According to Jack Canfield, "People make their own luck by great preparation and good strategy." Assuming Canfield is correct, then the winners of EXHIBITOR Magazine's 14th Annual Corporate Event Awards are some fabulously fortunate marketers. Their spot-on strategies and flawless execution didn't just win over their intended audiences; they also garnered hard-core results.

Take Deutsche Lufthansa AG. To promote its new nonstop service from San Jose, CA, to Frankfurt, Germany, Lufthansa crafted a strategic activation at an outdoor shopping district in San Jose. Featuring actual flight attendants, an interactive game, and a ticket giveaway, the three-day event attracted myriad participants and caught the eye of the local media, resulting in a whopping 15 million total impressions.

Similarly, the Tillamook County Creamery Association employed a massive three-pronged activation to introduce a new handheld ice-cream product. The tour targeted consumers, retailers, and industry influencers via tailored sampling-based experiences at festivals, corporate headquarters, sponsored events, trade shows, "foodie" locales, and partner facilities. The product-launch experience distributed 72,700 samples, exceeding Tillamook's goal by 45 percent.

A panel of six event-marketing experts met for eight hours of analysis in a Las Vegas boardroom before selecting the five winners that they heralded as "able to step outside the norm while also delivering an impressive return on investment." Sure, it takes a little bit of luck to woo your target market, score serious results, and impress some discriminating jurors. But that luck is born of painstaking preparation, strategic decision-making, and killer execution – as opposed to happenstance. So congratulations to this year's lucky winners. May their events delight and inspire other marketers to make a little luck of their own. E

THE WINNERS Tillmook Co. Creamery Assoc. Tillmook's Triple Scoop Deutsche Lufthansa AG Connecting Flights IBM Corp. IBM's WoW Factor The Les Paul Foundation The Music Man Riot Games Inc. A League of Its Own   JUDGES NeKeta Argrow, event marketing and operations strategist, Event Marketing Architect, Longmont, CO Michelle Hernandez, global event strategist, Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, CA Mark Martino, co-founder and architect, Brand Ltd., Las Vegas Virginia Martino, co-founder and CEO, Brand Ltd., Las Vegas Allison Saget, event marketing consultant, author of "The Event Marketing Handbook," San Francisco Rob Stout, director of production, Encore Productions Inc., Las Vegas