CBX, the brand agency and retail design consultancy headquartered here, took home two awards in the newly-created Verbal Identity Category at the 2016 LIA Awards.
Formerly known as the London International Advertising Awards, the LIA is a worldwide awards program honoring legends, pioneers and embodiments of excellence in advertising, digital, production, design, music and sound, and technology. In addition to Verbal Identity, awards are presented in 15 other categories, including billboard, branded entertainment, digital, print, radio &amp; audio, and TV/cinema/online film.

Within the Verbal Identity category, CBX competed against multiple entrants from agencies throughout the world and garnered Silver awards in both the Naming and Tone of Voice sub-categories. Additionally, a third CBX project was a finalist in Tone of Voice.

In Naming, the firm was honored for the development of the brand name Yesway, for a new Des Moines, Iowa-based convenience store chain. “Across America, you either find run-down, old-school gas stations or newfangled artisanal c-stores with made-to-order menus, but nothing in the middle,” said Rachel Bernard, CBX Vice President, Verbal Strategy. “That began to change when Brookwood Financial started acquiring a number of stations in the Midwest, looking to capture a more middle-of-the-road market. The result? Yesway – a simpler, easier, friendlier experience created from the ground up, from the name to the environment to the offer.”

In Tone of Voice, CBX was honored for its work for She Should Run, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing women and girls in public leadership. “The simultaneous broadening and diversification of She Should Run’s programs, combined with the meteoric success of programs like ‘Ask a Woman to Run’ and ‘See Joan Run,’ added even more complexity to the nonprofit’s existing communication challenges,” explained Lesley Stordahl, CBX Creative Director. “It needed a unifying messaging and voice framework to deliver clear, consistent and compelling communications. Understanding the barriers female candidates face was key to sharpening the brand’s voice to hit the communications that best motivate women to get in the race. The voice builds on the urgency and passion that women can bring to politics by breaking down these barriers, and rallies them to come forward and be heard. The new She Should Run voice establishes a clear direction for the future – inspiring new generations of women and girls to pursue a more perfect union,”

The firm was also named as a finalist in Tone of Voice for its “Deep-Rooted Beauty Care” re-branding of Hain Celestial’s Avalon Organics line of certified organic products. In addition to creating new packaging, design, tagline and nomenclature systems for Avalon’s five product lines, CBX’s team built a brand book; clarified Avalon Organics® brand personality and behaviors; defined the brand’s visual and verbal principles with expansive voice guidelines for use in social media and other communications, and conducted internal training to support writing around the new master brand.

This year, The LIA added Verbal Identity as a category, with sub-categories for Naming, Tone of Voice, Tagline/Endline, and Copywriting. This followed a campaign launched last year by CBX Managing Partner &amp; CEO Gregg S. Lipman, which included a full-page ad in Advertising Age urging major industry awards programs to begin honoring creative agencies for their hard work and creativity in the naming arena.