Company: TraceGains, Inc.; Westminster, CO
Company Description: TraceGains, the world’s only networked ingredients marketplace, connects the global consumer goods supply chain through its innovative TraceGains Gather™ platform. TraceGains maps critical data to customers’ supply chains using AI and automation, while patented PostOnce™ technology allows the secure exchange of information. Through the power of a global network, supply chain agility is achievable.
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Categories - Specialty
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Distruptor of the Year
 Nomination Title: TraceGains
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
May 1st, 2022
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated campaign or program, OR written answers to the questions for this category? CHOOSE ONE:
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
PowerPoint attached.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
It didn’t take a global pandemic to reveal the cracks in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) supply chain, but when it occurred, no industry was more exposed. Frail, paper-based systems fell like dominos under the strain. Erratic recovery efforts worsened the problems. Supply chains ground to a halt worldwide. Old school software companies threw buzzwords into H1 headers and ad campaigns, without seriously rethinking their solutions; “Lemming marketing” on full display. Against disruption, record inflation and a flurry of new regulations, legacy solutions couldn’t light a new path forward.
TraceGains, by contrast, started 2021 with a fresh point of view: the supply chain had been breaking for years. A fragile string of strained relationships recorded in filing cabinets was giving way to a dynamic global network. TraceGains held the keys to the path forward.
Entering 2021, TraceGains was a 13-year-old, $15M company with stable but modest growth despite a stable of promising solutions, like an innovative Networked Product Development (NPD) module helping manufacturers accelerate product innovations, built on the unique TraceGains Network architecture. The disruptions of 2020-21 were an opportunity.
Tracegains believed a reimagined, networked supply chain platform could heal the industry, from small business to giant manufacturers. A solution that was more widely accessible to global buyers and suppliers, one that capitalized on curated global data sources and the benefits of the “network effect” would yield efficiencies. Connected users with critical ingredient information, automatically mapped to their unique supply chain, could anticipate, circumvent, and adapt to unexpected disruptions.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 237 words used.
With strong and unique solutions, but underperforming market penetration, TraceGains needed to become a disruptor, not a lemming. Suppliers and Buyers needed better, more efficient ways to collaborate and exchange information. Market separation required continued investments, aggressive innovation, and the courage to stand apart, alone, in a Blue Ocean. It required rebranding and repositioning of a 14-year-old company, a bold new direction that distanced itself from legacy solutions, and the confidence of a brand on the rise.
TraceGains embraced “Play Bigger”. Taking an introspective look at historic positioning, and an exocentric view of the market, they designed a new category. Successful Marketing starts with user insights but requires company alignment. So, market surveys were conducted, and Play Bigger became required company mantra. A new selling motion was instituted, and progress prominently displayed during monthly Pizza Updates.
Dovetailing a bold product strategy with pioneering marketing campaigns, the full team rallied around key events to cannonball into the market. Success would hinge on a relaunch of NPD, a test launch of a new marketplace ecosystem in July, a rethink of their now virtual user conference rebranded as Together, analyst and media roadshows, a major “lightning strike” in early Nov in Las Vegas, and persistent and comprehensive marketing aircover to condition the market for the new TraceGains. Throughout the year, there would be a series of unveilings and reorientation around the new Networked Ingredients Marketplace category and TraceGains software solutions.
- If you are providing written answers to the questions for this category, you must answer this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2021. Even if your initiative started before 2021, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2021 only (up to 250 words):
Total 249 words used.
Marketing added 17 staff globally, while every channel function (advertising, PR, earned and paid media, paid digital, outbound, etc.) aligned around a relaunch of NPD and the upcoming new product releases. Marketing, Sales, CS and Product jointly managed dependencies while operating against a unified plan. TraceGains was disrupting, driving change for the better, and delivering help to a reeling CPG industry.
Creative campaigns and a new website were designed to escort a test launch in July, and rebranding the annual conference would reinforce a new TraceGains energy.
New branding wasn’t just hype. A category defining product led growth solution, TraceGains Gather™, launched in parallel, bringing substance to style.
TraceGains’ results speak volumes:
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Website visit up 700% from 6k to 48k monthly visitors
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4530 targeted new Companies visited TraceGains
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Pipeline grew 75%
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SaaS bookings grew 25%, with progressive record bookings in 3 of 4 quarters in 2022 and tracking towards a record Q1
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New revenue from existing customers doubled YoY
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40% increase in annual user conference attendees, more than 1000 participants
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NPD sales tripled, now represents 50% of the current pipeline
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Share of voice vaulted from last to #2 against our competitors
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39M targeted ad impressions served resulting in 44% of targeted accounts increasing engagement
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15,000 users on-boarded, 7000 net new to TraceGains
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20K monthly active users of Tracegains Gather™, and growing
- You have the option to reference here any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 5 words used.
Please reference the attached PowerPoint.
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