D-backs to host first-of-its kind Most Valuable Partner Awards

PHOENIX – The Arizona Diamondbacks will hold the first-of-its-kind Most Valuable Partner Awards this Thursday, January 19 at the Wild Horse Pass & Casino. The inaugural event will kick off with a red carpet arrival at 6 p.m. and will feature current D-backs players Ian Kennedy, Chris Young, Ryan Roberts and Paul Goldschmidt as well as D-backs legends Luis Gonzalez and Matt Williams, broadcasters Daron Sutton and Mark Grace and Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick.      D-backs President & CEO Derrick Hall will serve as the emcee.

“A night like this will not only be beneficial to our partners but we expect it will provide entertainment like they’ve never seen before from a sports team,” said Hall. “We encourage everyone in our organization to be pioneers and we are hopeful that this event will break new ground in the area of corporate partnerships.”

D-backs partners will vie for the “DB” award in eight different categories: Brand Integration, Marketing Activation, Community Partnership, Fan/Customer Engagement, Rookie of the Year (first-year partnership), Lifetime Achievement and the Most Valuable Partner Award, which will be given out in two divisions – the Silver Slugger and the Gold Glove.

“We have been seeking a better platform to share marketing best practices and to motivate our corporate partners to use them,” said D-backs Executive Vice President Cullen Maxey. “With the creativity of our staff and our partners, we believe we’ve found just that.”

The awards show, patterned after the Academy Awards, will be written and produced entirely by the D-backs multimedia department. It will include an opening musical number and monologue, a humorous Top 10 and numerous video components that will inject humor into the evening.

More than 300 guests are expected to be in attendance. Among the local and national D-backs partners expected to attend are Anheuser Busch, APS, CenturyLink, Chase, Chevrolet, Circle K, Cox Communications, Experian, Fry’s, Gila River Casinos, MillerCoors, Pepsi, Taco Bell, University of Phoenix and Waste Management.

Wild Horse Pass is located at 5040 W. Wild Horse Pass Blvd in Chandler. The event will take place in the Ovations Showroom. Media members wishing to cover the event should contact the D-backs Communications Department.

A complete list of awards to be handed out are as follows:

Luis Gonzalez Community Champion Award

This award will go to the partner that uses its alignment with the D-backs to truly make a difference in our community.   To be nominated in this category, partners are encouraged to either assist the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation’s efforts, use the D-backs to enhance their efforts in the community, or to create new programs to make an impact.

Brand Integration Award

This award will go to the partner that best uses the D-backs brand or logo to sell their product or separate themselves from their competition.  These nominees successfully use those rights to market their product and ours. 

D-backs Ambassador Award

This award will go to the company that best embraces the partnership by exposing it to their employees and customers.  They become an advocate of our brand and are always there to help with a new initiative or participate in a D-backs event.

Marketing Activation Award

This award will go to the partner who creates an innovative D-backs promotion to help build their brand or create direct response – either market-wide or inside Chase Field. The partners nominated in this category have developed a great knack of creating promotions that fans find relevant.

Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year is a first-year partner who immediately embraced the D-backs partnership culture and maximized their affiliation with the D-backs during their inaugural year. 

Lifetime Achievement Award

This award will recognize a partner each year that has been with us since the first pitch and helped define partnership as we know it.  They share the same values for community and relationships as we do, and have shown that they understand what the word partnership really means. 

Most Valuable Partner of the Year

This partner is recognized for encompassing everything in each MVP category.  They do it all and they do it very well.  We can all learn from their practices and passion.  There are two divisions based on asset level with the D-backs - the Silver Slugger Division and the Gold Glove Division.