for economic growth and sustainability.
• Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB)- Spanish-speaking tourism. ACVB launched a groundbreaking, marketing-driven initiative to authentically engage the Spanish-speaking community locally, nationally and internationally—an audience often overlooked in tourism marketing.
• Dagger for Metro Atlanta Chamber-Where You Belong. The campaign breaks new ground as the first initiative of its kind to establish a cohesive talent brand for metro Atlanta. This forward-thinking program is strategically designed to meet the region's growing workforce needs while supporting its thriving corporate community.
• Georgia-Pacific Recycling-hubbIT. An online platform designed to let unserved businesses quickly and easily sell their recyclable waste, keep it out of the landfill, and turn their trash into treasure.
• Trade School- InFronts Marketing Summit & Orange Apron Media Rebrand. The Home Depot partnered with Trade School to rebrand its Retail Media Network and launch the evolved offering at a first-of-its kind marketing conference, called InFronts. In order to create a differentiated brand identity and position, The Home Depot’s Retail Media Network (RMN) as an innovative leader in the rapidly growing retail media sector, they rebranded Retail Media+ to Orange Apron Media (OAM).
• LexisNexis Risk Solutions- LexisNexis BehavioSec.  An advanced behavioral biometrics tool that analyzes the way a consumer physically interacts with a website or mobile application and produces real-time scores highlighting overall risk, identity confidence and recognition.
• Carter's,Inc.- S'Auntie Claus Holiday Campaign feat. Chloe Bailey. A holiday campaign where Carter’s teamed up with Atlanta-native Chloe Bailey, honoring her with the official S’Auntie Claus title, and together, bringing the persona to life, celebrated the unique role and the magic a cool aunt brings to family festivities.
• Chemistry Agency for Krystal-The Side Chik. An innovative campaign that didn’t shy away from how late Krystal is to the chicken sandwich game. They decided to own it. Instead of fighting to be the new favorite, they just asked everyone to “try a lil something on the side”. Introducing: The Side Chik.

The event is produced in collaboration with the Department of Marketing and Georgia State’s Marketing RoundTable at the Robinson College of Business. The GSU Marketing RoundTable is one of the longest-running Marketing RoundTables in the country, comprising over 50 senior marketing professionals representing many of Georgia’s premier companies. Members of the Marketing RoundTable help judge the entries for the MAX Innovation.

Tickets for the Future of Marketing Conference are $220 per person or $1,900 for a table of 10. All event proceeds will support the Robinson College’s Outstanding Marketing Student Scholarship Fund. Event sponsors are Equifax, WABE, Georgia Pacific and Chick-fil-A. Event partners include the Geogia Aquarium, Ideas United, Atlanta Journal Constitution, and AMA Atlanta.

For more information and to register, go to www.maxawards.com.